The Benefits of Limestone Driveways

When choosing to install or redesign your home’s driveway, you have numerous options at your fingertips. One often-overlooked option is limestone, a versatile and affordable material that makes an attractive addition to any property. Learn more about using crushed limestone for your driveway below.

What Is Limestone?

This common sedimentary rock is made up of calcium carbonate, typically in the form of calcite or aragonite. It often contains significant amounts of magnesium carbonate or dolomite. Aside from being used in construction, limestone is a versatile material that has applications as fertilizer and other products, such as toothpaste.

Benefits of Limestone for Driveways

When deciding on a material for your driveway, you need to look at the advantages of different materials. Whether you’re using paved or crushed limestone, you’ll find that limestone offers several benefits, including:

1. Versatility

There are two ways you can use limestone for your driveway — in crushed form or as paving slabs.

As paving slabs, the surfaces and edges of the pavers can be altered in various ways to achieve your desired texture. These different shapes and sizes allow you to create unique designs for your driveway that enhance its appearance. This option also comes in many colorways.

Alternatively, crushed limestone can be both a base and top layer on your driveway. It can be used as part of a concrete driveway, a base for a slabbed driveway, in a resin-bound or resin-bonded driveway or as the top layer of a gravel driveway. If you install a crushed limestone driveway that you later want to convert to concrete or other materials, you can reuse the existing limestone aggregate for the base layer, saving you money.

2. Durability

Limestone is a dense rock that has been used in construction for centuries. Slabs and stones won’t crack or break under the pressure of vehicles and other equipment you may store in your driveway. This durability makes it a favorite for commercial and residential buildings.

Paved and crushed limestone driveways last a long time and only require replacing if any slabs become damaged or stones become removed.

3. Affordability

Because limestone is available in abundance, it’s often less expensive than other driveway materials. The installation cost of limestone is also relatively low, as construction companies can work with it easily — in the case of crushed limestone, you only have to spread the stones across your driveway.

4. Attractiveness

Limestone is an attractive paving material to use for your driveway. Its natural light cream and honey colors complement most homes. You can also find darker limestone that can add a more dramatic look to your home’s exterior. As each piece of crushed limestone is different, you can create beautiful designs on your driveway.

5. Easy to Replace

Installing limestone for a driveway takes fewer steps than other options, and this ease extends to any replacements you may need to make in the future. Broken limestone pavers are quick and easy to replace. You can even cut a custom piece to fill in one spot without replacing the whole paver. Comparatively, fixing crushed limestone driveways only requires professionals to install extra stones on top of the original stones — no need to remove any existing driveway pieces or infrastructure.

6. Drainage

Crushed limestone driveways are excellent for drainage. The spaces between the rocks allow water to run through the driveway and naturally filter into the ground. This ability makes limestone driveways ideal for rainy environments, as they can reduce the potential for flooding. Though limestone pavers naturally provide less drainage, they can be just as suitable for rainy environments when installed with the correct drainage system.

7. Sustainability

Limestone is an eco-friendly paving material, as it’s a natural material that requires little to no treatment when installing it for a driveway. In other words, there are no toxic chemicals that are released into the environment when working with limestone in this capacity. When you also consider its abundance as a natural material, limestone proves to be one of the most sustainable options for driveways.

Cons of Limestone Driveways

Like any material, limestone comes with a couple of downsides you should consider before installing it for your driveway. Here are two main drawbacks:

• Seasonal challenges: It can be tricky to plow snow or rake up leaves that pile up on limestone driveways. For example, digging into your crushed limestone driveway to remove snow may alter its composition. Using salt to de-ice your paved limestone driveway could lead to scaling, splitting, flaking or cracking of a paved driveway.
• High maintenance: While limestone is durable and less likely to experience damage, crushed limestone driveways require considerable maintenance. It’s crucial to remove twigs, leaves, litter and other debris regularly to ensure your driveway drains water properly and stays in good condition.

Is Limestone Good for Driveways?

Considering all of the pros listed above, limestone is a great option for driveways. The durability and affordability of limestone make it one of the best choices for your driveway.

When choosing limestone pavers, you can expect a more stable driveway, as the edges lock together perfectly. Thanks to limestone’s durability, your vehicle’s tires won’t damage the stones, and the stones won’t impact your car’s tires, either. If you choose crushed limestone, you’ll enjoy a naturally filtering driveway system and can use the material as a base layer for future additions or adjustments to your driveway.

Further, limestone comes in numerous natural colors that can complement your home’s appearance. Unlike other options that may only come in one shape with one color, you can truly customize your limestone driveway to create stunning curb appeal.

Find a Baker Lime Distributor Today

If you’re searching for crushed limestone to create a new driveway for your home, Baker Lime has you covered. For over 100 years, we’ve produced and distributed quality limestone for agricultural and industrial use. Based in York, Pennsylvania, we service dealers all over the East Coast, so customers have many ways to access our limestone options.

Our team is committed to providing the best limestone products for any industry. Find your nearest Baker Lime distributor today to get started.