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Use MOT as ballast for concrete ?
JimK wrote:
On Mar 28, 1:02 am, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On 27 Mar, 13:16, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 10:09 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 9:56 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 7:09 pm, sm_jamieson wrote: I need to make some concrete (approx 4-2-1) and I have a large amount of MOT (crushed limestone I guess). I only need about 0.1 m^3 of concrete. Can I use the MOT as ballast, instead of going to B&Q and grabbing bags of gravel and sand etc ? Thanks, Simon. you'll still need sand but I expect yes go for it (unless mission critical but that quantity and mix ratio I doubt it will be a prob) Umm. Its got two not very nice properties. Its bloody WEAK and it sucks up moisture. If you just want bulk with a smooth surfcee, add extra waterr, and OK. IF its go to take serious loads, be bloody careful. erm.... WEAK as compared to .........?? gravel? sucks up moisture.... how much ? it's rock after all? go see malham!! So you think that chalk is as strong as granite? Rock is a generic term. Rock is VERY variable. Cheers JimK you get granite in your ballast then?? Can do in some parts of the country. Ours is mainly flint. Calcium silicate IIRC. Limestone is calcium carbonate IIRC. ballast and gravel are sedimentary deposits of alluvial or glacial spoil. Essentially smashed up rocks of whatever was upstream. The big stuff we call gravel, the small stuff we call sand. The very small stuff we call clay, and the carbonates usually wash away and end up in the sea. A walk on any beach or any river bed thats currently dry-ish will reveal almost no limestone or chalk of any description. Its flints, the odd bits of sandstone, and granitic type materials. Anything thats weak gets turned into fine and fine gets carried further. Nature does a good job of grading gravel beds for us to use. JimK mmm fascinating... if well known. Even though OP has already decided to buy a few bags of all in ballast (for the one mixerful of concrete) let's look closer:- Density Granite 2700 kg/m3 Limestone 2700 kg/m3 Modulus of rigidity (m) Granite 24 GPa Limestone 24 GPa Unconfined compressive strength Granite 100-250 MPa Limestone 30-250 MPa ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is the killer though. Limestone covers everything from chalk to the sort of jurassic limestones, that are really hard. Almost marbles. But what goes in MOT is NOT jurassic limestone, or even thr scraps left over from making nice stone building blocks. Its deliberately selected for its ability to compress and break under pressure to form a nice compacted, yet still permeable substrate for roads. Let me know when you see a road with limestone chippings applied as a wear surface as well. bridleways, BOATs, RUPPs ? Not wear surfaces. Simply to make boggy ground passable. |
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#2
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Use MOT as ballast for concrete ?
On Mar 28, 1:04 pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 28, 1:02 am, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On 27 Mar, 13:16, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 10:09 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 9:56 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote: JimK wrote: On Mar 26, 7:09 pm, sm_jamieson wrote: I need to make some concrete (approx 4-2-1) and I have a large amount of MOT (crushed limestone I guess). I only need about 0.1 m^3 of concrete. Can I use the MOT as ballast, instead of going to B&Q and grabbing bags of gravel and sand etc ? Thanks, Simon. you'll still need sand but I expect yes go for it (unless mission critical but that quantity and mix ratio I doubt it will be a prob) Umm. Its got two not very nice properties. Its bloody WEAK and it sucks up moisture. If you just want bulk with a smooth surfcee, add extra waterr, and OK. IF its go to take serious loads, be bloody careful. erm.... WEAK as compared to .........?? gravel? sucks up moisture.... how much ? it's rock after all? go see malham!! So you think that chalk is as strong as granite? Rock is a generic term. Rock is VERY variable. Cheers JimK you get granite in your ballast then?? Can do in some parts of the country. Ours is mainly flint. Calcium silicate IIRC. Limestone is calcium carbonate IIRC. ballast and gravel are sedimentary deposits of alluvial or glacial spoil. Essentially smashed up rocks of whatever was upstream. The big stuff we call gravel, the small stuff we call sand. The very small stuff we call clay, and the carbonates usually wash away and end up in the sea. A walk on any beach or any river bed thats currently dry-ish will reveal almost no limestone or chalk of any description. Its flints, the odd bits of sandstone, and granitic type materials. Anything thats weak gets turned into fine and fine gets carried further. Nature does a good job of grading gravel beds for us to use. JimK mmm fascinating... if well known. Even though OP has already decided to buy a few bags of all in ballast (for the one mixerful of concrete) let's look closer:- Density Granite 2700 kg/m3 Limestone 2700 kg/m3 Modulus of rigidity (m) Granite 24 GPa Limestone 24 GPa Unconfined compressive strength Granite 100-250 MPa Limestone 30-250 MPa ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is the killer though. Limestone covers everything from chalk to the sort of jurassic limestones, that are really hard. Almost marbles. But what goes in MOT is NOT jurassic limestone, or even thr scraps left over from making nice stone building blocks. Its deliberately selected for its ability to compress and break under pressure to form a nice compacted, yet still permeable substrate for roads. Let me know when you see a road with limestone chippings applied as a wear surface as well. bridleways, BOATs, RUPPs ? Not wear surfaces. Simply to make boggy ground passable. yes wear surfaces |
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