Do You Like Your Asphalt Driveway.??

[Duffster]

Concrete wouldn't be my first choice.

Just for kicks...how deep would you lay the concrete.??

IMO Concrete is the ONLY choice.

4-6".

Tractors are not good on asphalt.

 

[crazyal]

How long is your driveway? If it's short the cement is more of an option. If it's long then maybe you can just do near the house and live with gravel in the middle. How long have you lived there? In the spring (mud season) are there any places that tend to get soft or hold water? Frost does a number on blacktop but it will ruin concrete. Also things like salt take their toll on Concrete.

My father's driveway was gravel. There was a tree they had to remove before building the house. They never filled in the stump hole correctly and for 2 decades he had to add fill every other year. When it finally stopped sinking he put down asphalt. A few years later it started sinking again. It's about 6" to 8" low but the asphalt got nothing more than a few cracks. Concrete would have broke and needed replacing. However the concrete pad in front of his garage was poured 10 years earlier and is fine.

 

[Duffster]

In our area, contractors tend to use 2x4s for their forms. Today's 2x4 is only 3.5" wide, so you don't get the total 4" that's advertised.

Slab thickness has nothing to do with the lumber/form dimension.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I just went though this. I had a 6" deep 40x16 concrete slab poured in front of my barn and had the rest paved. The pavement was 2" of 8D base and 1" of 12 top coat. Its been down for a month so only time will tell. I can not remember the length but its 4,600 sq ft worth according to the invoice.

The guy who did mine did my dads in 1981 and it still looks good. He has had it sealed every 4 years. Same for my neighbors. They have been in the house for 25 years and it was done when they moved in.

Here in Indiana we have a full gamete of weather. Highs around 100 in the summer and lows around -20 in the winter. Yes there is a few cracks but filling it and sealing takes care of that.

Chris

 

[ultrarunner]

Just asking...

The paved residential street in front of my parents home was paved once... in 1956-57.

Still looks great today and has never warranted any repairs... asphalt pavement with concrete curbs and sidewalks. All manor of trucks use the road daily... mostly for deliveries or turning around when they get lost.

A friend father was tired of mud at their family Tahoe cabin and had the drive paved in the 60's... never had a single problem... although only the family's passenger cars use it.

I hear so many people experiencing pavement problems... there must be a way to insure a good paving job.

The paving here at work is 5.5" minimum... it was designed for Safeway type semi trucks and has on-going problems...

 

[lostcause]

I hear so many people experiencing pavement problems... there must be a way to insure a good paving job.

one issue is climate. when the ground is thawed or frozen up here everything is fine. when the frost is going out, but the ground is not totally thawed, that's when we have a lot of issues. heavy trucks are not allowed on a lot of roads in that time frame, unless the temperature is below freezing. when the roads are in this transition period, the supporting ground is not stable enough so the heavy vehicle weight would crack the asphalt pavement. probably not as big of an issue for residential, but the frost and vehicle weight still does crack private drives.

 

[Toyboy]

I have blacktop and like it, especially in the winter when the sun dries it out. But if money was no object, I'd have pavers instead. Never have to worry about cracks or heaving from frost. But they cost $$$

 

[MW66]

If money is not an object, then concrete. I just had them finish our 180' driveway last week. They did 3TS binder asphalt. We had a pad on the side of the garage too. The 3TS is supposed to hold up to heavier use. It's 3 inches think on a solid crusher run base.

 

[Highbeam]

To get an asphalt road to last you need a good subgrade and good compaction. You also need to pave to an adequate thickness of asphalt. Our minimum road thickness is 4" for residential streets. That's on top of 12" of curshed rock subgrade on top of fabric on top of firm and unyielding native soils.

The problem with asphalt driveways is cheapskate contractors putting it down improperly.

 

[Duffster]

To get an asphalt road to last you need a good subgrade and good compaction. You also need to pave to an adequate thickness of asphalt. Our minimum road thickness is 4" for residential streets. That's on top of 12" of cursed rock subgrade on top of fabric on top of firm and unyielding native soils.

Sometimes I curse that rock too. :laughing:

The problem with asphalt driveways is cheapskate contractors putting it down improperly.

I think the blame could be equally laid on cheapskate homeowners too.