New kind of Road: Till, Spray, Roll

[txdon]

A friend of mine is going to make a road out of this product.

PolyPavement: Natural Soil Pavement - Liquid Soil Solidifier

They were wondering if anyone has use or has had any experience with the POLYPAVEMENT material.

The cost varies by the quality of road you need.
PolyPavement: Natural Soil Pavement - Liquid Soil Solidifier
How does this cost compare to asphalt?

I'll try to get some pictures of the installation process to see if it could be done with a compact tractor, a tiller and a roller.

Thanks!

[tuolumne]

I've never heard of this product - for comparison, in 2002 prices, our current driveway (300 feet with turnaround) cost $1.15 per square foot for ashphalt I understand this to have been a very good price. I can't imagine such a product being comparible to asphalt, but at a fraction of the cost...

[Bill Barrett]

Man thanks for the link, I called them already for more info!

[texasjohn]

Hmm... I'll have to go do this soil test... I got it from their site... I think that the critical element is having soil that fits item 5 and 6 completely. TxDon, how is the soil your friend is using... does it pass this test?
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SOIL SUITABILITY TEST INSTRUCTIONS:
1. SCOOP UP A SPADE FULL of representative soil. If the soil has sufficient moisture for compacting, go to
Step 3. If the soil is too dry for compacting, go to Step 2. If the soil is too wet or too muddy for compacting,
allow the soil to dry a bit before doing this test.
2. MOISTEN THE SOIL with water while mixing it with the hand spade until it is moistened to the point of being
ready for compacting.
3. SQUEEZE A HANDFUL of the moistened soil tightly and then open the hand. Observe the handful of soil.
4. IF THE SOIL FAILS TO CLUMP and does not hold together when the hand is opened, the soil is not suitable
for PolyPavement treatment.
5. IF THE SOIL CLUMPS AND HOLDS TOGETHER in one piece, leaving no free pebbles or soil in the hand,
then take both hands and gently break the soil clump in half.
6. IF THE SOIL CLUMP BREAKS INTO TWO CLEAN PIECES, the soil has sufficient natural cohesiveness
and it is suitable for PolyPavement treatment.
7. IF THE CLUMP BREAKS APART IN SEVERAL PIECES, the soil is borderline and requires the addition of
more fines or the concentration PolyPavement should be increased.
THE LACK OF NATURAL COHESIVENESS is usually due to the soil having too few fine particles to provide
the necessary particle contact points for efficient binding, as with gravel.
THE LACK OF NATURAL COHESIVENESS could also be due to soil contamination. Though rare, oily
residuals from herbicide applications or other petro-chemicals can cause the soil to lose its natural
cohesiveness.


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[txdon]

texasjohn, her land is mostly sand. I saw the test also and will advise her to clump the wet dirt to see if it is good soil for this type of road. She will be using it for a taxi way for their grass runway and they are thinking that 2" would be a sufficient depth.

[Greyfields]

I am a civil engineer by day, farmer by night. I have experience with this product. A City I do work for used it to stabilize a crushed rock (5/8 minus) shoulder for pedestrians/bikes. What we found is that a few cars ran off the edge and were able to break into it with ruts. Once the ruts were there, it all snowballed and broke apart. We leveled it again with a grader and ended up paving with asphalt. It made a great base!

I'd say go with a more permanent surfacing if you can at all afford it.

[texasjohn]

Interesting practical experience testamonial, Gary. I noticed that all the photos from the web site were level ground or barely sloping... also looked like the ground was highly homogenous and quite fine material, although some what difficult to ascertain just from the photos.

[jeffinsgf]

Here's another one:

http://www.soiltac.com/index.php


Looks like they're landing C-130's on runways made of this stuff in the desert....ought to handle a private plane.

I have been seriously thinking about trying soiltac out later this summer.

[JamesKubota]

Given the following statement from the soiltac site....

By adjusting the application rate, Soiltac® can remain effective from weeks to several years.

I feel you probably need to consider reaplication at some time, or replacement with a more permanent solution.

If it does need reapplied, do you just spray over the existing surface, or till it up and start over?

[VABlue]

Don't count on a C130 landing on that stuff... And actually, the plane in that picture is a C5 - the 2nd largest cargo plane in the world. It takes a heavy duty ~10,000' runway to bring one of those in safely. Soiltac won't cut it... The stuff is probably being sprayed over the concrete to keep down dust/sand buildup.