Asphalt thickness and cost check

[hawkeye08]

Here in eastern Washington, asphalt is considered temporary and concrete permanent, and taxed accordingly. We had asphalt done on our 100' by 20-24' (24' at garage and then narrows to about 20 at county road) for $6000 by fly by night outfit. It is compacted and at least 2" thick. The local asphalt businesses wanted $8-10k and I was too busy to mess with concrete myself. We have DOT fabric with 6" of crushed gravel packed down for 20+ years. Asphalt company that did it smoothed it out with skid steer and bucket, compacted with vibrating roller, put the asphalt down and compacted it with vibrating roller... a few hours start to finish. They top sealed it for an additional charge, it needs it again now (yes, I will buy some 5 gallon buckets and get it done)..

 

[Oldoak]

3" thick concrete for a driveway? My basement floor is 3500# concrete w/fiberglass, 4" thick , the garage and outside pad is 4000# concrete w/fiberglass and wire mesh, 6" thick as well as my pole building floor.

Would you believe, one county in my area, not mine, is taxing property owners on the amount of square footage of their paved driveways (concrete or asphalt). Something to do with rain water runoff and stressing the area's watershed. Gravel driveways are considered permeable and are not taxed.

To the O.P., I think you got a fair price and have a good idea of what others have paid for asphalt. Of course there are always variables that affect prices.

 

[Looking4new]

IMHO, if you concrete or asphalt your driveway you are telling every thief that drives by that you have money. It is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

 

[TnAndy]

I can understand that line of thinking. Friend of mine had a place up on top a mountain....drive was a jeep rut of a road that went thru somebody else's yard at the bottom to even start...you would never have suspected it went to his place without air photos. I called it the "Stealth Driveway"

However, we have a 1500' driveway with an electric operated gate that we keep closed unless I'm expecting someone or a delivery. You can't even see the house from the county road side of the gate, so potential thieves don't even know how long a hike they have to get up here.

Then there are a several of driveway alerts (Dakota Alert) that let us know when something trips them. Then there are 2 outside dogs, that aren't vicious, but bark at anything strange. Then there is a well armed homeowner at the end of that chain.....with an excavator....and a lot of places to bury things. Based on our experiences since 1982, all thieves have wisely chosen to seek softer targets. Not saying we'll never be hit....but I'm going to enjoy my place, including the drive it took us years to save up for, and not really worry about what is on some crook's agenda.

 

[EddieWalker]

I personally like asphalt over concrete for driveways.

One of my clients works as the office manager for the asphalt plant here in Tyler and they are constantly being sued. From what she told me, their are a lot of ways to cut corners when they mix up a batch of asphalt, and if you do not specify what you want with your contractor, they can save a lot of money on material going with lesser materials. You absolutely have to make sure that you get the same mix that the city and county uses for their roads. Terminology differs, and I would never trust a paving company to be honest with me on what that is. If I ever pave my driveway, I'm going to go to the plant personally and find out what the mix is used by the city. Then I am going to make sure to see the tickets issued to the paving company showing that is what they are using.

As for the base, if they add or remove any materials, in order to get it compacted, they will have to have a water truck there along with the roller. Right after I got out of the Marines, my first job was driving a water truck in CA for a large variety of construction sites. Getting soil and rock compacted takes a lot of effort and it has to be done in layers with the right amount of water. The size of the roller will decide in how thick of a layer you can go. Then before pavement was laid, the inspector would test the base for compaction. If we didn't get it, they tore it all apart, down to virgin soil, and did it again. Too much water is worse then not enough, but not enough water will also cause failure.

If they are doing all of that, then your price sounds very reasonable.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Not a price for hot asphalt, but recycled asphalt. Guy measured 12' wide by 2400' long (28,800 sq ft). He would regrade the existing gravel drive for 'crown', compact the base with vibratory roller, lay 4" of recycled crushed asphalt and compact that with the roller. Cost was $28,000 !! (About $1 per sq ft) . Your price for hot asphalt is about $1.86 sq ft....probably not that bad. Needless to say, I 'm not having it done....gonna put more crushed gravel down and grade it myself.