Question
Dear Sir: thank you for sharing.  A few years ago we removed about 2" of dirt or either side of our drive way and filled in with white marble stones 2-3" in size.  Over the years, these borders, about 2' wide expanding to 4' at the top and bottom, would become filled with rain water, become dirty, and would over flow with muddy water, dirtying the drive way and washing out some stones. I have begun to rake up the stones to relay them.
I have heard that (1), I should not have lowered the ground below the level of the driveway; (2) I should have laid ground cloth or plastic; (3) I need to install a drain off system and erect some sort of barrier to keep the stones in place.  Is this correct?  Do you have any thoughts on this matter?
the land slopes from west to east, so water flows across the drive to the eastern side, and if muddy, dirties the stones.
Sometimes, we need to drive/park cars on the stones.
I am in Marietta, GA 30064.
thank you for your time and good service.
PAUL

Answer
Thank you for your e-mail. It is true you should have put a weed barrier or a plastic liner down under the rock. As far as the you lowering the ground level, no you did good there. That is what you should do, so the level of rock will be level with the drive way. Two yes you should have installed a drain at the lowest point so you would not have this washing out problem. And third no you do not have to put a barrier to keep the stones in place. They will stay in place if the water did not wash them out, in turn that is were the needed drain line comes in. I don't know if you want to pull up the rock and fix this but if it was mine, I would pull up the rock, install a drain line and paper the area and reinstall the rock. Hope I was some help if you have any other questions please feel free to write again. Thanks Bill

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