3/8 Inch Crushed Stone for Patios in International Falls, MN

Minnesota Rock Supply sells gravel and aggregate delivery in International Falls, MN to two kinds of buyers: contractors working through a short building season and homeowners finishing a drive, a patio or a shed pad.

Class 5 is the base most of that work starts from, and it is the name to use when you order.

The ground here sits on the flat bed of glacial Lake Agassiz, where deep silt and clay settled out in still water. That is why the aggregate choices, the bedding under flatwork and the timing of the work all get decided before anything is ordered.

Ground and Conditions in International Falls

Across the Red River Valley and the northern lake plain, the subgrade under a paver patio or a slab is often clay or peat, and it behaves differently from sand or gravel. Clay holds water instead of passing it, so meltwater and rain sit where they land.

Paver work shows that first at the edges. A thin base over clay settles unevenly, the bedding layer follows it down, and the surface rocks and opens at the joints.

The failure is in what sits under the pavers, not in the pavers.

Frost adds to it. This part of the state runs among the coldest winters, with frost driven deep into clay that holds water and heaves hard as it thaws.

A footing depth of 5 feet (60 inches) is the figure the Minnesota Residential Code footing table sets for Zone I counties, and that is a building official's number, not a target for a patio base.

The working season is short at both ends. Base, drive and paver work waits for the thaw and for the clay to dry out, and spring load limits go up on North zone roads from late March into May.

Plan the order around the ground, not the calendar.

Materials for International Falls Projects

Bedding under pavers and flatwork is where this page starts, because that is the layer a patio lives or dies on. Granite fines, sold elsewhere as screenings or granite screenings, are the standard bedding for pavers, flagstone and patio work, and they compact into a tight, level bed you can set stone on.

Minnesota granite fines come from the Crushed Stone quarried in the St. Cloud belt.

See Granite Fines.

Under the bedding sits the base, and in Minnesota that is Class 5.

Order it as Class 5.

Where a tighter crushed aggregate with fines is wanted for drive surfacing or paver base, Class 2 is the surfacing class in Spec 3138, made of crushed quarry rock and sold as Class 2 granite, buff limestone or red limestone. Driveway Gravel covers that use here.

For a thin topping over a compacted base, or for fine drainage and pipe bedding, 3/8 inch crushed stone works as granite chips or as a red or buff limestone chip depending on the quarry. 3/8" Crushed Stone is the size to ask for by name.

Around the edges of flatwork, drainage matters as much as bedding. Clear rock, the Minnesota way of saying washed stone with the fines taken out, sits in drainage beds and trench backfill where water has to move rather than sit.

Compare the options in 3/4 Clear Rock.

Delivery to International Falls and the Surrounding Area

You order online, choose a quantity by the ton or by the yard, and pick a delivery date at checkout. Each product page carries a calculator, and that is the place to size the load for a patio, a drive or a raised bed.

Bulk delivery means a dump truck tips the load on site in one pile. Have the spot clear and reachable before the truck arrives, because the driver tips it and leaves.

International Falls sits in Koochiching County, and delivery covers the surrounding communities, including Littlefork, Northome, Big Falls, Mizpah and Kabetogama.

If you are working through the thaw, ordering base and bedding at the same time keeps the project moving once the clay dries out enough to work.

Size Your Patio Load and Order Online

Work out your area and depth, put the number into the calculator on the product page, and order the bedding, base and drainage stone for an International Falls patio in one go. Choose your delivery date at checkout and Minnesota Rock Supply will tip the load on site.