Bulk Aggregates near Tahlequah, OK, 74464

Slow infiltration calls for a draining base

The USDA soil survey places the ZIP's center point in Tonti gravelly silt loam on 1 to 3 percent slopes, and Tonti makes up 85 percent of that map unit. The soil is in hydrologic group D, with very slow infiltration and high runoff. Use a compacted layer of angular Crusher Run or Road Base beneath a driveway or patio, and keep surface water moving away from the finished area.^[1]

The same soil is moderately well drained, but a fragipan occurs at about 22 inches. Put Drain Rock or #57 Stone where a drain path needs open voids, rather than relying on fines to carry water through the subgrade.^[1]

Keep fines out of the aggregate layer

The top mineral soil is gravelly silt loam, with low shrink-swell measured at 1.8 percent. A geotextile between this soil and a crushed-stone base keeps fine soil from working into the aggregate while the angular stone locks together.^[1]

The mapped ground at the ZIP's center point includes the Keokuk and Reeds Spring Formations and St. Joe Group, with chert, limestone, shale, and marlstone. Where excavation leaves an uneven rocky subgrade, use a graded crushed base that spreads and compacts into a firm leveling layer rather than round Natural Pea Gravel.^[2]

Rain and freeze cycles favor open drainage

The NOAA station at Tahlequah, OK, about 2 miles away records 51.0 inches of average yearly precipitation. For a patio base or driveway edge that receives runoff, use an open drainage layer of #57 Stone or Drain Rock to prevent water from remaining in fine material.^[3]

That station records 74 days each year when the low reaches 32 F or colder, with a median last spring freeze of April 4 and first fall freeze of October 31. A well-compacted angular base with drainage beneath it is a better fit than a base made mostly of water-holding fines where freeze and thaw affect wet ground.^[3]

Residential materials for the ZIP

Census figures list 13,642 housing units in ZIP 74464, and 61 percent are detached single-family houses, compared with 55 percent across Tahlequah. For an individual home driveway, choose Crusher Run or Road Base for the compacted layer and reserve decorative River Rock or Natural Pea Gravel for areas not expected to lock into a driving surface.^[4]

The Census gives a median construction year of 1988 for homes in ZIP 74464, the same median year reported for Tahlequah, and 55 percent of occupied ZIP homes are owner occupied. When renewing an existing garden bed around a residence, Top Soil supports planting while Shredded Mulch covers the soil surface and separates it from rain splash.^[4]

At the ZIP's center point, ground elevation is 1,050 feet. For a garden bed on this mapped terrain, shape the soil surface so rainfall can leave the bed, then use mulch as the surface cover rather than a compacted aggregate layer.^[5]