Driveway Make Over

[Texas Dodge]

My wife works for a company that sells ash from the coal plant here in town. We decided to purchase some and try it out. Her boss gave us a 25% employee discount. We needed 50 yds of material for the driveway and also I put it in my tractor shed as well. This is what they call TOP or screened bottom ash. No dust and no more muddy driveway, does not stick to your shoes either.

This is what the actual product looks like close up.

 

[actionaj]

Looks like it made nice driveway. I didn't know you could use coal ash for this. I know they use it in concrete but I always thought of it being really fine or brittle like cinders.

 

[sixdogs]

Excellent job and great pride in workmanship. Congrats on a good-looking and smooth drive and parking area.

 

[Eightpoint]

Nice job! Looks like you have the hang of using your box blade to get a good finish. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Texas Dodge]

Looks like it made nice driveway. I didn't know you could use coal ash for this. I know they use it in concrete but I always thought of it being really fine or brittle like cinders.

They do use fly ash in concrete

 

[LBrown59]

My wife works for a company that sells ash from the coal plant here in town. We decided to purchase some and try it out. Her boss gave us a 25% employee discount. We needed 50 yds of material for the driveway and also I put it in my tractor shed as well. This is what they call TOP or screened bottom ash. No dust and no more muddy driveway, does not stick to your shoes either.

This is what the actual product looks like close up.

Fine lookin job.
I use slag from a local steel mill.
It works better than gravel or stone
It goes farther and cost less per ton too.

 

[Texas Dodge]

Fine lookin job.
I use slag from a local steel mill.
It works better than gravel or stone
It goes farther and cost less per ton too.

This screen bottom ash is only $7.00 a yard

 

[asylum575]

Nice job,
Another example of how useful a box blade is. Made the job come out looking very finished.

 

[LBrown59]

This screen bottom ash is only $7.00 a yard

The slag I bought last summer was under $3.75 a ton.
It's light compared to gravel or stone so it takes a lot more of it to make a ton.
A ton of it spread 4'' thick will will cover a lot larger sq foot area than a ton of stone or gravel spread 4'' deep.
You save 2 ways with the slag.
You get more of it per ton and a ton covers a bigger area.

 

[actionaj]

Just curious if the slag or the ash pulverizes after a while?

 

[mikim]

Will it ever pack? or stay loose? maybe after we get some of that stuff that falls from the sky...whatta call it? oh yeah -- rain.

 

[Texas Dodge]

The slag I bought last summer was under $3.75 a ton.
It's light compared to gravel or stone so it takes a lot more of it to make a ton.
A ton of it spread 4'' thick will will cover a lot larger sq foot area than a ton of stone or gravel spread 4'' deep.
You save 2 ways with the slag.
You get more of it per ton and a ton covers a bigger area.

A cubic yard of the ash weighs around 1900 lbs.

 

[Texas Dodge]

Will it ever pack? or stay loose? maybe after we get some of that stuff that falls from the sky...whatta call it? oh yeah -- rain.

Yes it will pack down nicely after getting rain on it as well as driving on it too.

 

[LBrown59]

Just curious if the slag or the ash pulverizes after a while?

The Slag won't.
I don't know about the ash.
I'd never heard of the ash.
I'd like to try some of it but I don't know where I could get it around here.

 

[dirtworksequip]

LBrown, you ought to get yourself some of that pretty green slag they sell at the Magnessium Plant, South of Marietta. Where are you getting slag for $3.75 a ton?

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[LBrown59]

A cubic yard of the ash weighs around 1900 lbs.

I'd like to try ash but have no idea if i can get it around here.

 

[Texas Dodge]

Here's a link to their website:

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[robertk]

This ash looks like great stuff and I thought the power plants had a hard time getting rid it. whish I had some coal fired plants near me.

 

[LBrown59]

This ash looks like great stuff and I thought the power plants had a hard time getting rid it. whish I had some coal fired plants near me.

I have 2 within 25 mile of me .

 

[weedsportpete]

We paid $4.25 per ton for slag; plant is 10 miles away. I heard the same thing - it will not compact, and you still should get crush run on top, which will compact. I asked if you need the 4 inches of crush run that you normally do, in order to get enough depth to compact tightly and 'permanently' and I was told no, you didn't need as much. Maybe two inches of crush run. I'm not sure I believe that. I thought the compacting / 'locking' required 4 inches of the same type of material (crush run). So this slag seems to be a temporary repair kind of material - which we wanted. I'd still like to get crush run in the spring. The advice I've heard before, from here, is to have a compacted base before putting down crush run. So if this slag does not compact, how can I get a compacted base?

Pete