I went to the local landscape supply company and paid for a yard of pea gravel. It is going to take me 5 trips to get it all, but that's OK with me. As I started filling up the first bucket a sales rep. came over to me and asked me if I wanted pea gravel or rainbow rock as I was getting rainbow rock. What???
Back in my concrete business days we referred to pea gravel as a multi-colored, rock and mineral mixture of smooth stones ranging in size from about 1/4"-5/8". This is what the local landscape supplier calls rainbow rock. What they sell as pea gravel is a mixture of yellow-brown-colored, smooth stones ranging in size from coarse sand to about 1/4".
Needless to say he has me confused. Which of the two is the pea gravel that I need to use as a floor covering in my hawk house???
Thanks,
Cliff.
Cliff. J. “May the best you’ve ever seen, Be the worst you’ll ever see,” From A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay
Well if you mistook the rainbow rock for pea gravel, then I'd say either would be fine. As long as they're small smooth pebbles, they work well and make it easy to clean and keep dry.
My main concern with the smaller aggregate is that of compaction and becoming cementicious when wetted.
I've got some crushed granite under the hardware cloth and membrane - the crushed granite was already on the property, the only reason for using it. When it gets wet it gets somewhat cementicious and will "lump" - not good in my books, but it does drain.
I've spent about a week on the foundation and made sure that I had the interior "floor" graded around the perimeter to slope to a "low" corner where it can then drain out through a gravel layer under the foundation (cedar beams) and downhill.
Hopefully it will work...
My other thought is to place a shallow container filled with the smaller aggregate near the bath pan so that the hawk may use it as needed.
Post by Falcon Boy on Oct 26, 2011 15:25:50 GMT -5
The pea gravel I used a few years ago was the tan colored stuff, it actually was around the sides of a pool that got torn down. I have no clue what "rainbow rock" is. I would avoid anything that becomes cement-like. Maybe take some water with you to see if they become cement-like? If they ask about what you're doing you could always just say your washing the rocks because you like them shiny. People will look at you funny but they'll leave you alone haha.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
OK, I flooded the crushed granite and let it dry. On the top a crust formed. I scooped that up and tossed it. The remaining crushed granite is clean and drains nicely.
I've hauled in about 1/2 yard to date of the "rainbow rock" which is basically a medium-large size pea gravel. It is clean and made up mostly of chert, petrified wood, quartz, and various other rocks. The size is a wee bit larger than I would like, but it loods good and should do a nice job .
I checked their "pea gravel" again, and it has a lot of fines in it - way too much to use on the floor. I'll probably get a couple of buckets full, wash it and include it in a container for the hawk to use as needed.
Thanks for the help.
Cliff.
Cliff. J. “May the best you’ve ever seen, Be the worst you’ll ever see,” From A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay