So, my son is working on our "old" dirt road, which leads up to our homes. It is a secondary road which we are improving, and is composed of mostly clay, with no gravel yet. My son has sought "advice" from a distant relative of ours about how to do some things to improve it. His advice on drainage is to "dig a trench down one side, line it with tar paper and fill that in with large rock, 3" or so. Here's the thing. This distant "cousins husband" is a bit of a know it all and general blowhard. I've seen, and had to work after, his "expert" concrete work, carpenty and floor covering work, and I can tell you it ain't pretty. He has been working in some construction work for a year or less now, and he is now the "expert" in all things related to dirt work.
I've never heard of this technique of "tar paper underlayment", and it sounds stupid to me, for various reasons. However, I'm not a know-it-all and am willing to be corrected or educated. Anybody on here with experience in construction ever heard of this? Honestly, I'd like someone with years of experience to chime in here and tell me to tell him he's an idiot, but I'll bow to his "superior" experience if someone on here can tell me I'm wrong.
