When is it too cold to pave a driveway?

[gregfender]

I am trying to get a driveway put in before the weather gets too bad. We are gonna havelows in the 30-40 range and highs of 60+ for the next couple of weeks. Is it realistic to expect a hot-mix drivway to be put in and compacted well with those types of temps?

 

[dodge man]

Don't quote me on this, but we do some inspection on DOT work, and I think the specs say 45 dgrees and rising before you can pave. So if you get a warmer day, I'd say go for it.

 

[Fixemall]

If you are above 45-50 for 24 hours after compaction, you should be fine as long as they have a well heated screet and a good roller.

 

[E/S]

Around here its when the batch plant closes.

E/S

 

[twoone]

Hi"
Dodge man has the ticket. Anything that is poured with lower temp's is sure to to ruin and it will show up first on the finish experience was my teacher

 

[ustmd]

When the ink in your pen freezes so you can't write the guy a check?:laughing:

 

[Rustyiron]

The heat of the material is as important as the temps. The material should be well over 300 out of the plant and not much under that when it's placed. This is key for compaction and thats key for stregnth. Keep in mind that it is NOT structural an any way (as concrete is) and your sub grade is another critical component to a good job. If your around during the job and have a infrared meter use it. some of these driveway gypsies will load all their trucks in the am and go job to job, with a "colder" job as they go. Your fine at 60 deg.

 

[rasimmo]

I agree with the rest you should be fine at 60 deg. I worked at an asphalt plant for a couple years. We ran the mix at about 350, never shipped out below 320, and it was refused and sent back if it was below 300 when it got to the paver. The outside temp had to be 45 and rising to lay.

 

[Soundguy]

The heat of the material is as important as the temps. The material should be well over 300 out of the plant and not much under that when it's placed. This is key for compaction and thats key for stregnth. Keep in mind that it is NOT structural an any way (as concrete is) and your sub grade is another critical component to a good job. If your around during the job and have a infrared meter use it. some of these driveway gypsies will load all their trucks in the am and go job to job, with a "colder" job as they go. Your fine at 60 deg.

around here, when it's dumped on the truck it's around 450, and out by 300.. a heated screed and well prepped bed will help. also good if it's not a long haul, and to have all trucks ready to dump as needed, no joints.. etc.

soundguy

 

[USNative]

around here, when it's dumped on the truck it's around 450, and out by 300.. a heated screed and well prepped bed will help. also good if it's not a long haul, and to have all trucks ready to dump as needed, no joints.. etc.

soundguy

This thread brings back some good old memories of my days in paving with my good old boss Dave. He died a few years ago but he was a great guy. :thumbsup:

It's been quite a while now but I worked on a small paving crew for about 5 years back in the 80's. Mainly I shoveled & raked it and ran the wacker & roller . On the cold days my boss always kept a good hot screed and would spray a small amount of diesel on it from time to time to keep the mix from sticking to the screed. That screed he had was made in the 40's with hand depth adjustment cranks. He wouldn't pave around below 40ish degrees if I remember right.

On bigger jobs he would hire more trucks so we could keep the mix coming in steady. He didn't like joints either. All the information here is very good and getting a good quality job does depend pretty strongly on the weather. The mix needs to be good and hot. I remember Ol' Dave would be sweating it sometimes when we were working a long ways from the plant and waiting for the trucks. :laughing: