preparing for crushed limestone

[gemi_babe]

I'm about to get a bobcat in to prepare and level the surface for crushed limestone. It is going to be part of my outdoor area and I will be compacting it. have seen the end result up in Exmouth and it looks superb ...lol

My question is (and I hope someone can answer) is what - if anything do I put down first before the limestone?

Do I compact the ground first? Do I use brickie sand as a base?

The ground I have is pebble rock (cap rock)

Thankyou,
Kylie

[tmca]

I recently did an area at my place using lillydale topping. I layed a 75 to 100mm base of road base which I wacked down then layed the topping which I also wacked. You should get about 30% compression when you wack the road base. Another tip a mate gave me was to sprinkle some concrete dust in with the top coating which after wetting and wacking down, sets very firmly.

Hope this helps

Regds Tony

[simon c]

This is a great website for paving:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm

Basically, their recommendation is similar to tmca's with an extra step.
1. Lay the base and compact
2. Lay a thin layer of topping and compact
3. Lay the main topping an compact

The base gives the area strength and rigidity and the extra stage 2 makes it less likely for the base to show through if the topping is scuffed.

Simon

[vsquizz]

Kylie, we just put 350 m3 of crushed limestone into a site for development. It is best lain on sand that is well watered down but as long as there is no clay in the gravel it will be OK. Plenty wet down then run the plate compactor over. The stuff we get from WA Limestone does settle a fair bit so hiring a compactor is well worth it. Be careful in your intial levelling as once wetted and compacted its nearly as hard as concrete. Your right, lovely stuff.

I expect its not going to be very thick (100mm??) but if it is thicker ask the bobbie bloke to put it down in levels and run the compactor between, ie put down 75mm at a time. This stops those damn hollows developing down the track.

Just check there is not going to be a drainage issue.

Cheers

[gemi_babe]

Simon c thats a great site. Thanks.. It says for foot traffic a sub base is not really needed...hmmm

tmca funny how you mention a road base...cause the main roads down here use crushed limestone for the road base lol Good tip on the cement,, thankyou

Squizzy I think I might put one layer (75-100mm) of sand just incase. I'm pretty sure this pebble rock doesn't have clay, but I am not 100% sure.

Thanks guys.

Now that I wont have to fork out an arm and a leg for sub-bases, its full steam ahead

Kylie

[vsquizz]

Kylie, for the belt that your in there is no mention of clays in the profiles (not that many anywhere in WA actually ) but a base of sand is good anyway. The beauty of the limestone base (as opposed to roadbase) is that the limestone acheives the same stability but remains porous (drains) to a greater degree than roadbase.

Cheers