Crushed brick and crushed concrete are two types of recycled materials you can use as aggregates in your landscaping endeavors. They're made by simply crushing old brick and old concrete (respectively). Here are a few ways you can give these recycled materials a new purpose in life by using them for landscaping applications.
1. Pathways
You can make a gray garden path with crushed concrete aggregate or a red one with crushed brick. Crushed aggregates have several properties that give them an edge over more rounded aggregates for this purpose. For instance, the crushed material doesn't slide around as much, meaning you're less likely to lose material into the surrounding lawn than if you'd used pea gravel for the path.
Another characteristic of these crushed aggregates is that their angled edges can interlock better than pea gravel when compacted. So if you're creating paths that you'll drive on (such as on a golf cart or farm vehicle), crushed concrete or brick can give better traction.
2. Container gardening
If you grow plants in large flowerpots, you can add an aggregate to the pot before adding soil. This is a common method to help stabilize the pot (keep it from getting too top-heavy) while making sure the plants have plenty of drainage. You can use an aggregate such as crushed concrete or crushed brick since these are great for drainage.
3. Edging mulch
Crushed brick aggregate, when used as a mulch, can provide an attractive dark red color to the surface of a garden bed. This can be a great color contrast to white, gray, or tan colored aggregates such as gravel. You can use this mulch in edging areas for visual interest or around shrubs and other plants that leave a lot of open space in the garden bed. Crushed concrete can be used as a mulch as well.
4. Pipe bedding
Stormwater management is an essential landscaping need since stormwater can erode and destroy garden beds if not properly managed. When you're laying drainage pipes for stormwater or to drain a marshy area, you can use an aggregate such as crushed concrete for the pipe bedding.
These are just some of the ways you can choose to incorporate recycled concrete and brick aggregates when caring for your landscaping. These types of aggregates have many other uses as well, such as for construction or road building. They can be used for many of the same purposes you'd use crushed stone for.
If you're interested in using a type of aggregate such as crushed brick or crushed concrete, get in touch with a local aggregate contractor today to discuss what's available.
