How bad is shale?

[jake98]

I can get some tandem loads for free and I was thinking it'll be good to throw at the muddy spots and raise a section of my driveway up about a foot. Looks like the bigger pieces are about 2x2x8..

[RickB]

Shale makes very good base fill.

[jake98]

I can't picture it being gradeable with my little box-blade, but who knows? I have a spring that flows around my shop and keeps it muddy 10 months of the year, so I guess I'll dig out a couple feet and fill it. Maybe I'll finally have that 'drive around' I was planing on.. (instead of just a 'mow-around'..) Time to chase the bees out of the old JD and charge it up!

[TripleR]

Agreed, it makes a good fill base, but is a bear to move with a small tractor.

[jake98]

I'm worrying about what shows up, I looked at the piles where they're digging out my friend's site, and it looked like it was 90% small pieces, but if half the load turns out to be 2' chunks, I'd be better off passing on it. I'm gonna talk with the excavator tomorrow, see what he thinks is in the pile.

[tcreeley]

Put the shale down, then cover with a load of gravel.

[Don87]

I can get some tandem loads for free and I was thinking it'll be good to throw at the muddy spots and raise a section of my driveway up about a foot. Looks like the bigger pieces are about 2x2x8..

Pictures of the 'shale' you are talking about would help a lot, it's called different things in different areas of the country.

When you said 2' pieces.....it made me think of what we call 'slate' down here in southwest Pennsyltucky, and it will break up easily when running over it, or with a hoe or bucket.

The 'slate' we have here will be ok for a couple years on a driveway, but it continues to break into smaller and smaller pieces til it becomes like soil.

[Farmwithjunk]

First thing....I'm not normally a big fan of Wikipedia, but in this instance, they did have a fairly good piece on shale.

Shale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The shale we have in this immediate area is "rotted" to the point where it's reasonable easy to grade, makes decent fill, and isn't terribly hard on tires.

While I was with the general contractor I spent 40+ years working for, we would routinely use it as base under parking lots, along with a host of other uses. Depending on where it was quarried, sometimes it was like a pile of razor blades and VERY rough on rubber tires.

[Don87]

First thing....I'm not normally a big fan of Wikipedia, but in this instance, they did have a fairly good piece on shale.

Shale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The shale we have in this immediate area is "rotted" to the point where it's reasonable easy to grade, makes decent fill, and isn't terribly hard on tires.

While I was with the general contractor I spent 40+ years working for, we would routinely use it as base under parking lots, along with a host of other uses. Depending on where it was quarried, sometimes it was like a pile of razor blades and VERY rough on rubber tires.

Some of the 'shale' (some call it slate here) we have here is the same. Just depends on where ya get it.

[RickB]

Shale in this area 'responds' well to medium sized dozer traffic while grading, and will make a great driveway or roadway surface if one likes a somewhat rustic look. But grading and pounding it into submission with a small CUT isn't going to be easy.