Please help! Would you say this drainage stone is clean / washed?

[Oxbow16]

Hi

 

I've just had 5 tonnes or so of drainage stone delivered (limestone). It is supposed to be clean / washed.

 

It doesn't look too clean to me, but then I've never bought it before and so have nothing to compare it to. I asked the driver and he said it is definitely clean and not to worry - that's just how it comes from the quarry.

 

So it's over to you guys.... Here's my hand after holding a handful some for a few seconds, followed by some photos of the stone:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you reckon? Any advice most appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

[Bitpipe]

Don't see any fines so looks pretty clean to me.

 

The building world has a slightly different interpretation of 'clean', 'washed' etc.

 

I had a load of 'type 1' delivered to bind the basement excavation and it was laid & compacted to 150mm. Was obviously just crush from a demolition (maybe even mine). Taps, pipes, wood, plastic, wires - you name it I plucked it out of the top layer and filled a wheelbarrow. God knows what was further down.

[LA3222]

Looks clean to me, when they say clean they means fines/dust. That stuff looks alright.

[Hobbiniho]

Yeh thats clean, clean doesnt mean they wash it it means that it is that size of rock with no fines in with it, it all pretty much looks a regular size

[Onoff]

As clean stone goes that looks lovely.

[Oxbow16]

Many thanks for the replies.  That's good to hear that I got what's expected.  I think what had me worried is that I've been reading a lot about drainage and all the stuff I've read said to get clean/washed stone so that the dust etc doesn't silt up the drainage system, which I could see happening with this.  So I'll definitely give it a hose down as I go.

 

It has got me wondering... Is there a difference between "clean" stone and "washed" stone when bought from aggregate suppliers / quarries.  Did I ask for the wrong thing by calling it clean instead of washed?

[Gus Potter]

Good looking stuff.

 

Gravels in particular are washed, crushed rock sometimes, sometimes not. What you have here are often described as single sized aggregates. Yes you have a bit of "dust" (in terms of sieve size when grading aggregates) but I would have no problem accepting the stuff you have in the photos for drainage.

 

I think you are fine, march on and enjoy your project.

[Oxbow16]

Thanks Gus, much appreciated.  The whole drainage project is going to be a fair bit of money and a heck of a lot of work, which is why I want to get it right from the start.  

 

Yes, I'm happy with what we've got - it's just not what I expected.  But that's because I'm new to it and I think I just ended up getting mixed up between clean and washed.  

 

I still think I'm going to try my best to avoid limestone though; especially in its "unwashed" state like what we have.  I just don't think it's worth the risk.  There's a few more details at the end of the other thread, which I'll link to here rather than repeat:  

 

 

Cheers