Driveway Question

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
5,250
I just had my old broken, weed covered asphalt driveway dug up as part of a major landscaping and water abatement plan. Well, not exactly, but long story short, it got dug up and the elevations changed to help with water in the basement.

I figured I'd just have it asphalted since that was what it was before. However, maybe there is something better. Its pretty big, 37X57 feet. Its just a flat rectangle though, no curves, elevation changes, etc.

My excavator guy (who is my cousin and I trust, although he is a pain in the behind) says that asphalt would be the way to go, but he can also just put some crushed stone down and it will be fine in the short term. Someone said porous asphalt. But one of the things I was trying to do was get water away from the basement.

Somebody else said concrete, but I can't imagine an pad that big particularly in the cold weather.

We've called a couple of asphalt pavers, but one didn't want to travel to do it (he's an older guy we've used before) and one never called us back.
 
I think Shann is asking for advice on what type of driveway paving to use: asphalt, porous asphalt, crushed stone, or something else? Pros and cons to each would be of great benefit, also, and which would be ideal for minimizing water intrusion into his basement?
 
If that's the case, then it needs to not be flat and be sloped away from his basement.

Other than that, sorry. I looked at location and I don't think I could provide any help for that part of the country.
 
I am in Australia, so obviously weather conditions are probably different to where you are located, but we use concrete in most instances.

Concreters here normally place expansion joints in the concrete evey 1.5-2 meters to allow for expansion/contraction, and by its very nature easy to manipulate to whatever gradient is required- especially if you're trying to slope it away from your house for drainage/water issues

There is another method called stencilling- whereby the concreter places a stencil on the still wet concrete and rolls over it with a roller- leaving the impression. This could be cobble stone patterns, rock, pavers etc then spreads coloured oxides on it to give it any colour you like.

Apologies if I'm stating/ describing the obvious, I'm not sure if you guys use these systems over where you are. Different systems all over the world I suppose
 
SVTFreak said:
If that's the case, then it needs to not be flat and be sloped away from his basement.

Other than that, sorry. I looked at location and I don't think I could provide any help for that part of the country.
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Thanks. Yes, we are sloping it away from the house. I was wondering if there were better "top" options than asphalt.
 
Depending on what method you use for snow removal, concrete would be the "tougher" option. My place came with an asphalt driveway that gets torn up when I need to plow snow off of it with a John Deere H120. At 230 meters long, I dread the day it requires replacement. On the flip side, expansion joints are a pain to plow over.

In my experience, concrete will last longer in wintery climates as well (I've lived in Colorado, Montana, and now Oregon). The only downside to concrete is the occasional weeding you'll have to do on the expansion joints.
 
Check to see which one is more economical, down here in the deep south, asphalt is the same price as concrete.
Asphalt is easier to repair. They make a cold patch asphalt. It adjusts to the weather better than concrete.
Even though concrete has expansion joints, if it's hot and dry enough it will move more than asphalt.
They just finished some Interstate work here, the state put a concrete base down and finished it with asphalt.
 
I've got probably a bit more flatwork around my place, and Utah has some pretty cold weather. 35'x50' in front of garage, rv pad up the side of house 14'x42', and a 15'x60' arch drive through the front yard. All concrete. Just need regular expansion joints and/or saw cuts at regular intervals as mentioned above. I think it's much more durable, especially for snow removal.

My brother's house is probably a couple hundred feet off a main road, so he used asphalt for the private drive, then concrete pads in front of garage. He is always having to do something with the asphalt. I'll bet he spends $1000 per year on repairs and regular slurry seals. He is kind of anal and has to have it looking perfect all the time, so he could get away with less, but still needs regular seals to last without looking horrible.

Whatever you do, you could always throw some straight drains across in one or two places, then have wick pipes to take the water away. One thing that you may or may not have thought of...now that you have it torn up, place at least one 4" or 6" pipes across the drive from side to side for future conduit. It really comes in handy later when you add to sprinklers, or landscape lighting, or security sensors, or an outside electrical power point, etc. I've done it the last two homes and used them both times. The few bucks in pcv pipes has saved a bunch of hassles and made one project possible that wouldn't have been without.
 
Cypress said:
In my experience, concrete will last longer in wintery climates as well (I've lived in Colorado, Montana, and now Oregon). The only downside to concrete is the occasional weeding you'll have to do on the expansion joints.
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Just don't use salt on it!
 
Crushed stone will work but truthfully, your going to be tracking dirt in the house especially when it rains. Concrete is expensive around here, especially given the fact that it should be 8-10" thick to keep it from cracking and like someone else said, don't get salt on it. With asphalt you can get away with a couple inches if it's over a good crushed stone base, it does need sealing every couple of years but it should be the economical choice.
 
beau5278 said:
Crushed stone will work but truthfully, your going to be tracking dirt in the house especially when it rains. Concrete is expensive around here, especially given the fact that it should be 8-10" thick to keep it from cracking and like someone else said, don't get salt on it. With asphalt you can get away with a couple inches if it's over a good crushed stone base, it does need sealing every couple of years but it should be the economical choice.
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Thanks. From what I read I think I'm going in the right direction with the asphalt. The gravel is only a short term solution until I can get it paved and nobody around here seems to use concrete for driveways.

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't making a big mistake.
 
I have been involved in the concrete industry both as a supplier(materials)and a commercial general contractor for around 36 years. Obviously biased towards concrete. My opinion is that asphalt will cost much more to maintain than concrete over the life of the driveway. We have two communities close by that are fairly close in size - 40,000 in population - one has asphalt streets and one concrete and the cost to maintain concrete per mile is around 70-80% less than asphalt. Concrete done correctly really should not require much in the way of maintenance. You need a good compacted stable subgrade - same for either option. Decent concrete mix - 4000psi/6 sack mix/25-30% rock. Thickness does not need to be more than 6" - most of the residential street projects I supply material on are 6" - most of the residential concrete in our area is 4". Needs to be poured with a fairly low slump - 4" max. Good finishing technique - i.e. - experienced crew. Light broom finish with control joints(saw cuts 1/3 of the slab depth)on 10' centers max both ways to control random cracking. Good reinforcing - I would opt for #3 bar on 18" centers on chairs to keep it in the center of the slab or you can go to 6x6 6x6 wire mesh to save some money. You really do not need expansion joints unless the slab is bound by solid structures - garage on one side and curb and gutter on the other. Option to seal saw cuts with a self leveling urethane joint sealant. Have the contractor apply a good siloxane sealer - something similar to Prosoco Chemicals Saltguard to prevent salt degradation from the winter. The sealer may need to be reapplied after 5 years - simply sprayed on with a garden sprayer and thats about it. You will not be out there sealing cracks that will open up in the asphalt every year and topcoating every other year.
 
side note - while products like saltguard do help prevent salt degradation, I highly recommend not using salt as a deicer.
 
Well, we got a couple quotes. Both in the $6,000 range. The one guy who was cheaper decided he didn't want to do it because he's semi retired. The other guy was $6500. And that's after the site prep has been done by my landscaping guy (the landscaping guy had to do a lot of grading, etc because we were getting water in the basement).

Everything is so expensive! But we decided we were staying in that house and we've sunk a ton of money into it in the last 4 years. Its actually a pretty nice place now. When we bought it 20 years ago we scraped together every penny we had and the place was almost unliveable. No water or heat upstairs, and only one room upstairs with electricity. Although I haven't done much of the work myself because I'm unhandy, I am proud of the place that we created starting from nothing.
 
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