Any construction/paving ppl on here? What is "pug"?

[myclone]

I have a gravel driveway which I HATE beyond belief but shelling out the bucks to pave a 1300' long driveway just isnt in the cards right now. While talking with my neighbor (fellow car guy) about my hatred of the dust from the driveway he mentioned the old man that owned my house before me used to have what was called "pug" put down rather than gravel and it cut down on the dust quite a bit (according to him). Well, Ive never heard of pug and google wasnt much help either so anyone got any idea what the heck pug is (besides the name of a short fat house pet)?

I called the local quarry where I get my gravel to see if they could explain it but they must have been busy since all the guy on the phone could say was that they only run pug through the mill once or twice a week so Id have to call a week ahead if I wanted any. He had no idea what the stuff actually is :banghead: .

TIA

[harshman]

out here (south west) decomposed granite works very well. compact with water and a plate and you have an almost indestructable driveway. i'm sure if you called arround you'd find something that is highly compactable.

[TonyL]

Pug is usually lowgrade asphalt. Pug is a reference to the pugmill. (google that) or pug mill, that asphalt is made in. "pug" is the undesirable by product.

[nancejd]

You might check into recycled asphalt as well. Not sure what it would cost, but for a lightly used road surface like a driveway, it should hold up pretty well.

[Joey_H]

My mind is reeling at the thought of a 1,300 foot driveway. Here in L.A. that would put you in another city. :rolleyes:

[dropit69]

myclone..well an alternative to gravel is steel slag..i work at a steel mill where they sell it of pretty cheap per ton and once its down its rather little dust..i know a few guys that used it in the drives..just a thought..might be some local too you..

[myclone]

out here (south west) decomposed granite works very well. compact with water and a plate and you have an almost indestructable driveway. i'm sure if you called arround you'd find something that is highly compactable.

I'll make some calls and see what I can come up with on the decomposed granite. If its cost affective and having access to a vibrating roller may turn out to be an option. Thanks for the idea.


Pug is usually lowgrade asphalt. Pug is a reference to the pugmill. (google that) or pug mill, that asphalt is made in. "pug" is the undesirable by product.

Pug mill huh? I'll google that and see what turns up and pug being an asphalt by product is something I didnt know nor did I see that anywhere. Any idea if pug compacts well and produces minimal dust? Unfortunately my driveway has a fairly steep incline up to the house/garage and the incline is what produces the most dust. With the incline no matter how much I level/compact it the gravel is always getting churned up when I drive up the driveway which produces a never ending supply of dust when the gravel grind against each other. Ive tried driving slowly (REALLY slow) as well as different methods of compacting it but nothing seems to really work just prolonging the time it takes for the dust plumes to get really bad.

Needless to say owning all black vehicles makes me hate the driveway and washing them is a futile job since just sitting in front of the garage they will get a coating of dust after my wife or I make a trip out in one of the other vehcles. The wife hates the fact that dusting inside the house is a never ending chore too.


You might check into recycled asphalt as well. Not sure what it would cost, but for a lightly used road surface like a driveway, it should hold up pretty well.

I checked with a hand full of local pavers and none of them mess with the recycled stuff unfortunately....except for VA DOT and they dont offer it to the public according to the local office I spoke with.

Ive even entertained having tar/gravel (called surface treating) put down but its not much cheaper than getting it paved with asphalt. The last estimate I got was $22k and just to surface treat it was $17k (ouch) so if Im going to spend 17k and only end up with tar and finely crushed gravel I might as well spend the extra $5k and get it paved. Problem is Im still short about $21k for the paving job :( .

Thanks for the info guys....off to google "pug mill" :twothumbs .

[myclone]

myclone..well an alternative to gravel is steel slag..i work at a steel mill where they sell it of pretty cheap per ton and once its down its rather little dust..i know a few guys that used it in the drives..just a thought..might be some local too you..

Steel slag...hmmm never heard of that. It just so happens a good friend and his father work at a local steel mill so that idea may work out pretty good and be cheap as well (cheap being the key word LOL). I'll check into it.

[boodlefoof]

1300' driveway! I was down in Roanoke a few weeks ago and it is beautiful country down there (I'm currently in the DC area). Hmmm... might have to think about a move to the mountains!

[CamaroAJ]

1300'....hmmm...you could cement it and make your money back running 1/8 mile street drags down your drive way. since your just shy of a 1/4 you still have a shut down area:rotfl:

[BonzoHansen]

1300'....hmmm...you could cement it and make your money back running 1/8 mile street drags down your drive way. since your just shy of a 1/4 you still have a shut down area:rotfl:

I was thinking the same thing. 1/8 mile track. :)

[paul67]

What you might find is if there redoing a local road with 1 of those machines that grind the road up before going into the truck, see if they would drop it of at your place as they would save on the tipping charge.

