Filling & Compacting Materials... |
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If you are looking for some material to fill a hole, stabilize some boggy ground or prepare an area for a concrete slab or pavers then there is a complete range of products to choose from, sourced from a wide range of quarries and plants in South East Queensland. As with all bulk materials at Centenary Landscaping Supplies, the filling and compacting materials are available on site at Darra and can be bought in any amount that suits your project … from one shovel full, a trailer full or a few truck loads that can be delivered to your job site at an agreed time 7 days a week. To confirm the quantity you need, give the Office a call on 3373 4990 and we will be able to help work out the volume required.
So what products are available?
And what are they used for?
Roadbase
Here is one of the most versatile products we have. It is basically a crushed blue/grey rock around 20mm in size with smaller sized rock particles right down to "fines" mixed in. This blend of sizes enables this product to be compacted down extremely hard and it’s the "fines" that help “bind” the rock together giving a firm stable surface to work with. So for a boggy driveway that needs stabilizing, to preparing a hard surface to lay your pavers on, this is an ideal product to use.
As well as its compactability, another measure of a roadbase’s quality is its CBR rating. This stands for the “California Bearing Ratio” and refers to the actual strength of the rock itself. Obviously for any area that requires a hard surface, it is important that the rock used does not disintegrate under load (e.g. a car) so we make sure that we supply a roadbase with a CBR of 45 or higher and one that is used extensively by road builders around Brisbane.
Two final notes about the use of roadbase: firstly, remember that when it is compacted it will reduce in volume, for example, if you compact a 100mm layer it will reduce to between 75-80mm; secondly, to get the best compaction possible, make sure that the material is wet, as this helps all the "fines" bind tightly with the larger stones ….. just what you want.
Crusher Dust
From the same quarry and the same blue/grey colour but crusher dust is made up of all "fines". Crusher dust, if wet sufficiently, will also compact down hard and will give a smoother finished surface than roadbase because it is a finer particle size, but will not be as strong. One way that both roadbase and crusher dust can be made more “durable” as a finished surface on a driveway or carparking area, is by mixing cement (called stabilizing) with it. How much to use is up to the individual but around 4-8 bags is what many tradesmen use. Crusher dust is also used under concrete slabs or to back fill trenches. One area to be careful with is laying pavers as many manufacturers stipulate that crusher dust should NOT be used under their pavers otherwise the warranty will be null and void …. Stick to using bedding sand is the best advice.
Decomposed Granite
Often called “Deco” and is generally an orange/brown coloured material that is quite fine (about 3mm and less) and if you imagine the finish on a clay tennis court, then that will give you a good idea as to what it looks like. Deco can be used as a compacting material but is nowhere near as efficient as roadbase or even crusher dust. Because of this, it is sometimes used as a thin “finishing” layer over the top of a compacted roadbase path to give the preferred natural look of Deco, in fact many bush walking tracks use Deco as a finishing layer e.g. Mt Cootha bush trails.
Recycled Concrete Products
Of recent times, old concrete is being recycled and used to manufacture a whole range of products that include a manufactured roadbase and a manufactured crusher dust. These products may well not have the strength of their natural counterparts, or the same compactability, but they are definitely more economical.
Scrapings
When you need to fill an area with a soil based fill that doesn’t need to be compacted or, in fact, you would like to act as a subsoil to a new planting area, then ask about the ”Yard Scrapings” that we have. Basically, all the soil, sand, gravel, etc. that falls off truck, trailers and loaders is cleaned up and stored in a stockpile and sold as exactly what the name suggests …. a basic fill to help level out uneven ground. So come and check it out before you buy as it can vary in its appearance.
