Asphalt Driveway

Asphalt driveways are not common around here because of the hot in the summer issues. All mine have been concrete.

The house I have now has a concrete driveway which was poured in 1979, or 33 years ago. It has a couple of cracks, the only big issue it has is a section about 6' x 3' that had a big pine tree root grow under it which made it crack into smaller chunks about a foot square on average. All the parts are still there and solid in the ground, so it's only a cosmetic thing.

Bad concrete roads usually means something wasn't done right.

dculberson wrote: Concrete roads are a terrible idea. At least where it ever gets anywhere near freezing. Drive through Michigan some time to find out why.

So why are runways always made of concrete?

I have a 50 year old concrete driveway, it takes zero maintenance and it's as good now as it was 50 years ago. But then, I live in California.

not all are. The one at Bader Field (the world's first "airport" is asphalt. I think Atlantic City International is too.

In Ocean City where I grew up.. the main streets WERE concrete slabs. Over time the city paved over them.. which was a really bad idea

codrus wrote:

dculberson wrote: Concrete roads are a terrible idea. At least where it ever gets anywhere near freezing. Drive through Michigan some time to find out why.

So why are runways always made of concrete? I have a 50 year old concrete driveway, it takes zero maintenance and it's as good now as it was 50 years ago. But then, I live in California.

CALIFORNIA.

My guess on runways is that they can afford the millions of dollars to maintain them. Concrete exposed to salt and freeze/thaw cycles does not hold up. That's why every concrete freeway in the midwest is a mess of horrible expansion joints and potholes.

I have a concrete driveway in Ohio that's quite old and holds up just fine, too. But a driveway is not subject to the wear that a road is. Maybe the highway engineers in Michigan didn't get that memo.

It's not so much the freeze thaw cycles as the ground heave. In areas that have permafrost or really deep freezing cycles I don't believe they use concrete because of ground movement. LIke a willow tree they need to be able to bend in the wind/movement.

For those who have driven through Ontario - ever notice the rhythmic thumps on the 401? It used to be concrete, then they paved over it. You're feeling the expansion strips through the pavement...

Nebraska uses concrete interstates in large part because there's no gravel there. Ever noticed all the ponds beside I-80? Those are the pits the sand came from.

Runways aren't always made of concrete. I can tell you that Eagle County Airport (aka Vail), Telluride Airport and Grand Junction Regional Airport are all asphalt. Janel paved them The latter does not see heavy freeze-thaw cycles, although we do have weather here.

Wow thank you for all of the responses! I do have a cement pad off of my garage.

My issue is my driveway is 750 feet long. Before I pay to have it paid I would like how to speak to contactors so I don't get taken.

Thanks again!!

My short asphalt drive way was put down 30+ years ago. Never sealed it. Even in our harsh NE winters it still is in good shape. Cosmetically ? No.

Sultan, I'd start with the yellow pages. Also, if you see a hot plant (big silos, probably smoking at this time of year) read the name off the side. If you can tell me where you are, I might be able to give you one of the subsidiaries of Janel's company.

dculberson wrote:

codrus wrote:

dculberson wrote: Concrete roads are a terrible idea. At least where it ever gets anywhere near freezing. Drive through Michigan some time to find out why.

So why are runways always made of concrete? I have a 50 year old concrete driveway, it takes zero maintenance and it's as good now as it was 50 years ago. But then, I live in California.

CALIFORNIA. My guess on runways is that they can afford the millions of dollars to maintain them. Concrete exposed to salt and freeze/thaw cycles does not hold up. That's why every concrete freeway in the midwest is a mess of horrible expansion joints and potholes. I have a concrete driveway in Ohio that's quite old and holds up just fine, too. But a driveway is not subject to the wear that a road is. Maybe the highway engineers in Michigan didn't get that memo.

Like you said.. it depends on weather and how they are made. I beleive downunder they premake concrete slab highways in a factory and drop them into place to build the road itself. Seems to hold up fine.. but they are also several feet thick

Wife is connected to a paving co...

You should have 3 to 4 inches of item-4 (type of gravel) as a base, then it gets rolled. In New York, they typically do 3 inches of blacktop, compressed to 2 1/2 inches.

If you have any kind of water drainage problems, they need to be fixed before you do any paving.

Assuming 10 feet wide, 750 feet long is 7500 sq ft. Easily $15k she says. Cost vary regionally.

