Concrete, asphalt or pavers

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I love pavers for walkways. Hope to do them in my backyard one of these days. I would never even consider them for a driveway. Too much to go wrong and repair.

Agreed.

Plus, if there are grand kids, asphalt is much friendlier to things like skates, skateboards, and knees.

 

[Creamer]

It sounds like you want a higher end look near the house but are concerned about the concrete or pavers getting munched by the snow plow. The dream would be adding heating under the parts of the 3000sf that need snow removal. The next would be special blade designed to prevent damage.
Pavers with the proper base will outlast concrete. I've had/seen spalling issues with concrete so that would be my third choice.

Choices in order-
Pavers with heater
Pavers with special plow blade
Asphalt
Concrete

Reading back through this thread I keep thinking about pavers and although I like the look with all the beveled edges they can be kind of an uneven surface to walk on as compared to a concrete or asphalt slab. Also, since you are in Idaho I would think you would have a freeze/thaw problem that goes deeper than the base under the pavers to cause uneveness.

 

[Creamer]

Agreed.

Plus, if there are grand kids, asphalt is much friendlier to things like skates, skateboards, and knees.

Size and location of the replacement? Front of garage or a mile long road?

Both in front of garage and about 1/8 mile of driveway.

 

[Creamer]

Agreed.

Plus, if there are grand kids, asphalt is much friendlier to things like skates, skateboards, and knees.

Size and location of the replacement? Front of garage or a mile long road?

Both in front of garage and about 1/8 mile of driveway.

Are you sure you have asphalt and not oil sand? I never heard of asphalt tracking, but oil sand does. It also falls apart fairly quickly.

You have never walked across warm asphalt barefoot and had blackfeet when you got across? In Southern California and Texas?

 

[lman]

It's been almost 5 years. Did you do anything with your driveway?

 

[mikester]

I like the idea of pavers(and its not my $$$) but I have experience with small (8" x 8") pavers on my walkway. One or two can tend to frost heave and at times I will catch my foot on one that's lifted slightly. They are well bedded in gravel then sand but still a couple can tend to heave slightly - I tend to shuffle at times too.

Translate this to your driveway and the only problem I can see is catching either your front blade or rear blade as you plow snow - if there were any frost heaving. I like the patterns you would be able to create with pavers, its easy to repair any that might become damaged and generally speaking they should last a lifetime.

If you use or are exposed to a lot of road salt pavers and concrete spall. I'm guessing you will have more heaving issues to on the pavers.

I find pavers more appealing and they allow drainage through your driveway.

 

[71bronco]

Been a bricklayer a long time and did a few driveways with pavers, All of them had 4 to 5''s of concrete under to pavers so double the price of either one. Sure did last a long time though.

Jeff

 

[OldMcDonald]

Been a bricklayer a long time and did a few driveways with pavers, All of them had 4 to 5''s of concrete under to pavers so double the price of either one. Sure did last a long time though.

Jeff

Somebody who knows what he is talking about.

My brother started what you would call a "paver" laying business about 40 years ago. He always refused a job if the client wanted to lay them on anything other than concrete. His son took over when Bill died 12 years ago and continues with the same principle.

Paving urban house driveways has been big business in the UK for decades. Anything other than concrete underneath is a waste of money. They all move. If you plough snow off in the winter I would guess that even on concrete there is going to be the odd corner sticks up and you then have a repair job - probably expensive too, as a tractor pushing/pulling a plough is going to move more than one block (paver).

 

[Creamer]

It's been almost 5 years. Did you do anything with your driveway?

I didn't even look at that = I cannot believe that it has been five years. I bought a manufacturing business and have been focused on turning that around which wasn't helped by Covid and here we are. No I haven't done anything yet but the driveway has not gotten any better either.

 

[Creamer]

Been a bricklayer a long time and did a few driveways with pavers, All of them had 4 to 5''s of concrete under to pavers so double the price of either one. Sure did last a long time though.

