Types of Aggregate and Their Uses

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With so many different types of aggregate, which is right for your next outdoor project for a home or business? Learn more about aggregate and what it’s commonly used for.

What is Aggregate?

Aggregate is a landscaping term that’s used to describe coarse to medium grain material. The most common types of aggregate that are used in landscaping include: crushed stone, gravel, sand, and fill. Varying in material and stone size, each type can have its own purpose when it comes to landscaping projects. Keep reading to learn more about these types of aggregate and which is best for your next project.

Process vs. Crushed Stone

While process and crushed stone both consist of the same materials, process consists of a mixture of sand and crushed stone primarily used to lay foundations for patios, walkways, driveways, and roads. Process is available in different sizes ranging from 3/4″-3″. Our process and crushed stone are both created by machines that break up and separate the materials into different piles.

Crushed stone, on the other hand, is created with machines that break down large rocks into small, angular stones. Like process, crushed stone can also be used to create paths and walkways, but this can also be used for things like mulch replacement or water drainage. Crushed stone is also the perfect alternative to mulch in flower beds, there is less maintenance in replacing it every year and much easier to leaf blow in the fall without disrupting the surface. Certain types of crushed stone can have a more aesthetically pleasing look, allowing them to give a nice contrast to your yard. We have many different sizes and colors available.

Sand

Sand is very coarse and comes in different forms including screened sand, mason sand, and concrete sand. Because of this, sand has several different functions in landscaping. For example, one type of sand, concrete sand, can be used to provide leveling beneath pavers. Concrete Sand can also help fill in any spaces to prevent shifting or breaking in paths and walkways or mixed to create cement which is perfect for paving an outdoor seating area.

While sand has plenty of uses in larger outdoor projects, it can also be useful for projects. Mason Sand can be used in a children’s play area or a sports arena. Whether it’s a sandbox or an outdoor volleyball court, sand can be laid and edged down to give a nice, authentic look, making it very useful to have for any landscaping project.

Fill

Another type of aggregate is fill. Fill is a material made up of waste from construction projects and comes in several different forms, including common fill, clean fill, and silt fill. Common fill is a material that’s made up of topsoil, dirt, and rocky subsoil and is best used for large projects that require a lot of dirt like filling in a hole or leveling an uneven area.

Clean fill, on the other hand, refers to fill that has no detectable contaminates or rocks. Although clean fill is more expensive than common fill, it acts as a better natural soil and can be used for smaller projects like leveling out portions of a yard or garden bed. There’s also silt fill, which is a fill that’s made up of much smaller silt particles and is used for projects where you need to avoid root penetration or water drainage.

Source: www.gohaynes.com