dirt floor pole building

[Tscott]

Mark_in_ NH & carlNH, Some people may also refer to this material as crush & run. here in northern Nh its the term i hear used most. I have my driveway topped with it and now its like cement. its my understanding that alot of the material around here originates from ledge that had to be removed. it is then crushed down to various sizes. The same material is used to line drainage ditches or culvert areas like those you see on the interstate. Chunks of blue rock instead of the fine stuff with the dust.

 

[TerryinMD]

We used reclaimed asphalt (millings - the stuff ground off of the asphalt road by those big milling grinders) on the roads in our subdivisions. It has it's pluses and minuses.

Plus:

- Cheap
- Easy to work with

Minus:

- the older the road the less tar in the milling. The millings have a hard time binding.
- need to compact to bind
- tends to fall apart in winter when moisture is present

If you use millings, you can get some binding by using diesel fuel, kerosene, or used motor oil (make sure that the environmental ****'s are not present /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif). Just spray a light coat of the previous an let it set in for awhile. It is good to compact while the binder is still wet. I would not use this method in a closed structure (especially if you smoke) /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.

Additionally, using asphalt may be just as expensive as concrete in my estimation.

Terry

 

[Carl_NH]

T.Scott,

Sounds right, I was just curious about the blue stone piece since it's not indigenous to the region that I am aware, from what I recall it's a bit softer than our ledge in NH.

We did a second well a few years back, 500' all ledge, got a nice pile of "crush" about 5 yards or so and we used it for the patio's and walkways etc. Very expensive stuff when getting it this way about $700 per yard. Then that hole in the ground made 1.5 GPM so we had it hydro fractured - now have 20GPM.

Thanks for the info.

Carl

 

[kyoders]

Carl,

What is hydro-fracturing? One well here hit water at 110', producing a whopping 1 gal/min. They went another 300' to provide a "resorvoir", but it's still pretty easy to run this thing dry, and cleaning out the sand/debris is a major pain. I've never heard of anything that can "cure" a slow well and am very interested.

Kevin

 

[Tscott]

CarlNH, Good thing the hydrofracking worked for you, 20gal/min is good. When I had my well done the well guys refered to that fine blueish green material as bedrock dust, probably the same thing. i got lucky with my well, we went 200 ft and got 6.5 gal/min. we decided to go 300 and stop there regardless, now we get 30 gal/min. Definently worth the 100 ft.

 

[Casimir]

Here in central VA, when I asked for blue stone, they asked if I wanted "crusher run" or gravel. Crusher run is just as it comes out of the limestone crushers they use in the quarries here -- still has the fines mixed in before they screen out the gravel. I have used it for a floor in a building and horse stalls, as well as driveways. Once smoothed, watered (rain or hose) and tamped or driven over, it sets up nearly like contrete. It should be available from nearly any quarry that crushes limestone. "Dust" is what they call the fines after they screen out the larger gravel.

 

[pajoube]

I have been reading this thread and can only hope that this type of product is available in Montana. It would be perfect for a floor in the pole barn.
PJ

 

[Carl_NH]

Kevin,

Sorry to have taken so long to reply, been reparin fence the deer knocked down today - no tractor time..

Hydro fracking is a process by which a well co. puts a boot or seal in your well casing about 40-50' down then injects air & water below this point under pressure to crack fissures into the bedrock releasing the water. Typical pressuse are 2500-3000 PSI..

This process is not for all wells pending the local subsurface conditions and geo structure. I would talk to a few drillers and get some feedback from local drills. In our area either you hit it or not, because 1/2 mile away they got 50 GPM at 150'. It's a matter of hitting the vein or "hydrofracking" your way to one.

If you have sand likely it's softer subsurface than here, so they would "frac" the well lower if there is bedrock to produce more water. Cost is about $1500-2000. Darned expensive well but worth it in the end.

So you have 3 choices, drill a new well (second one) and get a guarantee of X GPM complete with a pump tank etc, probably $4000 range (the local drillers guarantee this) or frack your well, or stay with what youve got.

In my case the guys that did the well did the fracking too, so after the first $3500 in the hole they agreed to hydro frac N/C if they could not triple the flow (1.5 to 4.5 GPM) it was a freebie.

Carl

 

[kyoders]

Carl,

Thanks for the info. I'll do some calling around to the local drillers. The house was bought 1 year after it was finished, so the only info we had on the well came from the builder, who has proven to be somewhat spotty on memory. The house is right at the top of the hill (actually, I guess it's a ridge of a small mountain), and the next lot over had the same 1 g/min. We may end up buying that lot, and if we do, it might be a good opportunity to see what the drillers can do. Thanks again.

Kevin