Driveway Repair: Fixing Potholes

There are a lot of advantages to having an asphalt driveway, if you live in an area that has the right climate for one. Unfortunately there are also a couple of disadvantages, one of the big ones is potholes.

At some point all driveways that are paved with asphalt are going to develop potholes that need to be repaired. It is important to make sure that take care of them early while they are still easy to fix, because you can be sure that if you don't the problem is going to get worse.

The video below will provide you with all of the information that you need to fix potholes in a driveway the process is pretty simple, you can buy filler at any home improvement store.

Paving Your Own Driveway

Paving a Driveway:

Most people will hire a professional when they need to have their driveway paved. There are a lot of good reasons to do this but it can be an expensive option. If you are willing to put in the work there is no reason that you can't pave your own driveway as the video above shows. This is particularly true if you have a relatively small driveway. The skills involved are fairly minimal so it is not all that hard to learn how to do it.

Driveway Paving: Hiring a Contractor to Pave your Driveway

A paved driveway offers a number of advantages over one that is made of gravel. Not only does it look better but it is also easier to maintain. It also reduces the risk that your car will be scratched by a stone. Paving a driveway is a major job and it is not cheap. Therefore you have to make sure that you know how to find the best contractor for the job. In order to do this you have to know exactly what is involved in paving a driveway so that you know what to look for in a contractor’s bid.

The most important thing that you have to look at when you are having a driveway paved is the prep work. You have to make sure that the driveway is poured on a well prepared base. This is something that you have to make sure that you discuss with your contractor. In most cases the cheapest bids that you will get will be from companies that do not do this part of the job properly. If you choose to use a cheap contractor you will find that your driveway does not last more than a couple of years.

A proper base for a driveway requires that the area be excavated to a depth of at least a foot; this is going to cost you quite a bit of money because excavating that deep is not easy. You will then need six to eight inches of aggregate put in as a sub-base. This is will support the whole driveway so it has to be done properly. The sub-base also needs to be thoroughly compacted and allow for efficient drainage of water. Make sure that any bid that you get from a contractor includes this work and that the depth and the amount of aggregate is specified in the bid.

The next part of the driveway is the base layer; this should be at least two inches thick. It is important to remember when you are getting a bid for your driveway that the bid specify that the base be at a compacted thickness of two inches. If not you may find that they pour two inches of asphalt and then compact it down to a much smaller amount. Two inches is necessary to make sure that your driveway can support the weight of your car.

After the base layer is done the final step in is the top layer which should be at least one and a half inches thick. The important thing here is to make sure that the proper asphalt mix is used. There are broadly speaking two classes of asphalt, class one is used for the base while class two is used for the top. There are a lot of different mixtures within the two classes and the right one will depend mainly on the climate where you live. For this you are largely going to have to trust that the contractor knows what he is doing and will use the proper asphalt. This is why you need to make sure that you work with somebody who has a lot of experience.

On last thing that you should make sure is included in the bid that you receive is the slope of the driveway to allow for drainage. You don’t want water pooling in the middle of your driveway so it should slope down from the center towards the sides. Normally a slope of a quarter inch for each foot of distance is ideal. A contractor will know the proper slope but you want to make sure that this is included in the bid so that there is no confusion.

Actually finding a contractor to pave your driveway should not be all that hard, there are a lot of them. The best place to start is to ask for referrals from people that you know. If you know somebody who has had their driveway paved they could probably recommend somebody. Another option is if you know any general contractors who build houses they could be a great source as they work with paving contractors all the time. The goal here is to make a list of at least five contractors that you can research further.

The next thing that you are going to want to do before you hire a paving contractor is a background check. This you can do with your state Attorney General’s office. They will be able to tell you if the contractor has had any complaints lodged against them; they will also be able to tell you if they are properly licensed. It is also a good idea to talk to the local Better Business Bureau to see if they have received any complaints about a contractor.

