Gravel, Stone and Soil Delivery in Marysville, OH

Glacial silt on a ground moraine

The soil survey maps the center point of ZIP 43040 as Blount silt loam, ground moraine, 2 to 4 percent slopes. Blount is the main series, at 85 percent of the unit. A ground moraine is the gently rolling plain that glacial ice left behind as it melted, a blanket of mixed clay, silt and stone.^[1]

Blount is somewhat poorly drained and falls in hydrologic group D, the class with very slow infiltration and high runoff. Its top mineral layer is silt loam. In a wet spring, water can sit near the surface for weeks, and the soil stays soft long after a rain.^[1]

Densic material begins about 37 inches down. Densic means compact glacial till so dense that roots and water barely pass through it. Water that soaks in stops at that layer and spreads sideways, which is why low spots in yards here stay wet. Shrink-swell in the top 100 cm is moderate, at 4.5 percent.^[1]

Bedrock deep below belongs to the Salina Group, a Silurian unit of dolostone, shale, anhydrite and gypsum. The ground at the center point stands 1,000 feet above sea level.^[2],[3]

Glacial till holds a mix of everything the ice carried, so a shovel may turn up rounded cobbles, sand pockets and sticky clay in one hole. The cobbles can stay. The clay and the soft silt need fabric over them before stone goes on top.^[1]

Snow and cold at the Marysville station

Marysville, OH, about 7 miles from the center point, is the NOAA normals station for this ZIP. It averages 40.5 inches of precipitation and 24.0 inches of snow a year. Lows of 32 F or colder occur on about 114 days.^[4]

The station's median last spring freeze is April 19. Its median first fall freeze is October 26.^[4]

Wet silt and a long freezing season are the hardest pairing for a gravel surface. Water held in the soil freezes and lifts the stone, then lets it drop soft in a thaw. Every plan below begins by getting water out of the base and away from the surface.^[1],[4]

Spring thaw is the softest time of year for a gravel drive on this ground. Keep heavy trucks off the drive while the top of the soil is thawed and the ground below is still frozen, because the base has nowhere to drain.^[1],[4]

A drive that rides above wet ground

On flat, poorly drained silt, height is the first defense. Strip the topsoil, shape the subgrade with a crown, and lay a woven fabric across it. Build the drive so its finished surface sits a few inches above the lawn on both sides.^[1]

For the base, start with a layer of #4 Crushed Stone or 1-1/2" Crushed Gravel on the fabric. Large stone bridges the soft silt and lets water drain sideways. Cover it with Road Base in compacted lifts. Finish with Driveway Gravel or 3/4" Crushed Stone for a firm, walkable top.^[1]

Ditches along the sides matter as much as the stone. A shallow ditch on each side, sloped toward a culvert or a low outlet, gives water a way off the lot. Bed any culvert pipe in #57 Crushed Stone and armor its ends with Riprap.^[1]

Recycled bases work well here too. Crushed Concrete and Asphalt Millings both pack hard over fabric and hold up under farm trucks and trailers.^[1]

Plan the drive so plowed snow lands where its melt can run off the lot. Piles pushed against the edge of the stone soak the base for weeks in spring, and that is where potholes start.^[4]

Where a field lane joins the drive, a short apron of Railroad Ballast over fabric keeps tractors and trailers from rutting the soft ground at the turn.^[1]

Draining a wet yard

With dense till below and slow-draining silt above, many yards in this ZIP have a soggy corner. A French drain lined with fabric and filled with Drain Rock or #57 Crushed Stone collects that water and carries it to an outlet. Lay the pipe on a slope, and run it to a ditch or a storm drain.^[1]

A dry well rarely works on this ground, because the dense layer stops water from soaking away. A drain with a true outlet is the better plan. Where the yard has no outlet, a rain garden planted in Garden Soil and Compost can hold runoff for a short time.^[1]

Around the house, slope the soil away from the foundation with Fill Dirt topped by Topsoil. Set a splash pad of River Rock under each downspout, or connect the downspouts to the drain line.^[1]

Old field tiles are common under farmland on glacial soil, and many house lots were farm fields once. If a dig cuts a clay or plastic pipe, leave it working. Reconnect it with new pipe bedded in Drain Rock so the water it carried still reaches its outlet.^[1]

Planting in wet glacial soil

Blount silt loam is fertile once it drains. Raised beds filled with Garden Soil give roots a dry layer in spring, and a few inches of Compost worked into the top each year keep it loose. Cover beds with Brown Shredded Mulch, Black Shredded Mulch or Red Mulch after planting.^[1]

Set out tender plants after the April 19 median last freeze at the station. Fall planting goes best in the weeks before the October 26 median first freeze, while the soil is still warm.^[4]

Paths of Wood Chips or 3/8" Crushed Stone between beds keep shoes out of the mud. On silt, a stone path over fabric stays firm through the wettest weeks of spring.^[1]

Glacial silt can crust after a heavy rain and shed the next storm across a bed. A thin layer of Compost on top of the soil, under the mulch, keeps the surface open so water soaks in.^[1]

Homes in ZIP 43040 and in town

The Census counts 15,005 housing units in ZIP 43040. Detached single-family houses make up 74 percent of them, the median home was built in 1995, and owners live in 74 percent of the occupied homes.^[5]

Marysville itself has 10,472 housing units. Detached houses are 66 percent of them, and the median home dates to 1999.^[5]

Ohio road crews build to Aggregate Base, Item 304, in the Ohio Department of Transportation Construction and Material Specifications (2023). Contractors on local jobs often name 304 stone, and Gravel Valet can deliver a dense base stone of that type.^[6]

Owner-occupied, detached houses make up about three in four homes in the ZIP. Those yards often need the same short list: a firm gravel drive, a drain for the wet corner and mulched beds by the house.^[5]