There was an office complex demolished nearby. After they removed the building debris, they pulled up the concrete foundation and dumped the chunks into a crusher which deposited the bits into a huge mound. Now they’ve covered the mound with black sheeting.
Why might they have done this? I assume the sheeting it to keep down the dust, but why leave this big mound of crushed concrete on site? Can it be re-used for the foundation of the new building(s), or is this just temporary storage?
Probably useful as simple crushed rock, for use under foundations and roadways, and where a sort-of pipeway for underground drainage is needed.
Most likely to be used as non structural fill.
Perhaps this varies with local codes and such but I am not sure that crushed concrete would be accepted as structural fill underneath a building. I know for some engineers that would not be accepted.
It’s probably covered to keep down any friable material. Lime is not conducive to healthy lungs and I would suspect that it’s against local codes to leave it exposed to wind (and rain, for that matter, as you probably don’t want it leaching into the soil).
From Wiki:
Also:
(To clarify): You can use it as base material under parking lots, unit pavers, sidewalks, etc. They use crushed limestone chips for that one way or the other so crushed concrete could probably work just as well.
This dust issue explains why the mall that is being demolished here in Charlotte was being sprayed like a 3-alarm fire when I drove past it today.
Thanks, all. I guess they could use it on-site. I’m curious to see what they do with it.
It’s also to knock down things like asbestos and fiberglass particles.
I hear it is a good mulch for tender Kudzu shoots.
A few years back they were redoing taxi ways at the airport in St. Louis. The demolished taxi ways were crushed and used as base for the new taxi ways.
