Foundation gravel question

[kebwi]

So, after buying one load of 5/8-minus gravel and dumping it in my foundation pit, I had a thought. There is a large pile of gravel on our lot, left over from some earlier job (it was even some sort of concrete slab I believe). I had ruled it out for this job because I thought it was "low quality", in that it consisted of nice chunky "pea-sized" pieces (but not pea gravel, it's all sharp-cornered like the 5/8-minus), but was also thoroughly infused with very fine concrete residue or clay, really fine stuff that obvious packs down thick as a brick. I figured that stuff can't be very good for draining water away under a foundation; don't I want a bed of small solid rocks so water can fall to the bottom through the cracks?

But when I went to buy the 5/8-minus, I noticed that their pile looked very similar. Nice big chunks on the surface, but when I dug down, it was loaded with very fine "clay" looking stuff. I was careful to "cream" the gravel as I loaded it into my car (they let you self-load, and obviously it's much cheaper).

So now I'm wondering if I should just finish the gravel from the pile in my own yard. It's free, it's right there, and I and my wife want it out of there anyway.

I've attached some photos, I'd love some knowledgable advice on this. I don't mind paying for new gravel, it's cheap as hell, but it would take me another two loads since I'm literally dumping it in the back of my Forester.

Thank you very much.

[Neil2]

Re: Foundation gravel question

Looks OK for base material.