building spoil 100% slate bedrock - worth?

[what..the?]

ok so they have taken 160 tons of slate bedrock out my land? From softer the harder slate, they (the builders) have taken it off site, they send it to a farm or such. They say it costs money to dump spoil you have to give the farmer money etc.

I just look at the slate, and being an building idiot I see money in all that spoil, can someone else not use that in some form of building, is that not a product the farmer will then sell on to someone who needs a driveway, a rough foundation or such, doesn't slate in smallish bits have a use and therefore value?

Can't you put this over your raised flower beds to get that modern look and keep the weeds down?

Thanks in advance

[what..the?]

btw they have taken the 160 tons out to build an extension

[sddsddean]

A bulk bag (usually about 800kg, though they'll say 1 tonne) of crushed decorative slate at B&Q is £135! Even if its half that, you might have been done out of around £10,000!!

[The Builder]

I guess you haven't got the ground to store it on Whatters? I think I can guess roughly where you are, and, aren't you on a steep slope? That's a lot of spoil, but yes, I'm sure it's useful to someone. I've always complained that the only material of no use at all, and a pain to get rid, of is plasterboard. Everything else is re-cycleable.

Unfortuneately, the greatest part of the value of your spoil is in the haulage. Each 16-tonne load you took out is probably worth only a few quid, but would cost about £10 a tonne to just take it down the road.
It's a sad fact of life today, and it badly distorts a materials true value.
Did you save some for oversite hardcore?

[what..the?]

The builder hello again :)

I don't know what over site hardcore is, but I have know been told this:

The spoil is not crushed slate. It is a mix of slate, rubble, earth and topsoil. The type of stone is commonly known as shillet – this is a weak blend of semi slate and earth – ie the metamorphic process of converting the silt to slate was not completed many years ago. The material is certainly not a driveway surface material and is not suitable for hardcore due to the mix of soil and earth and organic matter. If there were to be any salvage, then the loads would need to be separated and graded to remove the rubbish and washed to remove organic matter. Therefore it has gone back into the ground.

I don't know much about this, it looked like proper hard slate to me so I have a friend who is finding out. Builders have told me it has all gone to land fill and been paid per ton to be removed.

[what..the?]

yes no storage space and on hill

[what..the?]

whether its true or not the quality of the slate being poor and it being mixed, isn't this one of the hazy areas where builders make money I have been told a) it's worthless due to it composition although I saw no sign of this. b) that it has cost for collection and for dumping. But in the instances some of the loads were a better quality slate (there is some hard slate there for sure) would the builder not get a kick back from someone or cash in hand, if it is being sold on, or proceeded somewhere, at the end of the day I have no idea where it all goes, the just say landfill?

[ChuckFickens]

If you're that worried about it why didn't you ask them to leave 160 tons of spoil (slate?) in your garden and you could have done what you wanted with it yourself.

[The Builder]

Ah .......... shillett ............ I know it so well .......... basic excavation spoil in a geographical area of slate and/or rock.

Chuck's right, Whatters. It had to be done. Don't give it any more thought. As I said earlier, the cost is in the transport. The material has virtually no worth .......... unless you hire a portable quarry screening plant to separate the soil from the hard stuff. I doubt that there is such a thing. Rest assured, no one's getting rich from back-handers. It could be used as a rough fill for farm tracks, or making up ground height. If it is, I doubt if there's more than a "drink" in it for them.

"Oversite" is the collective name for the hardcore and the concrete slab that is laid "over the site" ........ (floor base)
Certainly don't use it for hardcore under concrete............ (contains "deleterious" material) .......... fancy word for stuff that can rot/reduce etc and leave voids.

[what..the?]

thanks a lot builder, your great xxxxxxxxx