Blacktop driveway

[ericher69]

So I got a few quotes to remove asphalt, dig out the old base and repave...

10-12k for a double drive 120 ft long

Ridiculous!

So I was thinking of doing the base prep myself renting equipment

Anything to look out for before I start down this path?

 

[bigtiller]

So I got a few quotes to remove asphalt, dig out the old base and repave...

10-12k for a double drive 120 ft long

Ridiculous!

So I was thinking of doing the base prep myself renting equipment

Anything to look out for before I start down this path?

Yes, the future.
Asphalt is not something you can do once and forget about. Every year I have to repair mine. I fill the new cracks and sometimes the old and growing cracks. Every other year it gets sealed. This isn't a big deal for a small driveway. But a double wide and 120 long gets expensive and it involves some labor that gets increasingly harder as we age.

When mine breaks up enough that it turns into an eye-sore, I will replace it with concrete.

 

[mjw357]

If I had it my way, entire drive would be concrete. Will last 10 times longer than asphalt, easily, if done correctly.

 

[thatguy]

If I had it my way, entire drive would be concrete. Will last 10 times longer than asphalt, easily, if done correctly.

"if done correctly" is the issue.. My wife bought a spec house with a concrete driveway and after 3 yrs we had fist size rock working their way up through the driveway.. When i dug them out the concrete was 2" max in a lot of places..

The builder was notorious for short cuts (like huge rooms, tiny closets, no linen closets or pantries) - Much easier to frame and build when you dont have to do corners LOL

I have an asphalt drive - and it does need regular maintenance.. I only seal my every 2 to 3 years, BUT that depends on the winter and how much scraping I do.. that really wears it down quickly..

Get a couple quotes.. I got three (all recommended pavers from our builders which were very particular on how they used).. We got quotes of $10 (and 6 months from start to finish), $8k, and 5500 - We went with the lowest bidder and they put down more asphalt (before compacting) than they spec'd in the bid.. they also dug out all the old gravels and put in a good layer of base..

The prep work took 1.5 days and we had, I think, 450ish yds of drive

beware of the 100x50 paving for $$cheap though.. they just put it down with little to no prep work

Brian

 

[Egon]

Concrete pavers.:thumbsup:

 

[ericher69]

We have fairly nasty winters here in Ontario Canada with deep freeze/thaw cycles so don't know how well a concrete drive would hold up?

I can think of one in town and may visit the guy to find out how he likes his

Any ideas on how much extra $$ up front for concrete vs asphalt?

Thanks

 

[BigD9]

I was once told by a asphalt paving highway contractor that concrete is for vertical structures, and asphalt is for horizontal structures.

 

[Buppies]

Brian how long ago was your driveway work done? At 450 square yards for 5500 dollars works out to a dollar and .22 cents per square yard.

 

[mjw357]

I was once told by a asphalt paving highway contractor that concrete is for vertical structures, and asphalt is for horizontal structures.

Not that he's biased or anything.

 

[EddieWalker]

For that much money, you should be able to pour concrete thick enough to never have to worry about it again in your lifetime!!!

I just had a quote of $2 a square foot for one layer, two inches thick.

Why where they going to remove your existing base? Asphalt is not structural, it requires a solid base with good drainage to last. Biggest mistake people make is not building up their base thick enough, then compacting it before puttind down ashpalt. As the base compacts and settles, the asphalt cracks.

Depending where you are, you need at least four inches of good compacted road base material. That means rock that is crushed with jagged edges in size from an inch or two, down to fines all mixed together.

2 inches of asphault is the minimum for light traffic. Four inches is much better for long term, but of course, twice the money in material.

Eddie

 

[ericher69]

For that much money, you should be able to pour concrete thick enough to never have to worry about it again in your lifetime!!!

I just had a quote of $2 a square foot for one layer, two inches thick.

Why where they going to remove your existing base? Asphalt is not structural, it requires a solid base with good drainage to last. Biggest mistake people make is not building up their base thick enough, then compacting it before puttind down ashpalt. As the base compacts and settles, the asphalt cracks.

