Saving a driveway (he says hopefully)

Uncle David (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Does anyone do tar and chip anymore?  It'll get a little messy in July sometimes, but should be cheaper than asphalt and I bet it could be applied right over what you have now. 

 

What about a permeable "green" option?  Have the old stuff removed and DIY the new driveway.

 

I really like those green options.  I think (to an untrained buyer's eye) it would look like no driveway at all and might affect the resale value accordingly, but what a fantastic option.  I would likely have asphalt or concrete over close to the house/garage for things like jacking up a car, but I like that stuff.

Tar and chip is pretty common in my area for state, county, and township roads.  It's something they do maybe every half dozen years to freshen and sealcoat rural roads around here.  I don't know how it would hold up with a loose substrate like my driveway, but worth a shot.

Don49 (Forum Supporter) said:

I see ads for millings on a regular basis. They need to be rolled, but come out looking like asphalt. I would think sealer on top of the rolled millings would work pretty well.

Here is my only problem with millings.  The asphalt starts as a slurry of aggregate and a hot crude oil tar.  The curing of asphalt is 2-fold.  #1, it cools and gets harder, and #2, the volatile hydrocarbons evaporate out.  Once asphalt is "cured," it can't go backwards no matter how hot you make it or how hard you roll it.

SVRex is right... I won't be rolling heavy equipment on my driveway, but I frequently find myself jockeying a trailer in and out of the yard, jacking up a car for a tire rotation or an oil change, etc.  I am pretty sure I want something solid.  I'm just thinking if I dig out what I have, roll some millings on, and seal coat it, I have a feeling the first time I'm jack-knifing a 2-axle trailer into the yard, or turning the wheel of the truck to position the trailer, I think it would tear it up.

Maybe I'm incorrect, but it's the real reason I'm considering either asphalt or concrete.  I want a long life, and something I don't have to be careful with.

I've used a product called "resurfacer" on mine, but not the crap the big box stores sell.  This stuff is made by Henry, and it's near the top of the price range for such products.  It fills small cracks and looks good for a long time, but your pavement is in worse shape than mine.  Call a pro and get a free estimate?  I would think they would have a pretty good idea how to proceed, and whether or not what you have now is salvageable.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Uncle David (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Does anyone do tar and chip anymore?  It'll get a little messy in July sometimes, but should be cheaper than asphalt and I bet it could be applied right over what you have now. 

 

What about a permeable "green" option?  Have the old stuff removed and DIY the new driveway.

 

I really like those green options.  I think (to an untrained buyer's eye) it would look like no driveway at all and might affect the resale value accordingly, but what a fantastic option.  I would likely have asphalt or concrete over close to the house/garage for things like jacking up a car, but I like that stuff.

Tar and chip is pretty common in my area for state, county, and township roads.  It's something they do maybe every half dozen years to freshen and sealcoat rural roads around here.  I don't know how it would hold up with a loose substrate like my driveway, but worth a shot.

What if you used some type of brick or small flower beds to delineate between driveway and yard?

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

You are right,  I probably spent 30 hours a week all summer long. I think I was finishing in October laying all that brick. My total cost  for the driveway was $0. Being cheap and not afraid of work works for me. Not everyone feels the same. 
As for finding the source for alternative materials.  You probably should ask large urban areas maintenance shops what their schedule is for street maintenance.   Unlikely such will be done in rural areas.  
 

I would really like to do something like this but it wouldn't be any cheaper or easier than asphalt.

My knees hurt just looking at it.

Years ago Bob Villa did a driveway of recycled auto tires.  At the time I thought it was a good idea, it moves better than asphalt and you're getting rid of old tires.  Never heard any reviews on them and don't know anyone that ever did it.

Thoughts?

I grew up with a quarter mile long driveway. Also a circle near the house and a side drive to a pole barn. This was in rural Wadsworth (NE) Ohio where it snows and plowing can be necessary a few times every winter. 
 

For years that driveway was gravel and every spring we raked and raked that rock back into the driveway. Either that or sprayed it around with the mower.

