8 Tips for Maintaining a Gravel Driveway

Gravel driveways offer a number of benefits. They’re easy to install on your own (and much more affordable), and the maintenance is totally doable without professional help—if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and do some work.

Below, we’ve put together eight helpful gravel driveway maintenance tips to ensure your driveway looks good and drains well for years to come.

1. Rake Regularly

The number one way to maintain your gravel driveway is to rake it regularly. You need a heavy-duty rake designed for gravel—one that lets you redistribute the gravel easily so you can ensure an even layer.

Raking the driveway whenever you’re out doing other yard work should keep your gravel driveway looking good.

2. Clear Debris

Similarly, you want to keep up with regular debris removal. You may be able to filter out some of it, like leaves, when raking, but you may also need to pick up individual pieces of debris by hand or use a leaf blower. Beyond leaves, you’ll want to remove trash, sticks, and larger rocks from the driveway.

Clearing debris is important for maintaining the driveway’s aesthetic, but it also helps prevent moisture from getting trapped beneath the debris. Moisture in your gravel driveway leads to potholes, which are rough on your car—and pose tripping hazards.

3. Spray the Gravel

Over time, small gravel gets crushed into fine dust, which can dirty your car when you drive over it. Spraying down the driveway a couple of times a month during late spring, summer, and early fall can help keep the gravel in place and minimize the dust.

Don’t use the jet setting on your hose. A light mist or spray setting should do the trick.

4. Fill Potholes 

Potholes will form over time, particularly if your gravel driveway has poor drainage—and it’s important to take care of them quickly. Potholes can cause major damage to the wheels of your car, they pose tripping hazards, and they just don’t look good.

Regularly check your driveway for signs of forming potholes, and rake gravel into any area that is starting to pool with water whenever it rains.

Storing extra gravel in your garage, shed, or basement to use as potholes form is a good idea, and not too expensive; a single ton of pea gravel costs $10 to $50 and can cover up to 100 square feet. Here are some of the best types of gravel to use for your driveway.

5. Flatten Bulges

Quite the opposite of potholes, you may notice your gravel driveway starting to bulge in a specific area over time. This could indicate a tree root disrupting the driveway from beneath. It’s important to dig out the tree root and flatten this area of the driveway as best as possible.

6. Remove Snow the Right Way

If you live somewhere that gets snow frequently, you know how important it is to shovel your driveway. Driving over snow compacts it and turns it into ice, which can be a safety hazard. However, gravel driveways pose more of a problem.

Using a snowplow can damage your gravel driveway. The heavy weight and aggressive scraping can dislodge gravel, create potholes, and make the surface uneven. Even simple shoveling can affect your gravel driveway.

If shoveling, we recommend leaving a layer of snow, no greater than an inch, that way you don’t dislodge and redistribute the gravel with the spade. Otherwise, use a snowblower on a low setting to remove as much snow as possible without dislodging the gravel.

7. Control Weeds

Weeds are an unfortunate part of nature. They sprout up in our yards and flowerbeds, in cracks in our walkways, and even in our gravel driveways. The best strategy is to be proactive and manage weeds as they appear.

Consider laying down landscaping fabric (cut to the dimensions of your driveway) and then installing a fresh layer of gravel on top of that fabric. While it’s not a perfect solution, landscaping fabric can prevent a significant amount of weed and grass growth. Landscape fabric costs between $20 and $100 per 100-foot roll; thicker fabrics are more effective but also more expensive.

Beyond the landscaping fabric, you can use a few additional strategies, including:

• Installing pre-emergent herbicides before each spring season.

• Using selective or non-selective herbicides as needed throughout the season.

• Using organic methods to kill weeds, such as boiling water or using a vinegar or saltwater solution.

In addition, controlling weeds in your yard can make a huge difference in the weeds in your gravel driveway because there are fewer seeds spreading. If you don’t have the time to treat your yard, hire a local weed service to take care of it for you each season. On average, weed removal services cost between $50 and $100.

8. Ensure Proper Grading

When installing your gravel driveway, you or your contractor should have paid attention to the grading—ensuring it sloped to the sides and bottom so that water drains properly. If your gravel driveway is too flat, it might not have been properly graded, and you’re likely dealing with regular pools of water every time it rains.

If this is the case, grade the driveway yourself or hire a local driveway repair pro to tackle the job.

DIY vs. Hiring a Pro for Gravel Driveway Maintenance

Maintaining your gravel driveway is simple. All it takes is a little raking and debris cleanup, plus the occasional pothole filling and weed pulling. No need to spend money on hiring a pro.

However, if your gravel driveway is in rough shape and in need of larger repairs, you may want to hire a gravel driveway repair company near you. They can be helpful for longer driveways with significant drainage or pooling issues. They can also help you properly grade your driveway, if necessary.