How much steel slag do you need?
Enter the size of your lot, lane or road base. You get tons, cubic yards and truck loads of steel slag.
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How this was worked out
Assumes steel slag at 1.9 tons per cubic yard. Other gravel weighs a little more or less, so ask your supplier for their number.
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About steel slag
Steel slag is the rock-like leftover from making steel, crushed and screened like quarry stone. It is dense and heavy, so a cubic yard of it weighs far more than a cubic yard of limestone. It is sharp and rough, so it locks together well as driveway and road base.
More about steel slag
Steel mills skim off the melted rock that floats on top of the steel, let it cool, and send it to a crusher. The iron and lime left in it make each piece heavy, so a dump truck reaches its weight limit with fewer cubic yards of steel slag than of crushed limestone.
It is sold in sizes like stone: a base grade with fines, and clean sizes close to #57 or #8. Spread and pack base-grade steel slag the way you would crusher run, in damp lifts of about 4 inches, with a plate or roller. The rough faces bite, so it holds on slopes where round gravel would slide.
Fresh steel slag can swell when it gets wet, as the lime in it reacts, and that can heave a slab or push on a wall. It should be aged in the weather before it goes under concrete or against a foundation, so ask how long the pile has sat. Rain that runs off a fresh pile can be strongly alkaline for a while, so keep it back from creeks and ponds.