Need advice on equipment yard

[bdog1234]

We have about a half acre at our place by our shops where we load and unload equipment, park trailers, etc. Originally we put down asphalt millings and rolled it and it was like a paved road at first but most our equipment has rubber tracks and it it was tore up over time and turned into about 6” deep of loose crushed asphalt. Anytime you turned on a tracked machine or even in trucks it pushed material everywhere.

I pushed the asphalt off and brought in crushed concrete as a buddy told me it will compact well and hold up to the traffic. I spread it out and and because of where the trucks dumped it some places I had to push the material rather far to get it there. As a result some places have a good mix of fines and larger material but edges just have the larger material as the fines dropped out before I got there.

Here are a couple pictures. One is where there is a good mix of fines and the other is where there is larger stuff. I plan to wet it and roll it and then put 1” of small (3/4” minus) crushed rock on the top to keep dust down.

My concerns are the areas with no fines are not going to pack solid. Should I spread an inch of fines over the entire area before I put down the top coat?

 

[Bls repair]

I would just fines over the clean stone and wet and roll the crap out of it eventually it will get like concrete . Putting clean stone over it will get you back to where you are now , every time you turn you have a pile.IMHO

 

[bdog1234]

My only concern with that is it is dry as crap here. Hasn’t rained in two months. Dust is major concern. If I had a super solid base and then just an inch of small rock on top to keep the dust down it would be nice. We have a little drag we can pull behind an atv to smooth out the top coat weekly. My problem with asphalt is the drag couldn’t smooth out the 6” deep ruts

 

[AzIron]

During the summer I spray my yard down to settle the dust I put quarter minus decompose granite down getting it firmed up is the trick using water periodically keeps it that way

 

[suladas]

Have recycled concrete in mine, for the most part anytime tracked stuff is turning it will turn up some material, I just avoid trying to turn stuff much and smooth it out when it's getting bad. Besides for putting down actual concrete or asphalt, when turning equipment you're going to get some material moving no matter what. The biggest issue I have is trying to avoid tracking mud onto it from bringing muddy equipment back.

 

[bdog1234]

Yes I know it will not be indestructible and you have to use caution turning but I also know a solid well packed surface holds up a lot better than a loose one. What I have now is basically gravel that I can easily push around with my boot. I want a hard compacted surface.

I am not sure how they build them but I have done some work on oilfield well pads in west Texas and those things are so solid it is crazy. We tried to drive a sharpened round tent stake in one and couldn’t. Moved around and tried different spots and we might as well been trying to drive it into concrete. I want my yard like that. I have the equipment and time to do it I just am not sure if the right material

 

[suladas]

My yard is like that when trying to drive a pin in, was a nightmare setting up my temporary building, but there is still loose stuff on top that kicks around. I think the only chance of trying to get it hard on top would be soaking it down and packing it really well. Unless you maybe got a concrete company close by to bring in leftovers for free? I got a free concrete pad in my building that way.

 

[redneckracin]

You may be right about those well pads. I know in PA, we FDR the pads to get them solid enough for well activities. They usually add 60lb/sy to 100lbs/sy of cement then mix it into the soil. You basically end up with super soil or weak concrete, however you want to look at it. It was alot cheaper than haulong in stone, maintaining the stone, then hauling the stone back out to reclaim the pad at the end of active operations.

 

[John C.]

I used to maintain a used equipment yard that had a base of river silt. The owner of the place kept bringing in big stuff which did nothing but sink and the fines came to the top when machinery was moved the the rains had dumped. They brought in a soil stabilizer and mixed in some type of powder that hardened. Topped that with asphalt grindings and graded everything out with a steeper grade to get water to drain off instead of sitting. It held up better and longer but the river silt still won. I basically used a strategy of minimizing turning on tracked machines. All those were parked on a slant to each other. Travel in an out of the yard required a long turn. We made a heavy drag and used it twice a week. I used a grader at times to fill the holes that always get in there anyway. If there was a roller handy, I would compact without using the vibration. It just brought up the fines. It worked pretty well for the last four years that I worked there.

 

[CM1995]

What did you do with your asphalt millings? Do you still have it?

 

[colson04]

Yes I know it will not be indestructible and you have to use caution turning but I also know a solid well packed surface holds up a lot better than a loose one. What I have now is basically gravel that I can easily push around with my boot. I want a hard compacted surface.

I am not sure how they build them but I have done some work on oilfield well pads in west Texas and those things are so solid it is crazy. We tried to drive a sharpened round tent stake in one and couldn’t. Moved around and tried different spots and we might as well been trying to drive it into concrete. I want my yard like that. I have the equipment and time to do it I just am not sure if the right material

A lot of those well pads in West Texas were nothing more than the top soil bladed off and the caliche exposed and graded flat. There isn't much, if any, rock brought in as it's just another expense for a temporary site. There is a lot of clay in those pads and no moisture so they set up hard, right up until it rains. And then they become a disaster until they dry out again. If we got any measurable amount of rain they would rut horribly and have nasty sinkholes were the trucks or telehandler ran while muddy. We could go from hard and flat to non-passable in one rain event.