Whomever you hire, they need to tell you how they're going to do the base and how much material they will be using (compared to above recommendations), and for a brand new driveway they should be able to give you a guarantee in writing for two years. Caveat emptor, she keeps reminding me that this is all east-coast info and things may be different out there...

Typical get three estimates and as mentioned already, avoid the fly-by-night crews.

Her thoughts on sealing - its like a coat of wax on the car, it may help a little bit but its really "paint to make it look black". Filling cracks properly is more important. Sealing before 2 years may void your guarantee, especially if you use a different person to do the sealing.

If you get heating oil deliveries or other heavy trucks coming by, they could damage your driveway. In our area they park in the road and drag the hose to the house... but our driveway isn't 750 feet long either.

Janel says the same thing about sealants - it's cosmetic.

Wow great input. We do have a propane truck that will use the driveway.

Keith I PM you.

Thanks again so much!

20 years with concrete. Very little cracking. No problems at all. It does freeze here, but the ground doesn't move.

I've got concrete, I had it re-done 3 1/2 years ago, there is already some minor spalling of the surface that I'm really unhappy about, but that's down to the guys who did it. It replaced a 56 year old concrete drive that was spalling so badly it was turning to rubble sometimes 3/4" deep, but virtually no cracking. Aesthetically concrete suits my area better, but I'd never seen a single concrete driveway until I moved here. Every single driveway in England is asphalt until those with money started doing brick pavers in the last 20 years. I'd also never seen or heard of sealing a driveway in the UK. They were laid and lasted seemingly forever. No we don't have the same freeze thaw cycles as Michigan, but we do get hot (well warmish with rain ) and freezing with snow.

About 27 years here with asphalt and it looks like crap. Bad cracking and moss growing in the cracks. I've repeatedly filled the cracks with the crap available in the stores and it is at best a bandaid. I've done the sealer three times and mostly for cosmetics, because the last two times were the polymer crap. We may have to do something eventually and I am not looking forward to it. I had heard that asphalt now cost about the same as concrete, but concrete has gone up in cost too.

Something like this is what I am planning. Like I said in previous post, it is stamped asphalt and reacts better to moving soil conditions.

racerdave600 wrote: Something like this is what I am planning. Like I said in previous post, it is stamped asphalt and reacts better to moving soil conditions.

That picture looks more like brick pavers.

How in the world can soft asphalt hold that shape for any length of time?

Hot summer & cars going over it should soon give you a flat set of tire tracks.

That also gives you sharp edges that the freeze thaw cycle ought to take off very quickly.

That's pretty cool. I wonder what it looks like in person.

Google it, they have tons of pics. It's a similar process to stamped concrete. I've talked to the local contractor and he has several examples I am going to inspect in person. It's almost as much as concrete however.

Pavers are nice. I am thinking of removing the rocks here and doing that in their place

mad_machine wrote: Pavers are nice. I am thinking of removing the rocks here and doing that in their place

I've done pavers and they look nice, but the prep work will kill ya!

It seems they are more prone to rising and sinking as each piece can move.

I just can't see stamped asphalt as being durable in any sense of the word.

carguy123 wrote: I've done pavers and they look nice, but the prep work will kill ya! It seems they are more prone to rising and sinking as each piece can move. I just can't see stamped asphalt as being durable in any sense of the word.

I used to work somewhere that they did the street entrances to the parking lots with pavers. They put them in, it looked nice at first but six months later the cars driving over it had ripped a couple of dozen bricks out and it looked a mess. So they redid it, and again it got ripped up. They repeated this a few times, then gave up and just asphalted the whole thing.

Now, they probably get a whole lot more traffic than your average driveway, but...

Sultan wrote: Wow thank you for all of the responses! I do have a cement pad off of my garage. My issue is my driveway is 750 feet long. Before I pay to have it paid I would like how to speak to contactors so I don't get taken. Thanks again!!

My advice, which will definitely save you money, is to just leave it gravel. If you already have a concrete pad to work on cars, that is all you need.

I live just down from you in a rural area where many of my neighbors have driveways like yours. What the folks in other areas may not realize is how WET WET WET Western Washington is. The great thing about gravel is that is allows water to drain right through. In all likelyhood if you did asphalt the driveway, by next winter you would have a stream running along it with all the water that used to soak through and now has to shed off the side. Add to it the fact that gravel doesn't ice and is one of the better surfaces to drive on when it is cold and wet, and there really isn't much incentive to pave.