Please help! Would you say this drainage stone is clean / washed?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi

I've just had 5 tonnes or so of drainage stone delivered (limestone). It is supposed to be clean / washed.

It doesn't look too clean to me, but then I've never bought it before and so have nothing to compare it to. I asked the driver and he said it is definitely clean and not to worry - that's just how it comes from the quarry.

So it's over to you guys.... Here's my hand after holding a handful some for a few seconds, followed by some photos of the stone:

What do you reckon? Any advice most appreciated.

Cheers

 

[denso13]

What do you reckon? Any advice most appreciated.

Doesn't look washed at all to me. Quite "unclean" actually.

 

[Mottie]

Feck me, what does unwashed look like!

 

[DIYNotIan]

Thanks for the replies. I've been asking about and others have said that they're "clean" stone comes like this as well. I then took to google and looked at some photos on aggregate supplier websites. Some shows quite a clean stone but others show stone very similar to what I've got. And that's them advertising the stuff! So I'm thinking that's just how it comes.

What had me worried is that I've been reading a lot about drainage and all the stuff I've read said to get clean/washed stone so that the dust etc doesn't silt up the drainage system, which I could see happening with this. So I'll definitely give it a hose down as I go to get at least the worse off.

It has got me wondering whether there might be a difference between "clean" stone and "washed" stone when bought from aggregate suppliers / quarries. Did I ask for the wrong thing by calling it clean instead of washed? As in, clean = screened with no fines, whereas washed means actually washed....

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

I'd imagine 'Clean' is stone thats had the fines sieved out, whereas 'washed' would be just that. Expect to pay more for 'washed' as the quarry has the additional costs of the water, and used water to accommodate. Limestone I think is also quite soft, so may be some dust created by the stones rubbing together during loading/transport.

What exactly, did you want to use it for?