 

[CM1995]

A lot of those well pads in West Texas were nothing more than the top soil bladed off and the caliche exposed and graded flat. There isn't much, if any, rock brought in as it's just another expense for a temporary site. There is a lot of clay in those pads and no moisture so they set up hard, right up until it rains. And then they become a disaster until they dry out again. If we got any measurable amount of rain they would rut horribly and have nasty sinkholes were the trucks or telehandler ran while muddy. We could go from hard and flat to non-passable in one rain event.

A telehandler with a brick mason or a framer on it can destroy an 8:2:1 asphalt roadway....

 

[John C.]

We got the millings for nothing. Local road projects always need a place to get rid of the stuff. They didn't have to pay and we got free material. The millings went over the top of everything and was graded and rolled heavy. It worked great for the tire machines. The tracks ate it up pretty bad as after rolled it kind of tried to congeal together. When a track machine traveled through it, the stuff looked like a cookie cutter went through. If you left it alone, it was OK. If you turned any at all, the tailings busted up in chunks and the drag just pulled them off. It was still better than crushed with fines that would allow the rain to perk right through and turn everything to mud.

 

[cuttin edge]

We got the millings for nothing. Local road projects always need a place to get rid of the stuff. They didn't have to pay and we got free material. The millings went over the top of everything and was graded and rolled heavy. It worked great for the tire machines. The tracks ate it up pretty bad as after rolled it kind of tried to congeal together. When a track machine traveled through it, the stuff looked like a cookie cutter went through. If you left it alone, it was OK. If you turned any at all, the tailings busted up in chunks and the drag just pulled them off. It was still better than crushed with fines that would allow the rain to perk right through and turn everything to mud.

we sell millings for 30 bucks a ton. I don't like millings, once it packs, you can't grade it if it gets rough. For years, when we crushed quarry material, everything that went through the jaw, passed over an inch and a half screen. The material was mostly wasted, as it was unsuitable for asphalt. we now use it for asphalt prep as a base material, as it packs so hard that you can't even drive the pin into it for doing compaction tests. The D7G hardly marks it, even turning, within reason, won't mark it.

 

[John C.]

We got a wide range of dozers and excavators come through that yard. D3 to D11, log loaders, excavators up to 365 and larger. In the wet season, before all that was done you could drive in there with a two wheel drive but chances are you would have to get pulled out.

 

[suladas]

A telehandler with a brick mason or a framer on it can destroy an 8:2:1 asphalt roadway....

I swear those dumba$$es could tear up a 12" thick concrete pad somehow. Haul dirt out with tandem dump trucks, virtually no ruts. Framers come in, every inch of the site is rutted to hell, some 2' deep. Happens almost every single time.

 

[Theweldor]

Two things you can mix with the soil to stiffen it up. Hydrated lime or portland cement. A heavy duty rototiller or soil stabilizer is need to mix it in.

 

[CM1995]

we sell millings for 30 bucks a ton. I don't like millings, once it packs, you can't grade it if it gets rough. For years, when we crushed quarry material, everything that went through the jaw, passed over an inch and a half screen. The material was mostly wasted, as it was unsuitable for asphalt. we now use it for asphalt prep as a base material, as it packs so hard that you can't even drive the pin into it for doing compaction tests. The D7G hardly marks it, even turning, within reason, won't mark it.

That 1.5" minus material here is called dense grade base. 6" under standard duty pavement and 8" under heavy duty - great stuff. It's cheaper per ton than washed rock here and 8910 which is basically stone dust.

 

[CM1995]

I got lucky on my yard as we had a limestone rock hammering job at the same time we were grading out the lot.

Took a thousand or so yards of red clay off the site to bring the lot up and topped it with the hammered limestone which was the consistency of surge rock - #1's down to fines.



I was able to get around 40 loads of this material to top out the red clay. It wasn't clean as quarry rock but it went down well. Rolled it in with our 533E with the pad shell off. Over the last 2 years we've topped it with a couple of loads of 8910 (stone dust). We bring lowboys in and out all the time with equipment and the tires don't even leave a mark.

 

[cuttin edge]

That 1.5" minus material here is called dense grade base. 6" under standard duty pavement and 8" under heavy duty - great stuff. It's cheaper per ton than washed rock here and 8910 which is basically stone dust.

Here on government roads, it's two 9 inch compacted lifts of 3 inch minus, then a 6 inch lift of 1.25 inch minus. Our 1.5 inch scalped material won't pass the spec for government roads so we just use it for private parking lots and driveways. Sometimes we use a mixture of the scalped material, and waste material from the asphalt plant. pretty much asphalt without any liquid. Really dusty, as it has been through the plant, and had the moisture removed. Really good stuff in a wet area.