Limerock Base Delivery

Why limerock is the default base in South Florida

Limerock is mined limestone crushed and graded so that it runs the full range from roughly three and a half inches down to powder. That full gradation is the entire point. The coarse pieces carry load, the fines fill the voids between them, and when you add water and roll it, the fines cement the whole thing into a slab you can drive a loaded truck across.

South Florida sits on limestone, which means the material is quarried locally and hauled short distances — and that is why base here costs what it costs. In most of the United States, road base is crushed granite or gravel trucked in from a distance. Here, the Miami oolite formation in Miami-Dade and the Ocala limestone further north put the quarry inside the market.

You will see it written as limerock, lime rock and crushed limestone depending on who wrote the document, and heard as base rock or DOT base on site. Engineers specify it by FDOT section number. It is all the same product.

Specification and bearing value

Anything touching a permit set in Florida gets specified against the FDOT Standard Specifications, and limerock base lives in Section 911. The number that matters is the Limerock Bearing Ratio — LBR — which measures how much load the compacted material carries. LBR 100 is the standard for base course under pavement. Lower grades are acceptable for sub-base and fill.

Placement matters as much as the material. Base is laid in lifts, usually 6 inches compacted at a time, watered to near optimum moisture, and rolled to 98% of modified Proctor density. Dump it dry and roll it once and you have an expensive pile of rock that will rut under the first loaded truck. Contractors who get this right build pavement that lasts; contractors who do not are back in two years.

If your plans call out a specific LBR or an FDOT grade, tell us when you order. We source from multiple pits and they do not all carry the same grades.

Limerock, crushed concrete or shell rock?

Three materials compete for the same job in this market, and the right answer depends on what the job has to pass.

Limerock base is the specified, permit-grade option. If an engineer stamped the drawing or an inspector is coming, this is usually what the drawing says.

Crushed concrete is recycled concrete processed to a base gradation. Properly produced it performs extremely well — it actually gains strength over time as residual cement rehydrates — and it costs meaningfully less. It is accepted for base on a great many jobs, but not automatically on all of them.

Shell rock is the budget option: a shell and limestone blend with a lower bearing value. Good for driveways, pads, ranch roads and anywhere nobody is inspecting the LBR. Not a substitute for spec base under pavement.

Our road base comparison page lays these out side by side if you are deciding.

Quantities and ordering

Compacted limerock runs about 1.65 tons per cubic yard. Loose in the truck it is closer to 1.4, which is a distinction worth understanding — you buy loose tons but you build a compacted thickness, and the material shrinks as it is rolled. As a working figure, expect roughly 20 to 25 percent compaction loss from loose volume.

For coverage: one ton compacted covers about 45 square feet at 4 inches or 30 square feet at 6 inches. A 22-ton tri-axle therefore does roughly 1,000 square feet at 4 inches, or about 660 at 6.

A standard two-car driveway of 600 square feet at 6 inches of base works out near 20 tons — essentially one load. Our tonnage calculator includes the compaction allowance so you are ordering the right number rather than the plan volume.

Delivery

Limerock moves in volume every day of the week across our whole service area, so availability is rarely the constraint. Same-day is achievable on mainland deliveries called in before 11 AM. Next-day is standard.

The usual complication is spreading. We deliver; we do not grade. A tri-axle can lay a windrow as it pulls forward if you want it strung out rather than piled, and on driveways that saves real machine time — but say so when you order, because it changes how the driver approaches the site. If you need it placed and compacted, you want a site contractor and we are happy to be their supplier.

Specification

Figures are typical, not guaranteed. Weights and gradations vary between pits and sources. If your job is specified, send us the relevant plan sheet and we will match it — and confirm quantities against your own scale tickets once you are running.

What it is used for

• Base course under asphalt roads, driveways and parking lots
• Base under concrete slabs, aprons and sidewalks
• Compacted base beneath paver installations
• Structural fill and sub-base where bearing capacity is specified
• Stabilised construction entrances and haul roads
• Pads for equipment, containers and modular buildings

Working out how much you need

Material is sold by the ton. Plans are drawn in cubic yards. That mismatch is where most ordering errors come from, and they are expensive in both directions — running short stops a crew, and over-ordering by a large margin ties up money in a pile.

The arithmetic: multiply length by width by depth in feet, divide by 27 to get cubic yards, then multiply by the material's weight per yard. Most rock runs about 1.35 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard; compacted base is heavier at roughly 1.65; topsoil is lighter at about 1.15.

Then allow for compaction. Base and fill lose roughly 20 to 25 percent of their loose volume once they are properly compacted, so the tonnage you order should be above the theoretical plan volume. Our tonnage calculator builds that allowance in and converts the answer into truckloads.

Order slightly heavy. Two extra tons in a pile costs almost nothing and always gets used. Two tons short on a Friday afternoon costs you a whole extra delivery and a crew standing around.

Limerock Base — common questions

Where we deliver Limerock Base

From Jupiter down to Key West — Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. Mainland deliveries are same or next day; the Keys are scheduled runs.

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