The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:21 pm**

Hi,
This site is great, hoping the forum can help an ignorant guy out.

I went down to my local (Bristol) Selco earlier asking for 6 jumbo bags of concreting ballast (to be used for 150mm sleeper wall footings and a 50mm sub-floor layer for suspended timber floor refurb). They told me that round here that's called 'chippings to dust', and theirs was 14mm. So I ordered as it happens no-one else could deliver in time (tomorrow), checking with a couple of builders in there that they use it for concrete and don't add sand.
Now I'm worried it's the wrong stuff - called up their support number, the guy on the phone swore blind that when a customer comes in asking for ballast they get given 'chippings to dust'.
So... is this a Bristol thing, calling what everyone else calls ballast chippings-to-dust...and/or are what's normally called chippings-to-dust suitable for this type of concrete as a substitute for the usual sand/gravel mix??
Thanks a lot anyone who can help out.

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2015 1:29 pm**

I suspect chippings to dust would be type 1 mot which makes a horrible to work concrete if you just use that and cement.

Ballast should be as you say clean gravel 10-20mm and sand.

To be honest its not that common in bulk bags because if your making that much people either get the concrete delivered or have large loose site deliveries of the constituant parts.

Are you making it up into concrete? if so do yourself a favour and price readymix, it will probably not work out much dearer than your ballast delivery and cement anyway never mind the soild day or more mixing 3-4 cube.

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:59 pm**

r896neo wrote:I suspect chippings to dust would be type 1 mot which makes a horrible to work concrete if you just use that and cement.

Ballast should be as you say clean gravel 10-20mm and sand.

To be honest its not that common in bulk bags because if your making that much people either get the concrete delivered or have large loose site deliveries of the constituant parts.

Are you making it up into concrete? if so do yourself a favour and price readymix, it will probably not work out much dearer than your ballast delivery and cement anyway never mind the soild day or more mixing 3-4 cube.

Thanks - that's what I'm worried about. Think I'll see if they can change it for gravel and sand - readymix would be nice but for various reasons am hoping to be able to do this in stages, hence batching on site.

The Brew Cabin

Ballast and chippings-to-dust...help please!