Best/cheapest base material for stone?

IHDiesel73L · Jul 11, 2011

I have about 1500 SF of my yard that I want to cover in stone because it's the area where I back my truck in from the driveway and dump logs/rounds for processing into firewood. Between the truck tires, the wood laying around, dragging, rolling, walking, etc...the pieces to splitter the grass is long dead and it's become a muddy mess. For the top layer of stone I'm going to go with a blend of 3/4 river rock and dust or "crusher run" as it's sometimes called, but that's going to run me $40 a yard, so I'm trying to find an economical base material that will keep it from sinking into the ground and will allow me to only use enough river rock to provide a nice top dressing. What is the best way to go-crushed concrete? Recycled asphalt, etc...?

MotorSeven · Jul 11, 2011

"Crusher Run" is by far the cheapest here. $40 a yard? It's $5-7 a ton here depending on the quarry + delivery. 10 ton usually runs me $140 delivered.

IHDiesel73L · Jul 11, 2011

MotorSeven said:
"Crusher Run" is by far the cheapest here. $40 a yard? It's $5-7 a ton here depending on the quarry + delivery. 10 ton usually runs me $140 delivered.

Sorry-I should have clarified-$40 a yard is for crusher run blended with the 3/4 river rock. I like the look of the river rock, but I want the surface to be fairly solid, so the crusher run will bind it. I'm not sure how much per yard crusher is by itself. So you're saying that crusher laid down first would make a good base?

BeezFun · Jul 11, 2011

Around here I see guys using ground up asphalt that comes off road repaving in the area. I don't know if they just go tell the company they'll take it for free because they're so close to the jobsite, or if you can actually buy the stuff. Not sure if they use these machines in all parts of the country, but they grind the asphalt right off the road and spit it out the back into a waiting truck that hauls it away. Look like about the right size for what you're trying to do.

MotorSeven · Jul 11, 2011

"So you're saying that crusher laid down first would make a good base?"

It's actually not bad by itself, depending on the "blend". Some loads are lots of real coarse sand, others have #57 & smaller mixed in, the last load I got had 2-3" rock in it. I think Crusher run is a by product(what falls thru the equipment & off the conveyor belts) of making other sized stone... so it varies in size depending on what they are crushing at the time. I'd go take a look at the quarry & see what it looks like. If it has some larger(#57) stuff in it, then yes it makes a good base and it's cheap.