Eventually my dad got tired of that so he contacted the county road department and got a list of tar and chip contractors. My folks were (and remain) incredibly frugal so I know it must have been a lot cheaper than asphalt or concrete. 
 

The contractor that was hired leveled the old gravel base and feathered in new graded aggregate base and then tar and chip. It may have taken two or three days IIRC but it made a very nice "paved" driveway for a relatively good deal. It was fun to try to hit sixty in my buddy's Z24. LOL.... Malaise era memories. 
 

I'm not a road builder but I also think you could overlay your existing "stable" asphalt with less thickness than you might expect. Maybe as little as 3/4" - so the edge damage concerns may be diminished. You could also add a band of pavers at the edges... cobblestone look for your country estate on Berkeley Ave.

Regardless, I'll bet a lot of contractors are hungry as belts tightened over the last two months. Wouldn't hurt to get a couple estimates. It might surprise you. 

914Driver said:

My knees hurt just looking at it.

Years ago Bob Villa did a driveway of recycled auto tires.  At the time I thought it was a good idea, it moves better than asphalt and you're getting rid of old tires.  Never heard any reviews on them and don't know anyone that ever did it.

Thoughts?

Kinda wild. I've never seen that used for pavement outside of HS/University running tracks.. or playgrounds. As little as 20mm over stable base. 

In reply to 914Driver :

When we lived in Germany my DOD Elementary and HS had outdoor Basketball courts made out of something similar.  I had no idea you could get a driveway done with it.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

frenchyd said:

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

How good at scrounging things up are you?I got this free.  They were tearing up a road a 11 miles away.  The truckers had to haul the load 23 miles and pay to dump it. I offered my driveway to dump it in and to sweeten the deal offered them each a case of their favorite beer.  
My neighbor liked what they were dumping and offered to buy the beer if I could talk them into dumping 11 more truck loads in his yard. 
total of 33 truck loads.   The driveway is 120' X  30' about 15,000 paving bricks laid on edge. They were from 1903 on a main road into Minneapolis. I put them in place the summer of 1987. Yes, it took me the whole summer to lay them. 
The great thing is my neighbor never really got into the job and when he went to sell his home he offered me the extra 11 loads. 
 

I'm pretty good at scrounging once I find the proper source.  Free is great, but part of me looks at the amount of bent-over labor you have there and wonders if I'll spend more in chiropractic care than I would on a $5000 driveway  

Was waiting to see where you landed on this.

What I found out a while back is that pavers can be had for free if you are willing to pick them up. I needed some for a backyard project, and once I started looking ( contact in the landscaper world told me they had to pay to dump them) there was no lack of options; people learn to hate pavers after a while.

To be perfectly honest, I would not do another paver driveway cause the weeds and sinking are a thing.  But it is what I did 20 years ago and $15k for a 40 x20 driveway is not in my budget or something that I could do myself.

I ended up getting a good quote on a top coat.  The old driveway had sunken enough that the surrounding grass was actually higher, so they were able to clean, tar, and pave over it with 3" of hot mix.  Looks dandy.

It was a friend of a friend of a friend, so I negotiated a loose timeline and he was able to do it on a day where he had multiple other jobs and I did some of the prep work - edging the grass back, and sweeping.  Most of what he put down was the leftovers from other jobs that day.  I'm sure he made a killing, but for me it was about 30% cheaper than the other quotes.  All they really had to do was stakes and string, then lay the mix.

Wait a while before doing any impressive burnouts.   

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I hate asphalt so I didn't use it. Instead when I saw them tearing up a road made of bricks I bribed them each with a case of beer  to drop the bricks in my driveway and spent a summer laying them.   
      You could also put crushed rock , $5-600. or lay a 8x20' concrete driveway  (DIY).  again a massive amount of work but probably do it for $500?  Then have them drop rock in the remainder. 
   
   

This was paved three years ago.  They did good work.  I messed it up with my motorcycle kickstand.  For the first year or so I parked it with a little square of plywood under the stand but one day I didn't.  A few days later it had left a divot.  Otherwise it's been great.