Driveway Rolling

[fenneran]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I am a know-nothing when it comes to driveway specifications, so Boomerang's (and other's) questions were good ones. Here is some more information which may help you understand the situation better. I hired my neighbor as the contractor. He is a professional in this field as one line of his company are the guys who strip and re-pave the roads. he, in turn, subbed out the vibrating compactor work to another excavating firm (I don't think he owns the machine, but uses them instead). My main concern was the hill on the driveway because of the trouble I have had in the past. He told me the price would be $300 no matter how long they stayed, but could certainly do the whole driveway in that time. So I agreed.

What I don't know is if my expectations (which were not spelled out in a contract for those who asked) were reasonable. Remember, I'm just a homeowner and have never done this before. I thought that the drive would essentially be flat, hard and packed when he was done. For the most part, it is. But there are parts where the material is still a little loose; enough for the F150 to make a mark in it. In my mind, this should not be, and that is where I feel I might have been slighted. it would seem that, maybe, if he ran over it a few more time (within the three-hours that I paid for), it would have compacted it a bit more. But according to him (the compactor driver), going over it again does nothing. On the other hand, I am perfectly aware that my expectations may be way out of line and a few loose spots may be exactly what I should expect.

 

[Toiyabe]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If there was only one lift and the contractor had brought a machine that was over sized for the job one pass may have been plenty.)</font>

Hot asphalt is usually rolled in three coverages (sometimes only two) - Breakdown, intermediate and finish. On each of these coverages, the passes overlap significantly - about 50%. The reason why it's rolled many times rather than once with a large machine is because of the uniformity of compaction. Over-compacted in some areas and under-compacted in others does not average out to the same thing as properly compacted everywhere.

Yes, that's not a great comparison because hot asphalt concrete will compact a lot more than cold millings. What bothers me is the overlaps. Depending on the width of the driveway and the width of the roller, the client didn't get much of an overlap.

A steel-wheeled roller will often bridge some areas (i.e. the roller only contacts the surface on its edges and not at all in the center), giving an uneven compaction effort. This is especially true for a material that doesn't compact much. Overlapping the passes significantly makes it more likely that the entire surface is compacted. As the client said that he still has some loose areas, I rather suspect that the roller bridged over those areas and did not compact them.

Anyway, the contractor should have known about this if it's what he does on a regular basis. On his normal jobs there's probably an inspector making sure he does his job. He ought to have cared enough about his neighbor to do a good job without having an inspector present. Remember, the prime contractor is responsible for the work performed by his subs.

 

[fenneran]

This was milled asphalt, not hot. (ground up roadway, applied with a dump truck)

 

[Toiyabe]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( This was milled asphalt, not hot. )</font>

I understand that, thought it was clear in my reply. The comparison to hot asphalt was in reply to a comment from Boomerang1.

My point is that you generally need more than just one pass to ensure that you compact the entire surface evenly, rather than just the high points. As I said, this actually is more important for cold millings then hot asphalt because it dosen't compact as much and it's not laid down as smooth which makes it more likely that you get bridging. Using a pnuematic tire roller rather than a steel wheel roller would have also helped prevent bridging.

 

[meledward23]

Look, if your neighbor is basically a "GC" speak to him about what you got for waht you paid. Tell him you arent looking to make trouble, and you dont have a problem with the work if it was done right. But you have some concerns about whether one pass each direction was sufficient.

He may agree with you, or he may disagree. But he is there, onsite, and should be able to render a professional opinion. In addition if you did get hosed, and the other guy does sub work for him, he probably can get the guy to comeback and fix it. Otherwise, next year when the driveway washes out, you can join the "Neighbors what to do with them" Posts!!!!