Gravel Driveways in Mooresville, IN
Mooresville is where the flat ground of the Indianapolis side gives way to the hills of Morgan County, and the drives change with it. North of town they sit wet on flat clay; south toward Martinsville they climb and wash. Travis builds each for the ground it is on, from the road to the barn door.
- Free estimates
- Based in Greencastle, Indiana
- One crew, first cut to final grade
Gravel Driveways in Mooresville
Two kinds of ground, two kinds of drive
The glaciers stopped in Morgan County, and Mooresville sits near the line. To the north and east the ground is flat till, cleared for farms and now carrying the neighborhoods that went in during the 1990s. To the south and west it breaks into wooded hills and drainages running down to the White River.
A drive on the flat side has one problem: water sits on it and in it. A drive on the hill side has the opposite one: water runs down it and takes the stone along. The base and the stone are the same on both, but the shaping is not, and a drive built for one kind of ground on the other does not last.
The farm-ground lot north of town
Most of the newer houses around Mooresville are on former farm ground, and the bigger lots on the county roads toward Camby and the Hendricks County line still get gravel drives. Those lots are flat, the clay under them is slow to drain, and a drive dumped on the grass sinks into it by the second spring.
The drive is dug out first, topsoil and soft ground off down to firm clay. A base of #53 crushed limestone, an INDOT size that packs hard because its fines are left in, is compacted on that, with geotextile fabric under it where the ground is wet. A surface of smaller clean stone, #8 or #11, goes on top with a crown so rain runs off sideways to a swale or the ditch.
The hill drive south toward Martinsville
Down SR 67 and off onto the county roads south of town, the lots climb. A drive from the road to a house on a ridge has water running down it in every storm, and the stone goes with it. The bottom of the drive ends up with a bar of loose gravel across it and the top is bare clay.
That drive is built with a fall to one side wherever the slope allows, so water leaves across it instead of down it, and with shallow dips at intervals to throw the rest off into the ditch. The base is compacted hard so the surface has something to hold. On the steepest runs, a coarser surface stone that locks together stays put better than a fine one.
Creek bottoms and old tile
White Lick Creek runs down the west side of Mooresville and its East Fork down the east, and the ground near either stays wet long after the uplands have dried. A drive across creek-bottom ground gets a thicker base and fabric under it, and if the lot is in the mapped floodplain, that is worth knowing before any fill is brought in.
Farm ground here was tiled generations ago, and a drive cut across an old field can cut through a working tile. When the excavator finds one, Travis tells you and either carries it under the drive in new pipe or reconnects it. If the lot itself holds water beside the drive, yard drainage in Mooresville is the swale or French drain that keeps it out of the base.
Town street, county road or state road
The road end of a drive sits in the public right of way. On a county road, the Morgan County Highway Department is the office for a new entrance and the culvert under it, and it is asked before stone or pipe is ordered. Inside the town limits, the Town of Mooresville is asked about an entrance onto a town street.
SR 67 through town, and SR 42 and SR 144 where they meet it southeast of the center, belong to INDOT. A new entrance onto any of them, or a change to an existing one, needs an INDOT driveway permit approved before work starts in the state right of way. The driveway culvert guide covers the pipe and the permit. Indiana 811 locates buried lines before anything is dug.
What goes with the drive, and the figure
An old shed or a failed concrete apron in the way of the new drive comes out on the same trip; demolition in Mooresville covers that. A drive to a new pole barn is built with the pad, graded to one fall. Repairs to an existing drive, potholes and soft spots dug and based and the run regraded, are the smaller version of the job.
Travis walks the run and gives you one figure with the digging, the stone, the hauling and the road end in it. Estimates are free. The Mooresville page lists the rest of the work here, and the driveway installation page has the method.
Gravel Driveways
New gravel drives cut, based and crowned, plus potholes, soft spots and washouts repaired.
See the serviceTalk to Travis(317) 203-8928
Tell Travis which side of town you are on, whether the drive climbs, and which road it meets. He comes out and gives you one number.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Flat-lot drives. Dug out, based on #53 and crowned so water leaves sideways.
- Hill drives. Shaped with a side fall and dips so the stone stays at the top.
- Creek-bottom ground. Thicker base and fabric where the ground stays wet.
- Entrances and culverts. County, town or INDOT asked first; the pipe sized for the ditch.
Mooresville, IN
Southwest of Indianapolis on SR-67, 40 minutes from Greencastle, with older in-town lots and new neighborhoods on former farm ground.
Town pageAlso in MooresvilleDemolition & Removal in Mooresville, IN
See the pageAlso in MooresvilleYard Drainage & French Drains in Mooresville, IN
See the pageThe serviceGravel Driveways
New gravel drives cut, based and crowned, plus potholes, soft spots and washouts repaired.
Main service pageMooresville and the towns nearby
Mooresville is forty minutes from Greencastle at the far corner of Morgan County. The same flat-lot and hill drives go in north across the county line in Plainfield and Avon, and the roads out to Camby, Monrovia, Brooklyn and Martinsville are the same trip. Everywhere else On Grade builds drives, from Boone County down to Terre Haute, is on the service area page.
You get Travis. One crew, first cut to final grade.
You call
You call or send the form. Travis comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the finish grading in it.
One crew does it
Then the same crew that quoted it shows up and does the work, first cut to final grade.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled and the ground is graded back so you can pour, build or seed.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full gravel driveways service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (317) 203-8928 and ask Travis, or read the guides.
Why does my drive south of Mooresville keep losing its stone downhill?
Because the water runs down its length and carries the loose stone with it. The fix is in the shaping: a fall to one side so water leaves across the drive, dips at intervals to throw it off, and a base compacted hard enough that the surface stone grips. More gravel alone goes the same way.
Who approves a driveway entrance onto SR 67?
INDOT. SR 67 is a state road, as are SR 42 and SR 144 where they meet it, and a new or changed entrance needs a driveway permit approved before any work in the state right of way. County roads go through the Morgan County Highway Department and town streets through the Town of Mooresville.
What if the drive crosses a farm tile?
It happens on the old field ground. When the excavator finds a working tile, Travis tells you and either carries it under the drive in new pipe or reconnects it, rather than crushing it and leaving a wet spot in the drive for years to come.
Can the drive be built to a new pole barn at the same time as the pad?
Yes, and it is better that way. The pad is cut and compacted, the lane is built to it and the apron at the doors is part of the same grade, so water from the pad and the lane goes the same way. One trip, one figure.
Is my old drive a repair or a rebuild?
If the stone has sunk into the clay in a few soft spots, those are dug out and based and the rest is regraded and crowned. If it has gone to mud end to end because there was never a base, it is rebuilt. Travis tells you which when he walks it.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Gravel Driveways in other towns
Excavation & Site Prep
Sites stripped, cut and graded, ready for the builder.
Learn moreFoundation & Basement Excavation
Basements, crawl spaces and footings dug to grade and backfilled.
Learn moreDrainage, Culverts & Utilities
Water moved off yards and away from foundations; culverts and service lines set.
Learn moreDriveways & Finish Grading
Gravel drives built and crowned; yards finish graded for seed.
Learn moreLand Clearing & Forestry Mulching
Lots and acreage cleared, brush mulched in place.
Learn moreBuilding & Pole Barn Pads
Pads cut, filled and compacted for barns, shops and houses.
Learn moreFree estimate in Mooresville.
Call or text Travis. Free estimates, straight answers.
Greencastle, Indiana · Putnam, Hendricks, Boone and Marion counties
Need gravel driveway work in Mooresville?
Call or text Travis with the address and what you are trying to do.