New kind of Road: Till, Spray, Roll

[Bill Barrett]

Are we to the old point: If sounds to good to be true?

 

[Toiyabe]

Seen their website before. It may not be a scam, but they are over-selling it.

The Army Corps "recommendations" are for use as a dust control agent, not a stabilizer. IMHO the manufacturer is intentionally misleading folks about that. Nice that you have to actually click to enlarge the photo of the Army Corps report cover to read that it says "Evaluation of Methods for Controlling Dust".

I'd stay away from it myself.

 

[texasjohn]

Thanks, Toiyabe, for reading the fine print..... I enlarged it, but missed that point I bet it does work fine for dust control.

 

[Ryszard]

I'm the guy who was referanced in the first post, who is building a runway with Polypavement. I've done a little work with it so far and am about to start on the ramp for the hangar.

I'm very interested in exchanging information with anyone else who was actual exprience with the product.

Ryszard

 

[Toiyabe]

Up until recently, legitimate soil stabilization options were limited to Portland cement, lyme, flyash and bituminous materials (tar or asphalt). Different options work better in different situations. I haven't followed this field closely in the last few years, but I go to enough conferences that I think I'd have heard about something new that really works.

Dust control agents can tighten up a surface, but don't add real load carrying capacity and wash away over time. Traditional dust control agents (such as salts) work by preventing the soil surface from totally drying out. I think these polymers work the same way, which is why they can only be used with a cohesive soil. I.e. it's the soil's natural cohesion that is doing the work, the "stabilizer" is just trapping the moisture necessary to keep it cohesive.

 

[texasjohn]

Well, at the moment, in Central Texas, moisture trapping isn't a big deal.... it's been wet all year so far... and big rains again today. However, typically, soil moisture is sadly lacking.... deep down... cracks sometimes more than a foot into the clay soil... So, I'd think it tough to get this to be really effective, particularly in Houston Black Clay... I'm willing to learn, but am putting my money on toiyabe, who sounds like he's up on his soil stabilization products.

 

[SimS]

VABlue;

The plane is a C-17, but I do agree with you, probably using the stuff for temporary landing strips or dust control.

SimS

 

[Investorguy]

I too have looked into this stuff. I was thinking of running this stuff through my sprayer to create a walking path around my property... nothing more than a stroller or bike would go on it. I have REALLY wet soil and w/ a lot of clay. Would it be better to lay down 5/8ths on top to create the path then spray that?

it seems like for creating a 1/2 mile or so walking/biking trail, this might be a really cost effective option for something that is really high quality.

 

[VABlue]

For that application, I'd say go for it. What could happen, you have to redo it next year? It may be cost effective enough to keep doing that if you had crushed stone in place. It's certainly worth looking into for a walking path. An aircraft runway/taxiway? probably not...