Blue Metal
The one that drains, because the dust is gone.
Blue Metal is a clean, screened crushed stone in 14mm and 20mm, with no fine dust in it. That is what makes it drain: water runs straight through rather than being held by fines. It is the aggregate for soak wells, drainage and concrete, and it is the wrong material for a compacted base.
Or call the yard on (08) 9434 2290
Real stock, not a swatch. Blended products vary a little batch to batch, so treat these as a guide rather than an exact colour match.
Blue Metal details
Blue Metal at a glance
- Product type
- Clean screened crushed stone
- Sizes
- 14mm and 20mm
- Fines
- None — screened out
- Compacts
- No, and that is deliberate
- Primary use
- Soak wells, drainage, concrete
- Sold as
- Loose by the cubic metre, bulka bag, trailer load
What Blue Metal suits
What can you use Blue Metal for?
Soak wells and drainage
The job it exists for. Clean stone around a soak well keeps the void space open so water can get away, which a material with fines in it will not do for long.
Concrete
The coarse aggregate in a mix. Clean and screened means a predictable mix rather than one carrying an unknown quantity of dust.
Sub-base preparation
As a free-draining layer under a base, particularly where the ground holds water. It is not the compacted layer itself — that goes on top of it.
Driveway bases where water is the problem
Where a driveway keeps failing because water sits under it, a drainage layer solves what more compaction cannot.
How much Blue Metal
How much Blue Metal do you need?
Length by width by depth, all in metres, gives you cubic metres. For a bed 4m by 1.2m filled to 75mm, that is 4 × 1.2 × 0.075 = 0.36 m³.
It is an estimate. Uneven ground and how firmly the mix settles both change what you actually use, so round up rather than down. We have not published a recommended depth for this product — describe the bed at the counter and someone who works with it every day will tell you.
Whatever you work out here lands in the enquiry form below, already written down.
That is about one trailer load. Order a touch over rather than under — a second trip costs more than the extra scoop.
Why Blue Metal
Why choose Blue Metal?
No fines, so it actually drains
The dust is screened out. That is the entire point: fines fill the gaps between stones and turn a drainage layer into a dam, which is the single most common way a soak well stops working.
Two sizes for two jobs
14mm and 20mm, so you can match the stone to the void space you want rather than taking whatever is in the bay.
It lasts
Crushed rock does not break down. A drainage layer built with it is still a drainage layer in twenty years, provided nothing silts into it.
Predictable in a mix
Clean and consistently screened, so concrete made with it behaves the same batch to batch.
Getting Blue Metal home
How to get Blue Metal
Collect from the yard
Open seven days at 222 Barrington St, Bibra Lake. The loader puts it straight into your trailer or ute, and someone will tell you whether what you have brought will carry the load.
Borrow one of our trailers free for two hours to get your load home. No charge, no bond.
Have it delivered
Across Perth's southern suburbs, seven days. For a quote we need the address, how much you need, and anything awkward about access — tight driveways, low branches and side access all change which truck we send. Confirm the current cost when you order.
Formats
- Loose, by the cubic metre
- Bulka bag, roughly a cubic metre each
- Trailer load, including our free two hour trailer
Using Blue Metal
How to use Blue Metal
Work out the volume
Length by width by depth, all in metres, gives you cubic metres. For a soak well it is the volume of the excavation minus the well itself. The calculator further down does the arithmetic.
Pick the size for the job
14mm for concrete and tighter drainage runs, 20mm where you want maximum void space. Ask at the counter and describe what you are draining.
Keep the fines out of it
A drainage layer fails when soil washes into it. Geotextile between the stone and the surrounding sand is what keeps it working, and it is worth the trouble.
Do not compact it
It is not meant to lock together. Tamping it just breaks the stone and starts creating the fines you paid to have removed.
When to choose something else
When it is the wrong product
- It does not compact, and that is deliberate. If you need a firm base under paving or a slab, this is the wrong material — road base, crushed limestone or metal dust are the compactable ones.
- A drainage layer silts up if soil can wash into it. Without a geotextile separating it from the surrounding sand, it will slowly stop draining and there is no fixing it afterwards.
- It is uncomfortable to walk on and it moves underfoot, so it is not a path surface.
- As a decorative stone it is a working material rather than a finished one. The decorative stones page has the ones chosen for how they look.
Customer reviews
What people say
Blue Metal questions
Blue Metal FAQs
Goes with Blue Metal
Other products you may need
If you need it to compact instead
The materials with fines in them, for a base that has to hold its shape.
For concrete
The stone already blended with sand, and the cement to go with it.
Decorative stone instead
If it is going to be seen rather than buried.
Guides for blue metal
Planning your project
Blue Metal quote
Need Blue Metal for your project?
Send us the quantity you need, your suburb, and whether you would like to collect it or have it delivered. If you are not sure how much, put your measurements into the calculator above and we will check it for you.
Or ring the yard on (08) 9434 2290
222 Barrington St, Bibra Lake WA 6163 · Open 7 days
Use the calculator above and the amount lands in the message for you.