What is staymat and what is it used for in Washington County?

Staymat is the Vermont yard name for a dense graded crushed base, graded from about 3/4 inch or 1 inch down to dust. It is what the state's yards call road base, and VTrans writes the same material as crushed gravel for subbase under 704.05. You use it for driveways, parking pads and shed bases, where it locks up tight under a roller.

How deep should a gravel driveway base be in Washington County?

The honest answer is that it depends on your ground, and the ground here is not uniform. Piedmont hardpan till perches water, and mountain slopes shed it fast, so depth and drainage have to answer to the site. The county spans two ground regions, and frost depth is set by each town, so confirm your footing depth with the town office.

How much gravel do I need for my project?

Each product page has a calculator. Quantities are ordered by the ton or by the yard, and the calculator is how you size the load before checkout. Pick your product, run your numbers, then choose a delivery date when you place the order.

Crushed Stone and Sand, Washington County, VT

Ordering gravel, stone and aggregate delivery in Washington County, VT starts with one question: what does the job actually need under it? Vermont Rock Supply sells bulk material online and tips it on site.

For most drives, pads and shed bases around Barre, Montpelier and the hill towns, the answer is staymat.

Staymat is the Vermont yard word for a dense graded crushed base running from about 3/4 inch or 1 inch down to dust. It locks up tight under a roller and carries the everyday load a yard asks of a driveway.

Delivery across Washington County

You order online, choose a quantity by the ton or by the yard, size the load with the calculator on the product page, and pick a delivery date at checkout. A dump truck then tips the material on site.

Delivery covers the county, from Barre, East Barre and Montpelier out to Northfield, Waterbury, Moretown, Waitsfield, Warren, East Montpelier, Calais, Marshfield, Plainfield, Cabot and Worcester.

Checkout is also where the load gets scheduled, so pick your date against the work rather than against the calendar. In the Green Mountains towns the working season is short, and base work is squeezed into late spring through early fall.

Materials delivered in Washington County

Base material, drainage stone, bedding sand and soil all come in bulk loads. Staymat leads the list, because it is the base most Vermont work is built on top of.

Staymat is the local name for a dense graded crushed base. Vermont town road standards call for a crushed gravel surface course, and VTrans specifies crushed gravel for subbase under Section 704.05, with dense graded crushed stone for subbase under 704.06.

Those section numbers are how material is described and ordered in this state.

Ground conditions across Washington County

Washington County spans more than one ground region, so the soil under a job depends on where you are. In the Vermont Piedmont towns such as Barre, Montpelier, East Montpelier and Calais, you are on rolling upland of stony glacial till over schist, phyllite and Barre granite.

Ledge sits near the surface on the hilltops, and sand, silt and gravel terraces run along the Winooski, White, Waits and Ompompanoosuc valleys. In the Green Mountains towns such as Northfield, Waterbury, Warren and Waitsfield, the till is thinner and stonier, over schist and gneiss, with boulders and ledge close to the surface.

Water behaves differently in each. Piedmont hardpan till perches water, and hillside seeps keep a cut bank wet all season.

On the mountain slopes, rain and snowmelt run off steep, shallow soils fast, so brooks rise quickly and a drive on a grade sheds water down its own surface unless the crown and ditch line are right.

Erosion follows the same split. In the Piedmont, ditch and culvert scour on steep gravel road grades and bank cutting on the White and the Winooski follow heavy rain or snowmelt.

In the mountain towns, steep-gradient streams scour banks, ditches and culvert outlets, the pattern that did the worst damage in the August 2011 flooding.

Frost depth is set by the town. Confirm footing depth with the town office, and expect a deeper figure on the hills than in the river valleys.

Choosing the right material

Neighbouring counties give you a useful comparison. Caledonia County sits in the Northeast Kingdom, on stony glacial till over granite and schist, with peat and wet organic ground in its basins.

That wet ground changes the drainage call: a base there wants stone under it that moves water.

Lamoille County shares the Green Mountains ground, with the same thin stony till over schist and gneiss on the slopes and outwash on the valley floors. Where the ground is the same, the material choice is the same.

Chittenden County spans the Champlain Valley and the Green Mountains, so its ground is not one thing. On Washington County's own Piedmont till, a compacted staymat surface over screened bank run gravel is the standard build.

Order bulk gravel and stone in Washington County

Vermont Rock Supply delivers gravel, stone, sand and soil across Washington County, from Barre and Montpelier to Northfield, Waterbury, Waitsfield, Warren and the surrounding towns. Staymat, bank run gravel, stone dust, washed stone, loam and fill are all ordered online by the ton or yard.

Choose your material and your delivery date at checkout.

Bulk Gravel and Stone Delivery in Washington County, VT