Depending where you are, you need at least four inches of good compacted road base material. That means rock that is crushed with jagged edges in size from an inch or two, down to fines all mixed together.

2 inches of asphault is the minimum for light traffic. Four inches is much better for long term, but of course, twice the money in material.

Eddie

The drive has been dug and patched numerous times;foundation repair, sewer line change, water line change, cracking and sinking
Base is obviously garbage!

 

[Tomtint]

I had a section of my driveway paved in the fall. It has a 44x50 parking area and 200 feet of 12 foot wide driveway. I already had the processed gravel down and graded so there was minimal prep. We put down 2" of 3/4 base mix and rolled it out. I spent 6500.00 to do this. I still have another 1000 feet to do for my driveway to be all pavement. Then a topcoat. I'm going to try to do it 3-5 k at a time.

 

[ericher69]

I had a section of my driveway paved in the fall. It has a 44x50 parking area and 200 feet of 12 foot wide driveway. I already had the processed gravel down and graded so there was minimal prep. We put down 2" of 3/4 base mix and rolled it out. I spent 6500.00 to do this. I still have another 1000 feet to do for my driveway to be all pavement. Then a topcoat. I'm going to try to do it 3-5 k at a time.

Is that plus your base materials cost?

 

[Tomtint]

Yes, plus base material. I already have it down and well compacted. As of now I use my Befco grader to keep it smooth and clean. So all I need is the asphalt.

 

[thatguy]

Brian how long ago was your driveway work done? At 450 square yards for 5500 dollars works out to a dollar and .22 cents per square yard.

it was almost 6 yrs ago.. is that high or low??

The 450 sq/yd may have been the 'volume' of asphalt and not the driveway size - I got the number off one of the estimates..

Brian

 

[ericher69]

So how should I expect the contractors to price this? By the square yard? Linear foot? Square foot?

 

[Diamondpilot]

So I got a few quotes to remove asphalt, dig out the old base and repave...

10-12k for a double drive 120 ft long

Ridiculous!

So I was thinking of doing the base prep myself renting equipment

Anything to look out for before I start down this path?

That is way out of line. My drive is 40' wide then tapers to 25' and about 200' long for a total area of 4,600 SQ FT. I had it paved in 2010 with 2" of heavy binder and 1" of #12 top coat for $7500 cash. It was gravel to start with and they did 3 days of work. 1.5 days of prep and 1.5 days to pave.

Second pic is when it was gravel but gives you a idea of the size.


Chris

 

[MarkV]

Around here asphalt prices have gone out the roof because of petroleum prices. Might be worth pricing concrete to compare.

MarkV

 

[Diamondpilot]

Around here asphalt prices have gone out the roof because of petroleum prices. Might be worth pricing concrete to compare.

MarkV

When I priced concrete in 2010 it was 4 times more than asphalt plus in my county your taxes go up with concrete but not with asphalt since they consider it a 25 year product, not permanent. May not be this way in every county but its like that here.

Chris

 

[tractchores]

I just did a .5 mile road and my driveway and parking area (probably .1 mile of drive and a 100x 30 parking area. One thing we did to reduce cost on the road / drive portion was to have them grind the asphalt in place. The grinder isn't something a lot of companies have so you have to find one, but it basically grinds it and any rocks in place and creates a nice thick layer of base material and eliminates the cost of new base and breaking out the old stuff. It worked really well and came out beautifully. We're in a cold weather climate with rocky soil, so one of the big problems was rocks pushing up through the pavement, so I also had them rake the parking area with the excavator to remove any rocks and then to add extra base material there to prevent it in the future. We're in an expensive area of the country, but the bids typically ranged from $3 - $5 per foot including everything. Final cost was about 40k for the .5 road and 20k for the drive and parking area. Unfortunately asphalt prices are oil linked and have gone up accordingly in the past few years, so its expensive no matter what.