[myclone]

Trust me guys....if that 1300' was flat there'd already be a 1/8 mile strip complete with christmas tree. Problem is that only about 600' of it is flat and even if all of it was flat if you over shoot the shut down area youre going off a ~70' cliff and into the lake. It would be one heck of a ride......once LOL.

[CamaroAJ]

hovercraft?

[Kenova]

Something that is occasionally used on gravel roads around here is calcium chloride. It can be spread in a granular form and absorbs moisture from the air. This stuff can hold the dust down for quite a while and also seems to help sand and gravel stay compacted. Farmers in colder climates use a water and calcium chloride mix to weight their tires (the stuff won't freeze). Check with a farm supply store, they may have some.
Ken

[wantahertzdonut]

Isn't calcium chloride another form of salt?

[rockdogz]

I thought salt was sodium chloride.

[CamaroAJ]

i think calcium chloride is what they put on the roads here in the winter time along with salt.

[nancejd]

In everyday language salt generally refers to sodium chloride and other edible salts. In chemistry, salt is a term used for ionic compounds composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, so that the product is neutral and without a net charge. These ions can be inorganic (Cl-) as well as organic (CH3-COO-) and monoatomic (F-) as well as polyatomic ions (SO42-).

Gotta love google.

[Bill Howell]

I am not sure you got an answer here, but pug is the base used by pavers before putting down the binder and topcoat on spec roads. It is required to be used rather than just plain gravel on county roads here. It binds together better and packs firm and hard. Still bacically gravel though, so you would not want to waste your money on pug unless you were ready to pave. Gravel would be fine for a personal driveway. Call a local paver, he should be able to help with finding pug mix if you decide to use it.

[hotrdblder]

around here inthe summer they put down calcium, once it wets there is no dust and it lasts basically all summer, same stuff you put on your walkways in winter to get rid of ice, works great

[zero g]

Asphalt millings from repaving projects is the way to go. Its reasonably priced and there is no dust once it is compacted. It will last a long time in a driveway scenerio.

[zero g]

Sorry I didn't read all the posts first. If you can't get asphalt millings try shell rock (not coquina rock, very dusty) if they have that in Va, Probably not in the mountains though. My second driveway is shell rock. It stays put and is not dusty. They use it for roadway base and other things down here.

[Bill Howell]

Asphalt millings from repaving projects is the way to go. Its reasonably priced and there is no dust once it is compacted. It will last a long time in a driveway scenerio.

This is considered contamanate here now, it would cause real problems if you resold the property, and would cost a small fortune to clean up the area. I know, that is stupid, but true.

[muthstryker]

just rent a 20 inch plate compactor and youll be good to go xD

[myclone]

This is considered contamanate here now, it would cause real problems if you resold the property, and would cost a small fortune to clean up the area. I know, that is stupid, but true.

Never thought of that.. A bud of mine is looking at a piece of property this week that supposedly was owned by someone at VA DOT who somehow got the gravel drive covered in used/ground up asphalt so it might be worth a phone call to see if he's getting himself into a mess.

Thanks for the ideas guys... Im working on finding out more about the steel slag. As long as it doesnt become a super fund site using the stuff I might just give that a try.

[hotroddr]

Do you have kids? If you do, buy a water truck and have your kid run it up and down the driveway, they will have a blast, learn to drive, and your dust problem will be solved. Or maybe you can install sprinklers all along your driveway and turn them on before you drive on the driveway.
Enough games, here is a link that might help. http://www.co.boulder.co.us/transportation/maintenance/dust.htm If you still need info I can ask my general contractor father in law, He for sure knows the answer to your problem

[zero g]

This is considered contamanate here now, it would cause real problems if you resold the property, and would cost a small fortune to clean up the area. I know, that is stupid, but true.

Wow, I guuess this hasn't trickled down here yet.

[paul67]

Try ringing round companys that are doing driveways as they might be ripping up concrete or gravel drives ask them to drop it off at your place as they would save on the tipping charge if it concrete hire a small chrusher and chrush it we have 1 over here that runs on tracks about $1000 a week called a rhino can fit on a car trailer

[TBART70]

I'm guessing that pug is what we northerners call quarry process, it is what they put down before paving. When they did my driveway they put it down and it sat for 2-3 months. It got rained on a couple of times and was hard and compacted. Was very dusty at first but got less as it rained. don't know long term because they paved it. Seemed to be durable after it was down a while.