Bulk Landscape Materials, Sorted by the Pairs People Mix Up

Tip two of these out on a tarp and several look near enough alike. They do not behave alike once clay swells under them and a week of freeze-thaw works at whatever water got in. Most bulk landscape materials ordered twice on one job are ordered twice because the first load was the neighboring product. Here are the pairs that cause it.

Class 6 against Crusher Run when a CDOT number is on the plan sheet

Both compact, both carry fines, and either will hold a surface up. Class 6 Road Base is 1 inch minus, a graded mix of crushed stone, gravel and binding fines, and it is the grade Colorado plan sheets call out by CDOT number for drives, parking pads and shed floors. A CDOT class number is plan-sheet vocabulary for the material, not a certification this storefront carries. Crusher Run is 3/4 inch minus with stone dust through it and packs tight under patios and smaller pads. Spec work goes to the class number. General base work takes either.

Crusher Fines or Crusher Run, when the names are one word apart

These two get swapped in carts more than anything else here. Crusher Fines is 1/4 inch minus, stone dust and fine particles, and it is a finishing layer: trail surfaces, an inch screeded under flagstone, joint filling. Masons here call it squeegee when it is used as bedding. Crusher Run is structural material with stone in it. Ordering fines where base was meant gives you a smooth layer over nothing.

#57 Stone, #67 Stone or Drain Rock, in a trench that has to keep working

All three are clean and washed, which is the whole point in a French drain through tight clay. #57 Stone runs 3/16 to 1 inch, #67 Stone is finer at 1/4 to 3/4 inch and finishes beds neatly, and Drain Rock is 3/4 to 1-1/2 inch washed to remove fines and dust, which is the one behind a retaining wall or in a drywell. The wrong pick here is any material carrying dust: it silts the voids closed and the drain quits.

Pea Gravel or 3/8 inch Crushed Stone, on a path people walk barefoot

Same rough size, opposite shape. Pea Gravel is naturally rounded at about 3/8 inch, comfortable underfoot and the usual choice for play areas, which is also why it rolls and travels. 3/8 inch Crushed Stone is angular, so it keys together and stays where it is put over a compacted base. Rounded for comfort, angular for a surface that holds a line.

Top Soil, Garden Soil or Fill Dirt, when the grade is wrong

Order by the job, not by the look. Fill Dirt is screened, low in organic matter, and it is what raises a grade or backfills an excavation, because it settles rather than decomposing. Top Soil is screened balanced sand, silt and clay for the upper few inches under seed or sod. Garden Soil is compost-enriched for raised beds and planters, which matters in the alkaline, low-organic ground common here. Fill the hole with dirt, finish the top with soil.

River Rock, Large River Rock or RipRap, where runoff is doing the deciding

Decorative choice becomes an engineering choice on a slope. River Rock at 1 to 3 inches is bed cover and borders. Large River Rock at 2 to 4 inches is the cobble that holds a dry creek bed together through a monsoon storm. RipRap starts at 4 inches and goes up, and it is what armors a scouring bank or a culvert outlet after snowmelt. If water moves fast across it, size up.

The rest of the catalogue, by the job it does

Not everything sits in a pair. Driveway Gravel surfaces a compacted drive and Walkway Gravel does the same for paths, while 3/4 inch Crushed Stone is the angular clean stone for a pad or trench. #4 Crushed Stone and Railroad Ballast open up an equipment pad or construction entrance; #8 and #89 Crushed Stone fill paver joints. Mason Sand beds mortar and play areas, Washed Sand goes into concrete and backfill, and Shredded Mulch finishes beds.

Sizes and gradings sit on every product page. Once the material is settled, the material calculators apply each product's own weight per cubic yard, and delivery is arranged at checkout from the ZIP code you enter.

The tonnage came out between two whole numbers. Which way do I go?

My landscaper said squeegee but the catalogue says Crusher Fines. Same thing?

Can decorative rock go down in the cold months, or does everything wait for spring?

The xeric bed I am filling has a curved edge running along the fence. How do I get a tonnage out of that?