All-weather Woodland Access

[bearbait]

The entrance to my bit of woodland has got a bit churned up recently due to the ground being so soft from all the rains, so much so that it's very difficult now even for my soft-roader (part-time selectable 4wd) to get in and out. It's been OK up until this year.

I reckon that I may need to make the entrance and the first 20-30m or so of the track some sort of an all-weather surface. It will only get very light use from the occasional motor vehicle, and a tractor a couple of times a year (which shouldn't have the problem!).

There seem a variety of options available from ground reinforcement grids (example) - which seem to need a fair bit of surface prep. beforehand, ground protection mats (example), tracmats (example) which are off-road bridging ladders, ground stabilisation mesh (example) - another one that needs a lot of prep, PAP or Perforated Aluminium Planking - although this is said to provide poor traction in mud, to getting a load of hard-core in and a contractor with a mini-digger thing to do the job for me. Perhaps even a bunch of railway sleepers could be used?

I've looked at snow chains as well but there seems some disagreement as to how well they work in mud. And it's a bit of a pain to put them on just to drive 20 or 30 metres. And take them off when they're muddy!

Perhaps, given the fact that this is the first year there's been a problem, the best idea is a bit of hard-core at the entrance and rely on something like 4 x tracmats if I do get bogged on the track.

Any experiences, recommendations, suggestions, ideas out there?

Many thanks.

 

[rorymax]

Lots of options I can think of but many are not cheap.

You might try contacting local tar surfacing contractors and offering them a free site for depositing selected fill (i.e. road planings or similar).

Many contractors are eager to do this as haulage and dump\coup disposal charges are a significant cost to them, some demolition companies might also worth a try, but be careful about the size and type of fill you will accept.

 

[jason83]

In all fairness road planings are ok but over time will still be susceptible to water and mud in all honesty as a farmer the best route to go down would be to dig out the area affected and get brick rubble from a demolition company (as mentioned below) and have it compacted down and either leave it as is or get the below mentioned road planings and compact them down on top that's how we do it and it works a treat when you concider it's subjected to 3 fastrac and trailers which each have combined maximum weight in excess of 28 tonne roaring over them regularly through harvest.

 

[birchwood]

When I was renting a field for the horses in between moving, we had an appallingly wet winter. After getting stuck with the 4x4 and trailer getting hay in several times, l contacted the local rent a skip chap and he brought round a few loads of hardcore. He was pleased to have somewhere to offload it and apart from a few bits of metal I had to get rid of, it worked out very well.

 

[dewi]

Forget the commercial name of the product, but there are rolls of fabric that you can buy that would help the situation. You lay down a layer of gravel, lay the fabric over the top and another layer of gravel over that... the fabric allows water to pass through it, but it holds together the two layers of gravel so you can pass over it with a light vehicle.

Anything heavier than a family sized car though... you're probably going to want something beneath the gravel to firm up the surface.

We had the lightweight solution on our driveway until we had a shed delivered... the truck that delivered it just sank into the ground. It had been perfectly fine for our car for months... but big truck full of timber... it was churned up and ruined in minutes.

 

[spandit]

Problem with having hardcore dumped at my place is actually getting it to the affected areas - one of my fields resembles Flanders after a local contractor got his Transit and subsequently JCB stuck in it. If you do go down this route, you'll probably have to wait until it dries out or freezes up, although in my experience it never really gets cold enough all the way down

 

[woof]

I've got a gardening business & generate a fair amount of woodchip, & have a customer who I drop a bag(builders bag)of chip off to once a month, this goes on his garden where they park their cars, it seems to hold up quit well.
Most gardeners/tree surgeons are always looking for somewhere to tip for free, so could be an option for anyone with this problem.

Rob

 

[spandit]

Doesn't work for long - you just end up with chunkier mud...

 

[ged]

How about a load of surplus branches from the garden maintenance people, or discarded Christmas trees? Just something fibrous to spread the load and bind with the mud. They used it in Tunisia for tanks...

 

[huntersforge]

Tree cuttings. Forestry idea. Called brash mats. Used to stabilise boggy ground

 

[tankie]

The fabric stabiliser is called "terram" I believe

 

[spandit]

Tree cuttings. Forestry idea. Called brash mats. Used to stabilise boggy ground

Don't use willow or it might well sprout!

 

[Goatboy]

Don't use willow or it might well sprout!

Yup a few of the fences I made from cleaved willow turned into living fences. Looked nice but maybe not the best for access as it doesn't grow a gate.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[baggins]

+1 for the wood chip. yup, it does make the mud chunkier but it allows the tyres to maintain grip. we have an extremely muddy yard where we tip our chip, and i never get stuck or even wheel spin (and that is in a 5.5tn iveco that has less grip than an elephant on an ice rink). the mud does come up deep (6" or so) but never a problem. and combining it with conifer brash matting to hold it together will help a lot.

 

[woodspirits]

If you want a stable and hard surface that will last there's only one route, take off the topsoil or even the subsoil if it's still spongy, and apply a layer of geotextile membrane to the excavated track. The area your talking about will take about 20/25 ton of type 1 mot allowing for a 150mm layer, or you can use recycled crushed hardcore to keep costs down. Be sure it has enough fines in it otherwise you may want to dust it over with a couple of ton of 20mm down to dust aggregate.

And finally a couple of passes with a vibrating compaction roller of the bomag 120 or even the smaller 80 variety will firm it up. You should be able to find a one man band outfit who has everything you need local to you, I speak with over 35 years in the game as a foreman machine driver, this format is standard fare for highways prior to final finish, agricultural usage or temporary tracks, good luck.

 

[Macaroon]

If you want a stable and hard surface that will last there's only one route, take off the topsoil or even the subsoil if it's still spongy, a layer of Terram membrane from a 4.5m roll, the area your talking about will take about 20t of recycled crushed hardcore to keep costs down, and finally a compacting roller of the bomag 120 or even the smaller 80 type. You should find a one man band outfit who has everything you need local to you, I speak with over 30 years in the game as a foreman machine driver, this is standard fare, good luck. ��

Exactly that ^^^^, you can't ignore basic physics!

 

[stone monkey]

buy an argocat ?

 

[demographic]

Can't say I've ever paid for the stuff but I have did some concrete formwork on a sewage farm in the Lake District (Rosthwaite) where they used those Ground Reinforcement Grids to very good effect.
You couldn't see them and the grass grew through it but it was hardwearing.

I really liked it.

 

[bearbait]

Many thanks to y'all for the ideas and input.

Now time to ponder the "final solution"...Ta!

 

[bernie66]

http://www.bridgesupply.co.uk/trackway/

An option