I told my buddy he was wrong about drainage gravel. Turns out I owe him an apology.

My buddy Tom told me to use 3/4 inch clean gravel for the base of my 10x12 shed pad instead of the crushed stone I had picked out. I argued with him for a solid 15 minutes saying the crushed stone would compact better. Three months after building it, I got a nasty rainstorm and the crushed stone held water like a sponge. Now I have to tear up the whole pad and redo it with clean gravel. Should have just listened to him from the start. Anyone else have a friend who was right all along about a storage project?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat_roberts5512d ago

Learned the same lesson the hard way with my chicken coop last spring.

jenny19812d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain. I did the same thing with a little garden shed last fall and ended up with a muddy mess every time it rained. I used some cheap bagged stuff from the hardware store and it was basically just dust and tiny rocks that packed down like concrete. Had to rip it all out and start over with actual drainage gravel.

jessica92112d ago

Lol that's a rough way to learn a lesson but honestly crushed stone can work if you use the right kind. You just need angular crushed stone without fines, like 57 or 67 stone, it drains just as good as clean gravel. But yeah, if you used something with a lot of dust in it then you're basically making concrete lol.