Woodnet Forums
Paving question - Printable Version

+- Woodnet Forums (https://www.forums.woodnet.net)
+-- Thread: Paving question (/showthread.php?tid=7362623)

Pages: 1 2


Paving question - CEPenworks - 05-04-2021

I live on a shared private drive and the others are dead set on paving the drive. I have never dealt with paving so I am not sure what to look for in a paving contractor. What should I be on the lookout for between a  good and a bad paving job?


RE: Paving question - JosephP - 05-04-2021

Talk about what prep work they are doing.  What will the base be?  Why is that enough?  How thick will the pavement be?  "Can I measure that and expect that to be the minimum thickness throughout?"


RE: Paving question - Splinter Puller - 05-04-2021

(05-04-2021, 06:51 AM)JosephP Wrote: Talk about what prep work they are doing.  What will the base be?  Why is that enough?  How thick will the pavement be?  "Can I measure that and expect that to be the minimum thickness throughout?"

Single layer is a sign of a rip-off contractor.  Double layer with a good amount of agregate in the base course is typical for commercial work, and decent prep to get the base gravel compact and properly drained.

You will have to budget plenty of yearly maintenance as asphalt not subject to heavy traffic tends to crack a bit.   Concrete would be better.


RE: Paving question - CEPenworks - 05-04-2021

The first 2/3 is down a hill so it drains well. There are a couple soft spots and the bottom that have formed over the past 15 years.

My preference would be to put down crusher run which I think would take care off the dust problem and fix the areas that a wearing down. I think we could put a lot of layers of that on for the cost of asphalt and it's maintenance. Unfortunately I am only one of 4 that feet that way.


RE: Paving question - DieselDennis - 05-04-2021

What is the current surface?

If you have soft spots now, and you don't address them prior to paving, you will have soft spots in the paving.

What are they going to do about the current surface? Are they just going to pave over it, or are they going to rip it up, compact the base with a vibratory roller and basically start over?

Minimum thickness throughout is key. And in layers as pointed out earlier. Make sure there is a crown in the road. Standing water is bad.

Don't use a gypsy paving crew. Find out who the local paving contractor is in the area. I would say to find out who is paving the roads around you, but a lot of the contractors either do 100% road work or 100% private work.

Be sure and budget some money for seal coating and crack sealing as maintenance. You'll find out just how fast asphalt can come apart if you let the cracks stay.

I vote for gravel. It's cheaper, and if it "goes bad", it can be fixed with a little tractor time. There are some limestone mixes that can setup very nicely.


RE: Paving question - greenacres2 - 05-04-2021

I'm on 300' of gravel and will stay that way since it's only us. Co-worker paved about 1/2 mile with "grindings" (i think that is the correct term--asphalt ground off street re-paving) about 5 years ago. One house, no maintenance, and still looks like it did when it was laid. Done right, that may be a good middle ground between gravel and asphalt.
earl


RE: Paving question - Roly - 05-04-2021

Dig out the soft spots and fill , other wise they will keep returning.  Roly


RE: Paving question - Cooler - 05-04-2021

Did you ever wonder why black top driveways last 15 years and only get two cars on it a day and the roadway lasts about the same and gets hundreds of cars (or more) per day?

It has to do with the bedding thickness and composition and the asphalt thickness.

A friend of mine is a tree surgeon on Long Island.  He was cutting down a huge oak tree and one of the pieces landed on the roadway leaving a rather large divot (about 6 feet wide x 3 feet deep).  The town wanted $6,000.00 for that and we knew that a local contractor at that time would do it for about $500.00. 

So we went to the town hall and looked up the specifications for the road (this was in the late 1970s--no internet).  It called for 8" of asphalt and 3 feet of crushed gravel.  We could easily see about 4 to 5 inches of asphalt and about one foot of crushed gravel.

His insurance paid for it, but clearly the roadway was not built to specifications.

I would research for the specifications of the roadway that the town installs and put that on the request for bid.  It is pretty easy to determine how deep the underlayment (or whatever they call that gravel) is and also how thick the paving is.  Simply have someone on site to observe. 

The way I would want to do this is to contract a civil engineer to draw up the specifications, and ask them to provide an observer to make sure it was done to spec. 

This should be very routine for them and I would guess about $1,000.00--cheap insurance for a job done correctly.


RE: Paving question - CEPenworks - 05-05-2021

I am not sure exactly what is currently down. Up by the main road there is about 6 feet of fill and it is at grade by the time it reaches my house. The surface is dirt with some rock and asphalt millings in it. At the bottom of the hill there are 4-5 spots that now hold some water when it rains. It has taken 15 years for that to happen. I think something like crusher run would fill them and stop the water from pooling.

When you are talking about multiple layers are you talking multiple layers of asphalt over a base or a base with a layer of asphalt?


RE: Paving question - jamesglenn - 05-05-2021

Asphalt driveways are a lot of maintenance and as others mentioned, need a great base compacted well and set to drain properly or the asphalt will crack, settle, etc. 

In spring (here in NY), cars form depressions in the pavement if the base is not deep so the soft ground can drain and dry quickly.


Instead of pavement and crusher run (which can get dusting if there isn't rain for a week or more, as that is what I have) how about looking at asphalt millings. There are companies here that will mix them with a little oil and them put it down like crusher run and compact it. Sort of like a paved drive, sort like crusher run; a lot cheaper and no dust.