Rubble for driveway?

[RichZ]

I have a long, steep, circular dirt driveway, and was thinking of covering it with gravel, until a friend suggested "rubble". He told me its the leftovers of cut stone, and is the perfect thing for driveways and parking areas, because it packs down real well. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff, and an idea what it costs? It's got to be cheaper than gravel.

Thanks,

Rich

 

[Von]

It sounds like what we call crusher run or crushed stone. Its 0's, 1's and dust. Packs down real well and gets hard as a rock if there is alot of dust in it. It is more money than bank run gravel as there is machine cost into it. We use it as a topper on stone drives over a gravel base. About 12" of gravel compacted and 4-6" of crusher run on top. Thats how most stone driveways are done here.

 

[RobS]

Rich, even if it's more than gravel you'll be happier with it. As Von mentioned, it will pack down because of the various sizes and the dust. Gravel will just keep rolling around /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MarkV]

Rich,
We use crusher run around here also. Its about the only thing that will hold on steeper grades and with a good base under it becomes very solid. The only thing I didn't like was that the stone dust tends to track into the house when wet. We solve that by putting a thin layer of "57" stone down on top of the crusher run.

MarkV

 

[patrickg]

Uh, what's 57 run?

I was offered the dregs from readymix trucks by local redimix company. Trucks return to base with some mix still in them. They wash it out in a (dare I say it) wash out area and let it accumulate and dry. Most cement is gone, mostly gravel and sand left. It is a waste product to them and they will sell it cheap. My question is, is it any good as driveway material? If it is any good at all, should it be used first then topped with "crusher run" or what? Is it worth getting, or so poor as to waste your time and resources employing it? Wouldn't it be grand if the residual cement fines acted similarly to the dust in crusher run?

Anybody ever use it, hear the results of using it, or have an oppinion about using it?

Patrick

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Something similar to "rubble" are the cinders from your local coal power plant. We used them for years. They were glad to get rid of it and it compacted very well, it was dustless so it didn't get tracked into the house. They make a good looking road too, kind of like blacktop once its compacted.

After they upgraded the furnace to a higher effecency the amount of cinders greatly decreased and the smaller size made them unusable.

Anyway just a thought.

 

[ERNIEB]

Patrick, I know the stuff your talking about, but I've never heard of it being for much of anything. In our area, heat is the biggest problem with concrete, and the trucks will try to wash out on or very near the jobsite. It then becomes the contractors problem. Some companies will have a large hole near the batching plants where trucks can wash out. I've never heard of any of them trying to salvage it.
But, I have hauled broken up concrete, from drives, slabs, and the like, to a place that is crushing it, removing the wire and rebar, and selling the product. I have never seen it used, and don't know what it's being used for.
IMO, for a driveway, your material needs some kind of binder. In these parts, the material used most is crushed limestone road base. It is either 3/4" to dust, or 1 3/4" to dust. Depending on other factors the 1 3/4" to dust is classified as #2 or commercial base, #1, state grade, or FAA. The #2 is relatively inexpensive, and is fine for driveways. This is probably what all of you are calling "crusher run" except that yours is probably made from granite.
The problem with any materrial that has a binder in it, is dust. Depending on the material you might end up with a little dust or alot. I have seen some people, who are so adverse to the dust, that they outline their driveways with railroad ties, 2X4's, or other things then fill in with loose washed gravel. To each his own.

Ernie

 

[GlueGuy]

There's some stuff the locals call "#2 recycle" here that is made from concrete that's been recovered from demolition sites and old concrete hiways. It's bascially concrete that has been run through the crusher to 1" and fines. They add some lime to it, so when it gets wet, it sets up real hard (for a gravel drive). We love it.

There are two quarries near here. One is real close, the other down the hill. The close one has relatively low-grade basalt crusher run stuff that tends to have a lot of clay in it. The quarry down the hill sells the #2 recycle and other high-quality crush. We will usually opt to pay to haul up the hill rather than deal with the basalt/clay stuff.

The GlueGuy

 

[jinman]

I have a cousin who hauls rock and one of these days (when he gets around to it) he is going to get me "spillage" from a concrete plant. Spillage is not what is left over, but what misses the concrete truck and falls on the ground. It gets sand and concrete mixed in, but of course it is inconsistent in percentages. Where I am located (19 miles from the rock crusher) any kind of limestone road base is cheap. I have a friend who lives in a county along the Red River between OK and TX and he got a load of pink granite chips for his driveway. That stuff is nice. It seems to self-bind and very little dust. He said it came out of OK. Patrickg -- Have you seen any of that stuff?

JimI

 

[patrickg]

Ernie, Thanks for the reply. Being of Irish and Scotch-Irish decent (and a bit of the native aboriginal or whatever euphemism is PC for indian these days) I tend toward the thrifty. Thought it would be cheaper way to fill holes and prepare for more expensive stuff. Actually we have a gravel pit a couple miles away, product is not so great and is too expensive. Cheaper to have it hauled in from Davis, OK down by Sulphur, OK. There are different companies there with extensive rock quarries. They are quarrying a large limestone formation, a part of the Arbuckle Mountains, I think.. We have big rigs going back and forth all day through this little burg on US hwy 177, filled north bound and empty goin' south.

I understand you want the fines included as they filter down through the gravel and mix with the soil underneath forming a sort of amalgam that is pretty solid and washout resistant, especially when covered by gravel.

Doesn't the dust wash out of the gravel with a few rains? I'd as soon have a driveway out of ball bearings as smooth gravel, about the same traction and not easy to walk on. Does the FAA designation imply the use of the product on graveled runways?

Patrick