Order Gravel, Stone and Soil in Reading, PA

For gravel and aggregate delivery in Reading, PA, Pennsylvania Rock Supply stocks the materials this ground actually calls for. Around here the valleys are floored with shale, limestone and dolomite that weather to clay, and the ridges leave thin, stony soil behind. That clay is why 2A modified, the standard Pennsylvania base stone, matters more than most homeowners expect.

Crushed stone with the fines left in compacts hard, so a base built on it holds up. A base built on soft clay does not, no matter how much stone you pile on top.

Delivery to Reading and the Surrounding Area

You order online, pick your material, and choose a quantity by the ton or the yard. If you are not sure how much you need, enter your measurements in the calculator and let it size the load for you.

At checkout you choose a delivery date, and a dump truck brings the material to your site. Bulk loads get dropped where the truck can reach, so think about where you want the pile before the driver arrives. Reading sits in Berks County, and delivery covers Blandon, Birdsboro, Hamburg, Boyertown and Kutztown as well.

Materials for Reading Projects

Most jobs in this area start with grade. If a yard holds water, a driveway has settled into ruts, or you are building a pad for a shed or garage, the first load is usually fill and sub-base, not a finished surface.

Fill Dirt raises grade and fills low spots, and it goes down before anything else. Once the shape is right, 2A Modified is the base that compacts hard and carries the load. Contractors here ask for 2A modified by name because it is the base stone this market builds on.

For a driveway, start with fill if the grade is low, then 2A modified, then top it with Driveway Gravel for the wearing surface. For a patio or paver walkway, the base is 2A modified again, with Screenings bedding the pavers on top.

Drainage is its own material. 2B Stone is clean washed stone with no fines, so water moves through it instead of packing tight. Use it for French drains, behind retaining walls and under shed pads in wet spots.

Ground and Conditions in Reading

The ground in this part of Pennsylvania is folded bedrock: long sandstone ridges with thin, stony soils, and valleys floored by shale or by limestone and dolomite that weather to clay. In the anthracite coal fields the ground is broken up by old strip mines and waste piles, which can surprise you when you dig.

Clay and broken ground both punish an under-built base. Stone spread thin over soft subgrade pumps and shifts, and the surface above it cracks or ruts. That is why the fill and sub-base layer does the real work here.

Water is the other half of it. Rain and snowmelt run off the steep ridge slopes into the valleys, and in the limestone and dolomite valleys that runoff can open sinkholes when it concentrates from roofs, gutters and drives. Clean stone such as 2B gives that water somewhere to go.

Cold winters bring repeated freeze-thaw cycles that heave and break up a thin base or one that holds water. Frost depth here is commonly about 36 inches, set by each municipality. Base, driveway and paver work runs from spring, once the ground has thawed and dried, into late fall. Base stone should not go down on frozen, soft or muddy ground.

Order 2A Modified and Base Materials for Your Reading Project

2A modified is the base stone this market builds on, and it is the material most Reading jobs start with. Add fill dirt to raise grade, clean 2B stone where water needs to move, and top it off with driveway gravel or screenings. Choose your material, set the quantity, and place your order online for delivery in Reading.