Jeff

When we moved into this house 30 years ago my wife and I saw a rustic stone walkway and stone patioin the Family Handyman magazine and she said that is what she wanted. So like a good husband i put it in. They were nice gray limestone I picked out of a quarry and hauled home. Even though it wasn't a big area it took a lot of work to dig it out put down a sand and portland cement mix and set all the stones and then fill in. And after all that my wife and I never liked walking on it because it wasn't that even. Furthermore it has gotten more uneven through the years. I think of this when I think of pavers. I have never heard of putting pavers on top of concrete but I could not imagine the paver surface staying flat without something like concrete underneath.

Do you need to put holes in the concrete for drainage? Water will go through sand between the pavers and heave when frozen.

As much as I like the look of pavers all I see is lots of maintenance.

 

[Creamer]

I keep coming back to concrete but the cost is high mostly due to labor and staining because I would like it darker. My stone driveway - the actual 1/8 mile long drive - has been in place for 50 years and is int very good condition. I am thinking that it would be possible to just grade it flat and not have to form it using a thick consistency of concrete like they do on the roads. Is this possible? Is there something that I am not understanding? Maybe it is just the cost of bringing in apiece of equipment like that for a driveway?

 

[4570Man]

The labor to grade and form a concrete driveway is fairly high. If you could do that yourself and just pay someone to finish if you could save quite a bit of money. Also concrete has almost doubled in price since you started this thread.

 

[71bronco]

Do you need to put holes in the concrete for drainage? Water will go through sand between the pavers and heave when frozen.

As much as I like the look of pavers all I see is lots of maintenance.

Just like a regular driveway you have to grade so the water doesn't sit and puddle and have expansion joints. Pavers are a lot of maintenance and plowing will be hard on them.

Same with stamped concrete and if you have a problem with a section of concrete almost impossible to repair and match.

i poured my drive 25 years ago and while there are some cracks it will last a long time longer. I poured mine in three stages- 33 yards for the turnaround, then 2 more 10 yard pours to get to the road. All looks the same now.

 

[dodge man]

There are slip form pavers. You just dump concrete in front of them and they spit pavement out the back. It’s not quite that easy though and the ones I’ve seen are usually for highways.

 

[ponytug]

With brick and pavers, after installing them properly, maintenance is key. Any low spots need sand swept into the cracks, which will work its way down with traffic. If you aren't walking / driving on it, then yes, you have to pull the bricks/pavers, add sand, compact it, and lay them again. That's why pavers are often installed with six inches of flat concrete under them to minimize shifting. The other item to watch for is that there should be a strong edge to keep them from spreading laterally.

There are some pretty slick bricklaying machines out there;

All the best,

Peter

 

[Creamer]

There are slip form pavers. You just dump concrete in front of them and they spit pavement out the back. It’s not quite that easy though and the ones I’ve seen are usually for highways.

That is what I was thinking for the 1/8 mile long driveway that would be a lot quicker and easier than forming all that up. I have seen them used in large open space manufacturing building concrete floors as well at a 20' wide section at a time. It might just be that the equipment is not available to smaller contractors who do driveways or too expensive to bring in from wherever they have to for this one job.

 

[dodge man]

For a driveway that short my guess is to expensive to haul in and setup. Probably to wide also.

 

[deezler]

Obviously what you need to do is pour 5-6" of insulated concrete, with pex tubing throughout for a hydronic heating system. Then pavers atop that. Thus, no plowing, and no paver shifting from frost heave.

It's only money, after all.

I like to joke with my coworker who's wife inherited big money, and they bought a big ass home in a ritzy subdivision, about his driveway heater system. Instead, he has 2" of busted, pot holed asphalt with tree roots poking through it, and it's the shame of the neighborhood.

 

[deezler]

But personally, I think a well maintained gravel driveway is a thing of beauty. Gotta keep the natural stone nicely graded and evenly distributed. Which is how I justified spending $1500 on a land plane.

 

[Creamer]

But personally, I think a well maintained gravel driveway is a thing of beauty. Gotta keep the natural stone nicely graded and evenly distributed. Which is how I justified spending $1500 on a land plane.

Mine has been in great shape except it needs rock again - it has been 8 years. The problem I have is that plowing takes rock off and then it builds up along the sides and so you have to either keep building or scraping the sides down for drainage but that bring dirt up into the road. There are a lot worse things though!