Coalpail.com Forum

3-4 stoves running and we barely had enough ash to make the driveway drivable when we got those ice storms

I can tell you all that after doing several years of roadway reconstruction in NEPA, a lot of older municipal roads have a red ash base, stuff is crap for a road base, but it was cheap and readily avail. I guess. Lays down nice to the eye, but crap is crap. On a personal note, I cut a tile drain in my concrete basement floor and guess what is under there (no suprise to me) 3-4" ash base. Soaked to the bone, stuff holds water. I have an older home which was once heated with coal boiler, kitchen coal stove (flue still behind kitchen wall) and guess where the ash went? Basement floor. I bet this would be the case in many homes in coal cracker regions that have low basement ceiling height. I still find a spot or two in the backyard that has significant ash content when I dig a hole. The old timers put that crap everywhere.

Frank

I must have crappy coal, I can fill 2 - 30 gallon ash barrels in less than a month. Anyone need ash?

With the recent thaw and rain, my dirt road out front became a moon-scape of potholes. So the last several ashpans got dumped in the potholes.. I doubt that the ash will stay put, the idiots drive down the road so fast that the mud and gravel spray extends 15 feet up my driveway,, and my mail and paper was wet with muddy water I've considered backing a haywagon out into the road, blocking all but just enough for a car to get by,,, and saying the tractor is broken, and won't start.. not sure how many times I'd get away with it..

I'll have probably 3 cubic yards of ash by this spring... from buring 10-12 tons of coal.. I've got lots of places to put it.

Greg L

I was thinking of jacking up my shed and making a pad of ash under it.
Ray

I just disposed of a few buckets full under the tires of my lady friend's Jap Cadillac. (Hyundai) She parked on her lawn to get out from under the trees. Really intense winds here the last 18 hrs. ( Her regular parking space on the gravel isn't under any trees- women.) Her car has wide road tires, and they just turned the lawn into slick brown mud. I threw a few buckets of ash under the front tires- no luck. The front of this car has all the weight, couldn't back it out. I chained it to my Jimmy and yanked it out by myself. I put a fence post behind her car in case it got going too fast as I pulled it backwards. Now I'll get asked when I'm going to clean up the mess- her lawn looks like WWII now.

I turned a co-worker onto anthracite coal ash last week.
He was asking what he could put on his ice rink driveway that would not cost him an arm and a leg. I asked him what he had done so far and he said he spent $25 for some stuff but it did not go very far and he was hoping that nobody came to visit him because the sidewalk was nothing but ice. The next day I took him a garbage can of coal ash and told him "try this". I said use it sparingly on the sidewalk because it can get tracked into the house and you should take your shoes off just inside the door or your wife may kick your ash. He reported back the next day that the ash worked great, it gave instant traction and with the sun hitting the ash it melted down through the ice and broke it up. He and his wife were so happy. He asked me if I could give him a garbage can full every year if he gave me a can to fill up.

LsFarm wrote:I've considered backing a haywagon out into the road, blocking all but just enough for a car to get by,,, and saying the tractor is broken, and won't start.. not sure how many times I'd get away with it..
Greg L

New Guy here...

This topic made me think somewhere I have read that coal ash repels rodents... In searching the topic I didn't find any threads about this.

So my question is... does a 'line' of ash keep mice and rodents from entering a dwelling?

If so this is a very nice solution to the regular fall migration as the little critters seek warmer homes... and if it does work... how long do the ashes have the repellent effect?

Thanks for any information.

artist wrote:New Guy here...

This topic made me think somewhere I have read that coal ash repels rodents... In searching the topic I didn't find any threads about this.

So my question is... does a 'line' of ash keep mice and rodents from entering a dwelling?

If so this is a very nice solution to the regular fall migration as the little critters seek warmer homes... and if it does work... how long do the ashes have the repellent effect?

Thanks for any information.

Somebody on here posted recently that they put it around the perimeter of their greenhouse and noticed it kept the moles or voles away.

coaledsweat wrote:I save all the wrapping paper, you know, Chrismas, birthdays etc. Then I wrap the coal ash up nice and put a bow on it. You can leave it anywhere, park bench, train station whatever. Someone will steal it in 5-10 minutes.

lol, what a great idea!! I WILL try this

This was in our local paper.

http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/i ... l?nav=5018

There is always some enviornmental wacko that will raise false alarm.

The article claims 14 states allow the use bottom ash for a winter traction agent.

anyone who lives in those towns should call the board, get involved etc. and simply say that they are in favor of saving money and using coal ash on roadways to let the town know that people are actually in favor of it.