Limerock Fill Delivery
When you need volume and bearing but nobody is checking a specification.
Limerock fill versus base, dirt and sand
Limerock fill sits between the cheap soil fills and the specified base products, and it is bought when you want rock behaviour at fill prices.
Against limerock base: fill is unscreened and not certified to a bearing value, so it costs meaningfully less. Use base where a drawing specifies it; use fill for everything underneath and around.
Against fill dirt: dirt is cheaper per ton but it holds moisture, it settles for years, and it turns to mud. Rock fill drains, compacts once, and stays where you put it. On anything you intend to build on, that difference is worth the money.
Against fill sand: sand compacts predictably and is excellent under slabs, but it does not bridge soft ground. Where you are trying to get a working surface over wet muck, rock fill is what does it.
Bridging soft ground
This is the job limerock fill does that nothing else does cheaply. A site that will not carry a truck — wet, soft, recently cleared — can be made workable by placing coarse rock fill over geotextile fabric and rolling it in.
The fabric is not optional. Rock placed straight onto soft ground punches into it, disappears, and you buy it again. Fabric separates the two layers and spreads the load.
Depths vary with how bad the ground is. Twelve inches is common; genuinely soft sites take more. This is a place to ask an engineer rather than guess, because getting it wrong is expensive in both directions.
Ordering
At roughly 1.5 tons per cubic yard, one ton covers about 36 square feet at 6 inches or 18 at a foot.
Volumes climb quickly. Raising a 5,000 square foot pad by a foot is about 185 cubic yards, near 280 tons, which is thirteen or fourteen loads. Use the calculator and add the compaction allowance.
Because it is unscreened, gradation varies between loads and between pits. That is the trade-off for the price. If your job needs consistency, buy base.
Specification
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Material | Unscreened or oversize crushed limestone, variable gradation |
| Bearing value | Not certified — use limerock base where an LBR is specified |
| Drainage | Free-draining, unlike soil fill |
| Settlement | Minimal once compacted — rock does not consolidate the way dirt does |
| Approx. weight | 1.5 tons per cubic yard |
| Coverage at 6" | ~36 sq ft per ton |
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
- Raising site grade in bulk where bearing matters
- Bridging soft or wet ground before a base course
- Backfilling large excavations and old pool removals
- Building up pads and rough access before finishing
- Filling behind retaining walls and seawalls where drainage is wanted
- Temporary haul roads and equipment standing
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 Fill — common questions
What is the difference between limerock fill and limerock base?
Is rock fill better than dirt for raising grade?
Can limerock fill go over soft muck?
Where we deliver Limerock Fill
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.
Related materials
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