slag

[randy1]

My driveway is about 1/4 mile long have used gravel limestone all washes away after a few years going to try slag. any of you use it?

 

[showcrop]

How do you have water running down your driveway? Is it crowned?

 

[rick n ohio]

I'm not sure but I think slag is lighter
than limestone or gravel. It may wash away
quicker

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I doubt just going to slag would make much difference. It's cheaper but if washing out is your problem your money would be better spent on grading and drainage.

 

[RBoots]

Slag works well, but it's 'airy' and will be more likely to wash. If you have problems with gravel, or limestone, the slag won't fare very well either. If you have the right limestone, it should work better than anything else. I can't remember what number the stuff we use on the roads is called, but it's crushed, with about 50% powder or limestone dust. Turns into concrete almost if shaped in the rain or just after. It's our go-to material for heavily trafficked gravel roads or hard to maintain roads.

 

[Stroby]

I have a driveway that is on a hillside and the grass runoff caused "ruts" to wash as it ran down the side of the gravel driveway. The solution is to use 3/4 minus, or 1 inch minus (that's what they call the limestone in Illinois). That is a combination of various sizes of rock, with the largest being 3/4 or 1 inch in size. The minus represents the smaller size rock with lime included. That material packs well and does not wash away or spin out under your vehicle tires. I have a crown in the road, but I also had to put a 2" ledge on the side where the grass runoff comes onto the gravel so the water would run alongside the gravel, in the grass, and that stopped the rutting. This will track a limestone film into your garage from the tires but that process stops after a few rains and vehicle traffic packing the material.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Sounds like you need to have have your driveway crowned and ditched correctly.

 

[fixerupper]

2" washed little limestone. It will be a rough ride till it packs down but it will hold better.

 

[Leroy]

What is slag? Not a term I have heard here in Ohio.

 

[Janicholson]

I am a slag understander. Slag is the limestone and silicate residual material from the blast furnace smelting process of Iron or into pig iron. (also the weld cover on SMAW welds, but not being discussed) The slag is tapped into thermal gondola cars and dumped, cooled, and crushed. It contains multiple gaseous bubbles and inclusions. It is hard in places and bubbly soft in others. When crushed to 3/4", and the fines are left in it, it becomes a good road base. It will wear out in 8 to 10 years of driving on it, and needs periodic shaping to keep a crown, but as it breaks down, the fines create a solid non washing foundation. New layers on top get a bit squirrely at first unless they have substantial fines. It will soon settle down. When first applied, it may have a sulpherous smell. It is cheap. Works, and says put when settled in. Jim

 

[Mark-Ia]

If you can get it,Ground asphalt when packed stays in place.

 

[Leroy]

Thanks for explaining. There is a steel mill around but have no idea how things work except a person I knew said the molten steel was very hot.

 

[Huskergreen]

Slag apparently varies from mill to mill. The slag I have used from Nucor Steel in Norfolk NE is a heavy product and stays put. It works very well, the 1.5 to 2 in. makes a good base and the 1/2 in. is a excellent top. Being heavy a ton of product does not cover as much as gravel or limestone.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

(quoted from post at 12:07:00 07/07/19) Slag apparently varies from mill to mill. The slag I have used from Nucor Steel in Norfolk NE is a heavy product and stays put. It works very well, the 1.5 to 2 in. makes a good base and the 1/2 in. is a excellent top. Being heavy a ton of product does not cover as much as gravel or limestone.

Because Nucor does not process raw ore in blast furnaces. That is a different process and the slag is different. Nucor is one heck of a good company!

 

[Dean]

Trivia: Nucor is the derivative of REO.

Dean

 

[Dean]

Mini-mills, e.g., Nucor create slag in the steelmaking process. It floats on top of the liquid steel in the ladle and serves to retain heat.

Once the ladle is emptied of steel, the slag is processed into aggregate and sold.

My neighbor used it on top of crushed limestone on his 1/4+ mile driveway. It seems to be holding up well.

Dean

 

[Dean]

Railroads us it for ballast.

Dean

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I'd be afraid it would rust out. ;-) gm

 

[Bill in IL]

Its the best stuff i have ever used on the driveway. It really stays put, does not break down and can withstand more water wash than limestone. Used to be able to get it here for about 6 bucks a ton. Now the municipalities have their hands on it and is usually not availables.

The downside to it is that it took about two years to get it to settle in place. It was a real bear to walk on then but now that its settled its not going anywhere.

 

[john in la]

Our trailer yard is slag. From dust fines to just over 1 inch in size.
They had the yard cut down about a foot and the hole filled with slag so no washing away problems.
From the trucks running over it is packed so tight a tractor will not grade it.
We have to have a small dozer come in about once a month to grade the pot holes of guys sliding the trailer tandems across it with turning and backing into the dock.
It is also packed so tight we drop loaded trailers on it with no support under the landing gear feet.

 

[Northvale PA]

We recently used a size of crushed stone that is 2? and smaller crusher run. The 2? chunks stay put in a hard rain and the fines stay down in the nooks and crannies. We were always losing stone as the drive is long with a slope and about 40 acres of corn ground sending water. This stone mix is staying put after a year of heavy rains.