Soil-Cement Vs. Crusher Run

Soil-Cement

• A mixture of water, Portland cement and pulverized soil, soil-cement is also known as compacted cement. The amounts of water and cement in the mixture are carefully calculated according to its intended purpose. It is laid down and compacted into a rigid slab. Any number of low-cost aggregates are used as the “soil” in the ratio, from sand, silt or clay, to cinder and subgrade sand from gravel pits. The cement in the mixture is the medium that serves to harden and bind the aggregate when combined with water.

Crusher Run

• Crusher run stone is the name given to gravel or any other rock or mineral that has been put through a crusher. It is used before being sifted through screens, one of the methods used for “cleaning” gravel. Crusher run is most often used as backfill material or installed below the surface, acting as a stabilizer. Depending on the size of the rock and mineral fragments, crusher run may also be included in the soil-cement aggregate.

Plastic Soil-Cement

• This occurs when more water is added to the soil-cement mix, giving it the consistency of wet plaster. It dries to a harder finish than soil-cement and is most often used for lining ditches and slopes and in areas where erosion is an issue. It can also be mixed directly into mud holes for road repair.

Cement Modified Soil

• Different again from compacted soil-cement, this contains more soil than cement and is partially hard at the time of use. Small amounts of Portland cement are mixed into silt-clay or granular soil, thus changing the chemical properties of the soil. It is used for bases, sub-bases and also as fill material on highway bases, sub-bases and in trenches.