Building a Compacted Gravel Path That Lasts

A gravel path looks like one material. It is actually two, in two layers, and the one you can't see does all the work. Skip it and you get the path everyone recognises: rutted within a year, weeds through it by the second, and a surface that migrates into the garden bed every time it rains.

The build-up, top to bottom

1. Toppings — 25–50mm of decorative crushed stone, compacted
2. Crushed rock base — 75–100mm compacted, in two layers
3. Geotextile fabric — separates base from subsoil
4. Prepared subgrade — excavated and firmed

1. Excavate and edge

Dig out 125–150mm below your finished path level — the total of both layers. Cut the sides cleanly and set your edging now, not later: timber, steel or brick, whatever suits the garden. Without edging, both layers spread sideways under foot traffic and the path gets wider and thinner every year.

Give the path a slight crossfall, around 1 in 50, so water sheds to one side rather than sitting on it.

2. Lay geotextile fabric

It stops the base stone being pumped down into soft subsoil and stops clay migrating up into the base. On a Melbourne clay site this is the difference between a path that lasts ten years and one that lasts three.

3. Build the base

For a garden path, Crushed Rock Class 3 20mm is the sensible choice — use it for pathways, light-duty driveways and general fill, where you need reliable compaction but not engineered load-bearing strength.

If the path will ever take a car — a strip beside a driveway, a turning area — step up to Crushed Rock Class 2 20mm, which is used for driveways, vehicle-rated sub-base and pathway construction. 20mm Roadbase does the same job and is the standard builder's choice for driveways, shed bases and under-paving sub-base.

Spread it in two layers of about 50mm, wet each one lightly, and plate-compact before adding the next. One 100mm layer compacted from the top gives you a firm crust over loose rock, which fails.

4. Lay the toppings

Now the layer you actually see. Granitic Sand compacts to the firmest finish of our three and is used for pathways, driveways and compactable garden surfaces. Chester Toppings gives a neutral tone that ties areas together; Tuscan Toppings brings warm, earthy Mediterranean colour.

Spread 25–50mm, dampen, and compact. Damp is the key word — dry toppings will not bind, and soaked toppings turn to slurry under the plate.

Working out both orders

For a path 10m long and 1.2m wide — 12m²:

Layer	Depth	Volume
Crushed rock base	100mm	1.2m³, order ~1.5m³ for compaction
Toppings	40mm	0.5m³

Add roughly 20 percent to the base figure, because compaction reduces the loose volume.

Ordering: two materials, two loads

Crushed rock and toppings are different materials, so they never share a truck tray. That is two loads and two delivery charges regardless of how small each one is. If you are doing several jobs around the property, it is worth grouping all the crushed rock into one order and all the toppings into another rather than ordering path by path.

Browse Crushed Rock and Toppings, or check your delivery zone on the Delivery areas page before you price the job.