driveways

[mylady]

OK, my driveway is a mess. Where the grooming van sits there are huge divets in the asphalt from the weight of the van. Of course, it was already in bad shape when we bought the house and it's only continued to get worse. It's so bad my husband cannot park in the driveway or he scrapes the bottom of his car and has damaged his muffler. Anyway, I have never had anything done with a driveway before, so I'm trying to research my options. Can't seem to find a lot of info about it though. Hoping someone can tell me, can you pave over an old driveway, or is it something that needs to be completely ripped up? My husband thinks we need to get a concrete driveway so that it won't sink back in. the driveway, I don't think it's changed THAT much since we bought the house, but I honestly can't remember. Anyone know how long an asphalt driveway should last? Especially with a shuttle bus parked on it? We don't want to live here forever. In fact, we'd be happy if we had moved 5 years ago! I've been told a concrete driveway is a lot more expensive. I'd really like some advice on this as I have no clue what I should do.

[Briarpatch]

At my old house, we had a company come and expand the current driveway. Yes, they did pour asphalt over the existing asphalt. They also put down stones (I think) and paved that area that hadn't been paved as well. It looked great when we moved a few years later. I know that the asphalt has to be poured at certain temperatures, so I'm sure if you call for a couple of estimates now you may get a really good deal for the spring. Make sure you get a couple of estimates because we found a major difference in the prices between several local companies.

[felzenhaus]

Just had a new blacktop driveway put in Sept. 08. It has small divets where the dumpster sits from the wheels. The blacktop co. told me that will happen. Try to move the cars around so you don't get that. I guess that would apply to your rig too. I park mine in the barn/garage we have that has a concrete floor. I wanted a concrete driveway, but ours is long and concrete is definitely more expensive! The blacktop drive almost gave me a heart attack when the first co. gave an estimate. We looked around and got several. Knocked off several thousand dollars and they came highly recommended. Good quality work too. Good luck.

[Particentral]

Just paid out of pocket to have the driveway at the shop partially paved. Sigh. Look around, get estimates and references. Good luck!

[Doug]

Mylady

A typical residential drive way will not hold as well
for grooming van parking because the weight is so much
more then your normal car.
The black top is not the problem the ground under it is.
Poor drainage will allow water to sit under the drive way
for extended periods of time turning the subsoil to mush.
Most builders do not want to spend any extra money on
building the drive way properly. The yard has to drain
out to the street and rain gutters from the house should
be led away from the driveway or allow the water to run down
drive way if it will run down to the street.
If you want to build a road quality drive way to equal
a road's strength. Use 6 inches of crushed stone 3/4 inch
blend. By blend I mean it has a lot of stone dust and some smaller
stone mixed in with it. Clean stone of a single size
will leave voids which hold water between stones.
Then pave it with 4 and 2 or 4 and 1.5 the top coat
can be sidewalk mix to avoid water and freezing damage.
The top coat is just a wear surface.Some builders will
use only top coat and lay down 1 or 2 inches of stone first.
In that case you are relying completely on the sub
soil to hold your vehicle up and the black top is
there just to keep the rain off the dirt. Which doesn't work
when it rains a lot, allowing the water to migrate from
the yard when it becomes saturated to under the drive way.

[mylady]

Doug, is there anything you don't know about? LOL, you always amaze me!

[workingchihuahua]

come spring time we will be ripping up the old driveway and putting in a new one. fortunately for me, this is what my good neighbor does for a living. (as opposed to the horrid neighbor to my left) anyway, they will be adding a deeper base to account for the weight of my truck. will cost me more, but my home is an investment that will pay off down the line.

[Doug]

mylady

LOL funny.Yes there are some things I don't know but the ones I care about I am always working on.

[kats_melody]

Either build the driveway out of asphalt to road standard, or pour a concrete driveway which will properly support the weight of your van.

If it were me, I'd go concrete.

[Doug]

Concrete depends on

Concrete is surely stronger but if you have a lot iron in your water and run a sprinkler system or wash your own vehicle then stains will build up. Poor air quality in populated areas will leave a black carbon stain. Oil leaks become muck stains. If concrete is available with tint so it is not stark white then that would help with the stains. An ugly stained drive way doesn't help resale value of a home or a equity appraisal.