Limerock Screenings Delivery
The fine end of the limerock family — and the product most often bought for the wrong job.
What screenings are
When limestone is crushed and screened into the various rock sizes, the fine material that falls through everything is collected and sold as screenings — also called limerock fines or, on most job sites, simply dust.
It runs about a quarter of an inch down to powder. Watered and compacted it packs into a hard, dense, nearly impermeable surface, which is exactly what makes it useful for some jobs and completely wrong for others.
Where screenings are the right answer
Arena footing. A great many riding arenas in Davie, Southwest Ranches, the Redland and rural Palm Beach County are built on a compacted screenings base. It holds a consistent surface, does not migrate the way sand does, and can be groomed.
Top-dressing a rock road. An older limerock or shell rock drive that has lost its fines and gone loose can be brought back with a thin layer of screenings watered and rolled in, rather than a full new course of base.
Filling and levelling. Screenings flow into voids and level out where coarse material bridges. Useful under slabs, around pipe, and as a blinding layer over rough stone.
Where screenings are the wrong answer — read this first
Not under pavers. This is the single most common misuse. Screenings are sometimes sold or recommended as a paver bedding material and the paving industry has advised against it for decades. They hold moisture, they compact unevenly, and pavers set on them settle and go wavy. The correct bedding is one inch of washed concrete sand — see our paver sand page for the whole build-up.
Not for drainage. Screenings are the opposite of a drainage material. If water needs to move, you want washed open-graded stone such as #57.
Not as structural base. Screenings alone do not have the coarse fraction that carries load. They are a fine material for filling, surfacing and bedding — not a substitute for limerock base under pavement.
Ordering
Screenings are heavier per yard than most rock at roughly 1.5 tons per cubic yard, because the fines pack densely with little void space.
One ton covers about 110 square feet at 2 inches. An arena at 100 by 60 feet with a 3-inch screenings layer is around 6,000 square feet, which works out near 80 tons — roughly four loads.
Screenings are badly affected by rain. A soaked pile becomes extremely difficult to spread, and screenings placed wet will not compact properly. If your schedule has any flexibility, take delivery on a dry run of days.
Specification
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Size range | Nominal 1/4 inch minus, including a high proportion of fines |
| Material | Crushed limestone — the fine fraction from screening base rock |
| Washed | No — the fines are the product |
| Drainage | Poor by design. It packs tight and sheds water rather than passing it. |
| Approx. weight | 1.5 tons per cubic yard |
| Coverage at 2" | ~110 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
- Riding arena and round-pen footing
- Pipe bedding where a fine, conforming material is wanted
- Top-dressing an existing limerock or shell rock road
- Filling voids and levelling before a base course
- Firm walking paths and back-of-house yard surfaces
- Blinding over coarse stone before a membrane or slab
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 Screenings — common questions
Can I use limerock screenings under pavers?
What are screenings used for?
Are screenings the same as limerock base?
Where we deliver Limerock Screenings
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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