Washed Limestone as top dressing for roadbase in Central Texas?

[FM504]

I had about 500 cu/yds of decomposed granite brought into my place when I built my road, it spreads well and packs excellent.

 

[LD1]

1-1/2 limestone WILL lock together. In ohio we call that #4's. It is what I top-dressed my shop drive with.

Crushed with-fines does lock together better. But around here many dont like that for a topcoat because its "dusty" and you track alot of limestone dust in your house from your shoes and such. But for a road it would be fine.

Typical top dressing around here is either #8's or #57's. #8's are pea sized but unlike gravel, limestone does somewhat lock in. But you dont want a 4" layer of the stuff. Its just a top-coating. 1" is plenty. #57's are a little bigger. ~3/4" stuff. Same principal....just a thin layer.

I'd avoid the concrete. Around here it isnt any better than limestone, and as others mentioned....no guarantee of getting all the metal out. One flat tire as a result and any savings just went out the window. And the limestone lasts just as long, if not longer.

 

[rademamj]

Here in CentralTexas, i just completed 850 feet of road using crushed limestone, with 1 1/2" crushed lime at the base averaging 4" thick, and followed with a 3/4" crushed limestone layer averging 2" thick as topping. Then followed that up with 100 bags of Portland cement that was equally distributed across the entire 850 feet of road.

The first rains soaked the road, and about a week later, the entire road was setup like concrete. The crushed limestone and lime dust, combined with the Portland cement, and filled all the openings between the crushed limestone, and throughly binds the entire aggregate together into a really tough and durable road.

 

[oosik]

When I was young and lived with my folks in Omak, WA - everybody used crushed granite as the top dressing. The more you drove on it - the harder the surface got. It was the size of "regulars size dice" and smaller. It never seemed to grind up. Most would add a little more every 5-8 years and rake it out. Most driveways were 100' or less.

 

[YLee Kioti]

my neighbor drives a maintainer for the county. Was talking to him about our drive and adding dirt for the water to fall away from the edges of the drive etc.
He mentioned that it takes three soakings for the work to thoroughly set up. So I used 1/4" crushed limestone to fill in the gaps of the large crushed rock base and build up grade elevation. I used a hose to soak it and still tracked in the dust.
This weekend we had about 1.5 inch of rainfall man is it packed hard and no dust tracks into the shop/living area.
So just food for thought, 3 soakings for a good set up.
Keep in mind this is his feedback to me I'm on this steep learning journey .....heh...

 

[rademamj]

When I was young and lived with my folks in Omak, WA - everybody used crushed granite as the top dressing. The more you drove on it - the harder the surface got. It was the size of "regulars size dice" and smaller. It never seemed to grind up. Most would add a little more every 5-8 years and rake it out. Most driveways were 100' or less.

Crushed granite works really great as a gravel road. Highly durable. In New York and Maine, that is all we used for gravel roads. But it's almost impossible to get crushed granite in most states. Nearly 95% of gravel roads in Texas is crushed limestone or calieche, the other 5% is crushed shale, packed and rolled. Calieche is mainly weathered limestone, and seems to be the favorite gravel base of most oil and gas companies in West Texas for their drilling pads and rig roads.

 

[Friend Of Coal]

Limestone and crushed concrete vary in quality based on region. I will defer to Eddie in Texas, but in Ohio limestone is superior to crushed concrete

Limestone is soft rock? Concrete has a compressive strength of +- 4000 psi while limestone is 15,000+. Limestone is very durable rock. It only degrades in the presence of acidic solutions.

 

[EddieWalker]

There are a few quarries in East Texas that the limestone comes from. All of it contains seashell fossils. I first bought from the closest quarry that had a dark gray color to it. That stone disintegrated after a few years. The rock from Terrell costs more, but its held up a lot better. Crushed concrete is much better in every way, especially in compaction and shedding water.

 

[Friend Of Coal]

There are a few quarries in East Texas that the limestone comes from. All of it contains seashell fossils. I first bought from the closest quarry that had a dark gray color to it. That stone disintegrated after a few years. The rock from Terrell costs more, but its held up a lot better. Crushed concrete is much better in every way, especially in compaction and shedding water.

Yeah that’s not real limestone. Sounds like something use to mulch the flower bed with. Someone trying to pass mulch off as gravel. Limestone in Kentucky is very durable.