Has anyone had experience with using salvaged concrete on a new job? IE, concrete taken from another project, or a recycling yard, and using it as aggregate or a base course on new construction?
For a large hospital project seeking LEED status, we have demo’d existing cast-in-place concrete buildings and broken the remains on site for use in the mass grading for the new buildings.
But we have not tried to use it as part of a concrete mix design as you suggest.
There was a situation in San Francisco where a concrete supplier used, contrary to the project requirements, recyled concrete on a bridge. There was some concern that the resulting concrete did not conform to the specified properties.
I woud expect that in some circumstances that recyled aggregate would be acceptable. The project structural engineer should research this. Check this link http://www.cement.org/tech/cct_aggregates_recycled.asp.
Whether this is feasible will depend a lot on the size of the projct and the facilities of the concrete supplier.
When Brewer Stadium was built a couple of years ago, they recycled concrete as a base. You might contact Wastecap Wisconsin for details; that’s how I learned what had been done. Wastecap Wisconsin, 2647 N Stowell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53211, (414) 961-1100. There are other Wastecaps in other states that might be able to give you additional information.