New Driveway- 2 pavement options..help!!

[Egon]

Laid Asphalt quality has a lot of variables to it so it's really hard to compare the results unless everything is done to a specified standard.

The driveways and small jobs will have many a deviation from what would be considered standard on a properly supervised Government road paving job.

Variables:

First and foremost is the sub grade, material type, depth, standard of compaction, drainage and even finished smoothness.

Type of asphalt used, type and grading of the crushed gravel used, The actually mixing plant design, size and operator skill, Job site delivery temperatures, Type of compaction equipment used and the compaction method, Degree to which it is compacted, the thickness of the mat, the outside temperature and weather and lots of items I neither know or have forgotten.

Also one must realize the small job lots may use a blend of asphalts on hand, aggragate that does not meet the specs that major users will demand and perhaps lower temperatures and less mixing at the plant.



Makes it hard to compare jobs.:thumbsup:

 

[MMH]

Good post -tag for future reference.

 

[sparc]

Great thread. I am looking into replacing the asphlat in our driveway as it is developing some depressions where water pools as well as cracks and beginning to break down. The drive is from 1987, so I think its lived a full life.

I want to have it taken up and repaved. Its only 1500sf (24' Wide x 63' Long). What's there now appears to be base, and coarser than we would like the finish or top coat to be.


Normal traffic is just cars and my pickups (F-350 and F-150), so nothing real heavy daily, but we do get the oil delivery truck every few months and occasional deliveries such as appliances, furniture, etc. but those are one time events more or less if you know what I mean.

So what do I want to do there? I like the look of the finer aggrerate but want something that will hold up for 15 years or more.

Also, I am concerned about my septic tank and cesspool which is located next to the driveway. Could there be a problem with the equipment used so close to the cesspool?

I will be getting prices this coming week and looking to be a little better informed when I talk to the contractors. Worked in construction most of my life but never anything to do with paving in my past so this is all new to me.

 

[Gary Fowler]

For that size, I would think seriously of putting in a concrete driveway. You might even think about putting it over the top of your asphalt if you don't mind the extra height. 3 1/2" of concrete should do fine over that solid base.

 

[sparc]

Concrete would cost more of course, how much I'm not sure but I would guess
at least 50% more since there is much more labor involved.

Concrete would be nice yes, but taxes increase with concrete drives here, asphalt is not
considered a permanent improvement. Is that not the case elsewhere?

I would need to take up the old asphalt so the new drive would run flush with the entrance
to the garage and also the concrete curb which looks similar to the one below. I think they
call it a gutter curb.

 

[paulharvey]

As long as your old drive has less than 3/4-1" rutting, I would just do a 1.5" over lay. Of coarse patching larger holes and tacking the whole thing. I wouldn't rip up the old, that's lot of labor, trucking, and yiu don't come out any better. If yiur worried about fineness if finish, have them sand and traffic roll it.

1.5" is the boarder between sp-9.5 and sp-12.5 (S3 and S1 old marshal mixes), but the 9.5 will look better, but rut slighlty faster.

 

[paulharvey]

I didn't read the part about the curb, sorry. That makes things a bit more expensive, yiu have a couple options:
A: take up existing asphalt and repave
B: mill it and repave (most expensive)
C: mill along curb and garage and overlay
D: mill at garage or feather the joint down, or eve saw cut 3 ft wide strip, and over lay the "gutter" portion if the curb

 

[Chemguy]

We're looking into paving the drive to a garage we built 2 years ago, and ran into the zoning officer the other day. He asked how things were going, and we told him about our plans. He suggested that we use asphalt, not concrete. Around here, if the township needs to dig up the drive for utility access, they will only repave with asphalt even if the original surface is concrete.

Though my comment isn't really in line with the main topic in this thread, this might be an important consideration for some.

 

[Chemguy]

We're looking into paving the drive to a garage we built 2 years ago, and ran into the zoning officer the other day. He asked how things were going, and we told him about our plans. He suggested that we use asphalt, not concrete. Around here, if the township needs to dig up the drive for utility access, they will only repave with asphalt even if the original surface is concrete.

Though my comment isn't really in line with the main topic in this thread, this might be an important consideration for some.

 

[paulharvey]

In the county I work for, we replace concrete with concrete and asphalt with asphalt. If it wasn't for the complaints, trust me we would do asphalt in all if them, it's less than half the price, faster, and you can drive over it within 15 minutes of paving.