Using limestone sand for a driveway

[Mosey]

In the thread Detaching FEL on non-concrete surface, Grub pointed out the idea of using limestone sand for a pavement-like hard surface for a driveway. Has anyone done this? What are the pros and cons compared to ashphalt?

 

[gerard]

Not sure what he means by limestone sand but if its the same as what we call stone dust up here it works well as a topping over running crush or 1-2 inch stone. I wouldn't use it by itself since it will still get mushy when saturated by water (ie spring, long boughts of rain etc) The stone dust is the finest screenings that are left after rock goes through the crushing operation. It has particles larger than sand grains that are mixed with really fine dust. It packs better than sand due to the different size particles locking together. But as I said, it would make a good topping but I wouldn't just lay on top of dirt or you'll just have a different consistency of mud in the spring.

 

[gsganzer]

My 300' driveway is made with Limestone stonedust (Actually called 1/2" but it is much finer then 1/2"). It's like concrete after it gets wet and compacted. I don't have any problem with it getting soft when it rains. It can be dusty. Someone told me to spread some dry concrete mix with a fertilizer spreader the next time I grade it and it should help bind up the dust after it gets wet. The limestone looks and works great.

I saw some people arguing about "crown vs. non-crown" when building a drive. In my experience the only places that seem to settle and make potholes is where water is allowed to puddle. The last time I graded, I crowned the drive and sloped some other parts to prevent any puddles. I haven't had to re-grade for 4 years now.

 

[PitbullMidwest]

When we bought our property we used limestone as a road surface because a friend owned property with an old limestome quarry and gave us all we wanted. It packs hard as a rock but it doesn't take very much rain to soften it up. The up side is that even when it is wet holds together well and doesn't erode very much.

We top coated the limestone with coal cinders from our local power plant (freebie again) and had an inexpensive /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif and visually attractive road (looked like blacktop). Unfortunately, after the power palnt upgraded their burner the cinder is no longer useable for roads since most of the cinder is reduced to ash.

The roads on the farm built this way have held up much better than those built using other methods.

Pros from my use: 1. cheap 2. rock hard surface (when dry)
Cons: 1. softens easily with rain 2. ruts when wet, and then dries hard as a rock 3. it tracks in the house on shoes when wet and then dries hard as a rock

 

[herbenus]

"Spread cement with a fertilizer..." That's a good idea. I was thinking about spreading cement on my drive, but hadn't come up with a good way to do it. This is one time when I better clean out the fertilizer when I'm done...

 

[KRECKER]

I have just completed a 300 ft driveway 16 ft wide with crush limestone. The limestone I used was called a 57 grade which has stones approx 1" and smaller. Now there is a 6/10 grade which has what are called "fines", which is the dust which when wet will harden pretty good, but the problem is that it will track into your wife's house if you don't swipe you feet. My next door neighbor owns a construction company and has a concrete crusher which he recyles and crushes concrete from demolition jobs. He uses this to prepare a fill for parking lots and roadways. I got a couple loads of this stuff delivered, but the problem with is that some of the aggregate is larger than 3" to 4" . I put this stuff down as a base around my shop to make sure that it would set up for the limestone. It worked just fine, but now I am glad that I did not use it on the rest of the driveway, due to the larger pieces of concrete coming to the top after the limestone was put on. The driveway looks and is smooth, and so is the area around the shop, but the driveway really looks the best. The limestone will not crawl like washed gravel does and also is better looking.
Just my two cents worth.


Don

 

[WCarlson]

Gerard,
Where did you get your limestone dust? Kinsella lists limestone stone sand from Tully at $11.00 per ton, is it the same as the dust? I would like to find a closer source.
Bill