Asphalt Advice

[_RaT_]

Any thoughts on how to best patch a cutout I need to make in a asphalt driveway. I don't work with asphalt so am wondering how to best do it. I suspect by the time I am done I will have cut open a 5' X 4' X 4" thick asphalt driveway to repair a broken 2" sch 40 PVC water line that has a small leak. I know compaction is important. Can you even purchase stuff by a pickup load? Best to just call a asphalt company and let them do it? Rat...

 

[daedong]

Rat

You should be able to buy tins of cold tar i know you can here in oz . Pack the earth well like you said about a 1/4' from finish hight, pour cold tar using an old watering can without the rose. spread suitable gravel.

 

[Junkman]

It depends on how good of a patch job that you want. If you don't care about appearances, the you can use "cold patch" to fill in the hole. You will need to do a good job with compaction of the material that you put back in, no matter who does the job. If you want, you can have a driveway paving contractor do the patching for you. He will use hot asphalt and roll the patch, but it will still be noticeable. If you want a patch that won't show, you need to find a asphalt installer that has an infrared /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif heating machine. This machine is set over the patch and heats up the surrounding material until it is soft and workable. Then they rake out the old and new material to blend the patch and roll it out. When they are done, the patch is not going to be seen and it will appear that the driveway is just the way it was before the repair. This is now required by many towns when a street is opened up for any kind of repairs. It is expensive to have done, but it is worth it if you have a expensive driveway that you don't want to look patched.

 

[_RaT_]

Yes, this will be a hot asphalt job. The driveway will be sealed in the near future. It can have a patched look providing it is not so obvious that it looks like a amateur did it. I doubt the small town has a asphalt contractor with the heating system you mentioned, "infrared" is what I think you meant.

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ........... "infrared" is what I think you meant. )</font>
You are correct..... that is one problem with spell checkers.... they can't read my mind and I can't read the small print.... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I will go back and correct the errors of my spelling... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The one nice thing about this machine, is that it will work on an old patch just as well as it will work on a new patch. I had a patche done in my driveway when the frost brought up a huge rock from 2' below the surface. It appeared as a small "rise" in the asphalt the first year and kept getting worse as winters came and went. After the patch was done, they used the infrared machine on it the following week and you couldn't tell that it had been patched a month later. The only visual difference was the new black color verses the older gray color that driveways get with age. This year, we dug out two more boulders that have come to the surface. When the driveway was originally done, the contractor went down 2' and replaced it with stone dust and stone. It is amazing the frost depth that we have had in the past few winters. Last winter it was reported to be 4' into the ground in this area. Some people actually had their well water lines freeze for the first time. There was no snow cover to protect the ground from the frost. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[_RaT_]

The whole frost thing was quite foreign to me. When I built a couple of homes in Maine they educated me on it. The depth of plumbing, no plumbing in the outside walls and insulated concrete footings inside and out. It's definitely different.

 

[Egon]

An alternative to patching with asphalt material could be to remove a stip of asphalt right across the driveway and replace it with concrete paver blocks. It would make future access to the line much easier. A lot easier than working with asphalt too.

Egon

 

[MadReferee]

Find out where the nearest asphalt plant is and go get a pickup truck load. My office is about 1/4 mile from a working plant here in NH and I see the small contractors taking pickups and dump trucks there all the time for small loads. I would call ahead so they can mix you a batch with another bigger load since it might be cheaper that way.

 

[Varmintmist]

I grew up working blacktop so here ya go.

You will need a vibratory tamper, you can rent one for a day. You need to put in about 4-6in of 2B modified stone and tamp it with the wacker.

Go to the asphalt plant and they will drop into your pickup. AC is sold by weight so you scale your truck first and then scale it loaded. You can do the entire job with top (small stones) Binder (big stones) makes a cheaper base and lets water run through it some but for what you are doing you are better off doing 2 lifts of top. Tarp your load, to help keep it hot.

Put your first lift in to about a inch below final. Use a heavy rake to level it. Tamp it, make sure the water tank on the wacker is full and working. The water keeps the asphalt from sticking to the wacker. If the wacker you have doesnt have a water tank, take a old paint brush dipped in fuel oil, or desiel fuel (same thing) and paint the wacker plate. DO NOT SPILL THE FUEL OIL ON THE BLACKTOP, it will eat it up. Use the fuel oil and brush on your shovel and rake to keep them clean also.

Put your second lift on making it approx 1/4 of an inch higher than existing right at the edge. Use the flat of the rake (points up) to level it. The less you have to work it, the better off you are. Getting the top nice takes a little bit of a eye and a light hand. A lute, actual asphalt tool for top, would be the best thing, but a rake will work. Wack it from old to new to old. Dont turn the wacker on the new, you will gouge it. Let is sit for 1/2 an hour, wack it again. By this time it should be pretty well set.

Dont use cold patch, waste of time and money. If you can get some base material asphalt BM (hot tar) and pour it on the edges of the hole before you start, it will help the patch adhear to the existing. If you pour the BM around the edge of the patch when you are done, it will help keep water from getting in between the old and new. Throw some sand on the "tar" when you are done and it wont be as inclined to pick up on your tires.

Ya know what? I just read this whole thing and my reccomendation is hire someone /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

Uh -- if you do that make sure you have a big tarp to cover the truck.

Egon