# Forum Home Renovation Landscaping, Gardening & Outdoors  Decomposed granite Driveway disaster

## kaliani

We finally had our decomposed granite driveway laid. We used the browny gold colour - which was purchased from 'Materials in the Raw' in Chollora here in Sydney. 
Unfortunately the guy who laid the driveway didn't seem to have a clue what he was doing. It was laid yesterday. Today it is raining and it has simply turned to a big muddy sludge. (I think he was laying it in the rain yesterday too). 
I had some good advice from this site earlier and most recommended having 20% cement pre-mixed in to stabilise and firm it. I asked the guy to do this for us but he was very dismissive and said 'don't worry, I know what I'm doing'. He didnt mix any cement in - arguing that it wasn't needed. 
I suspect that this is why its sludgy today. I don't think he even compacted it much.  
So, we want to ring him up and ask him to come and fix it. But are worried that it will just be another disaster. 
I was wondering if anyone here can tell me how we might rescue the situation? Is it possible to rake the cement through now that it has already been laid? Or is this just going to make things worse? 
Help!!! It really looks hideous - a complete sludgy mud bath which we have to wade through to get to our nice federation house we've just fixed up.

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## echnidna

I might be wrong but I'd be inclined to wait until it dries out and sets. 
All the ultra fines are probably causing the muddy mess, but when they float away its Very likely it'll come right, but if you fiddle with it ......

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## DavidG

Let it dry a bit then run a compactor over it.
Should be fine.

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## Terrian

cement mixed through would have been better, but if it is still level, just let it dry out out, all going well it will set nice and stable. 
A few years ago I did some lilydale topping paths around here, couple of days later it rained 'cats & dogs' , step on the path and sink 3 inches, a week later, after it had all dried out, paths are rock hard (and no, further rainfall does not soften them)

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## Planned LScape

This material is a pain in the bum, it can be hard as a rock when dry but still go soft after rain. 
He shouldn't of installed it if it was wet- I have found the best time to run the compacter over it is when it  still has some of the natural moisture in it. If it's too dry it just spreads around and if wet it stick to the whacker plate and turns to crap.  
I would be letting it dry too, then loosen the whole lot up, and put either off white cement (won't show up as much) or soil bond through it...however mixing it through is very important as if some patches have more cement than others, the looser parts on either side of it will wash away.  If there is a slope, all the fine pebbles will run away too. It's also great for weeds to grow in, which are a bugger to pull out. 
I tend to avoid it now, I'de rather use a brown coloured toppings similar  in texture to crushed rock, comes up 10 times better.

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## kombiman

When dry remoisten with a 6:1 bondcrete/water mix from a sprayer, let it soak in and compact.  This will help seal the top. 
If you mess with it he will leave yoy on your own. 
If you leave it and cann him back, make him fix it (if needed) 
"you said you knew what you were doing...."

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## scooter

Nothing to contribute other than to point out that the Bondcrete will just re-emulsify again when wet.  
Cheers.................Sean

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## Terrian

> I tend to avoid it now, I'de rather use a brown coloured toppings similar  in texture to crushed rock, comes up 10 times better.

  Castella Toppings ? That stuff goes rock hard  :Smilie:  
Also Castella screenings (pink 14/10 I think it was called. not really pink though) , nice product to use for path ways, doesn't move around like blue metal.

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## kaliani

Sounds like the weight of opinion is that we should let it dry. 
Then.... 
We need to decide whether to: 
a) Just run a compactor over it and it should stick OK 
or 
b) Rake some off-white cement through thoroughly (after loosening it).  
Any other opinions on which of these would be sensible?  If we go for b) how do we work our how much cement we should be raking through?

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## Planned LScape

> Castella Toppings ? That stuff goes rock hard  
> Also Castella screenings (pink 14/10 I think it was called. not really pink though) , nice product to use for path ways, doesn't move around like blue metal.

  I think the product name and colour differs from area to area. Up my way there is Creswick Topppings, which is a light browny/orange colour, or even Lilydale Toppings, both pack down very well if done right. 
Trick is with gravel is provide a good base and compact it in layers

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