The next step is to contact the contractors that you are interested in and talk to them about the work that you need done. The main thing that you are looking for here is to find out how easy they are going to be to work with. You should also be able to get a good feel for whether or not they know what they are doing, it should be pretty obvious if they don’t. At this stage you are also going to want to make sure that they are bonded and insured, don’t even consider hiring a contractor who isn’t.

Once you have verified that a contractor is properly licensed, bonded and insured and that they are somebody that you are comfortable working with you will want to get bids from a few of them. You don’t need a bid from dozens of contractors, three should be sufficient. The big thing is to make sure that the bid specifies exactly what is included. This is why it is important that you know what is involved in paving a driveway so that you can make sure that everything that needs to be included is included. Once you have a few bids you will want to choose the one that will best meet your needs, rarely is this the cheapest one.

Asphalt Driveway Costs: How to Estimate Construction Costs

A driveway can really add to the value of your home, not to mention provide you with a place to park your car. There are several different materials that can be used to build a driveway so you are going to need to be able to determine which is best for your needs. One of the factors that you will have to consider is cost. Therefore you are going to want to know how to estimate the cost of an asphalt driveway.

The first thing that you are going to have to do in order to estimate the cost of an asphalt driveway is to determine just how big your driveway is going to be. This is fairly easy to do in most cases since they are usually fairly rectangular. Even if your driveway does have a bit of an odd shape you should not find it to be too difficult to determine the square footage for your driveway. Once you have the square footage you will want to divide that number by nine in order to determine the square yardage which is what is used in the formula for estimating how much asphalt you will use.

The next thing that you are going to have to do is to determine how thick your driveway will need to be. The standard for an asphalt driveway is three inches. This normally consists of two inches of base pavement with a one inch wearing layer on top of that. If you are replacing an existing driveway you can probably just replace the wearing layer so you would base your estimates on a one inch thickness, for new construction you will need three inches.

Asphalt is sold by the ton and there is a formula for determining how many tons you will need for your driveway. The formula is the square yardage times the constant 0.057 multiplied by the depth of pavement in inches. Therefore if you had a driveway that was 300 square yards and three inches thick you would come up with a requirement for 51 tons of asphalt. The price of asphalt will vary depending on a number of factors, particularly the price of oil, so you will want to check the current price. If we assume it goes for $150 a ton which is about average the cost of paving your asphalt driveway would come to $7500.

It is important to keep in mind that this is just the cost of paving the driveway; you will also have to have prep work done before hand. In most cases you will need to excavate eight to twenty four inches depending on the climate where you live, the colder it is the deeper you will have to go. You will then need to fill that excavation with gravel and have it compacted, this is necessary to ensure proper drainage. The cost of all of the prep work will run you at least another two to three thousand dollars, even more if gas or plumbing lines have to be moved.

While you are going to want to keep the cost of the prep work in mind when you are planning your budget it is not really a factor when it comes to deciding on the type of driveway that you will have. The same prep work will be required regardless of what you build your driveway out of. You want to make sure that you don’t skimp on the base of your driveway; if it is not well built the whole thing will be poorly constructed.

The cost of an asphalt driveway is pretty steep; there is no getting around that. However when you look at the cost of a concrete driveway you will find that asphalt does have a lower price. That being said you should not base the decision on the best type of driveway solely on cost; there are other factors that have to be considered.

Concrete Driveway Sealers: Choosing the Right One

All driveways need to be sealed. Not only will this keep it from cracking it will also help to keep the concrete from getting stained. At some point you will spill oil or gas on your driveway, having it sealed makes it easy to cleanup. There are actually several different types of concrete driveway sealers to choose from so you are going to want to make sure that you know how to choose the right one for your needs.

There are basically two types of concrete driveway sealers, with each of the broad categories being broken down further. You can choose between a penetrating sealer and a topical sealer, the difference between the two should be pretty obvious. A topical concrete sealer will simply cover the top of the driveway while a penetrating sealer will penetrate to a depth of anywhere between a quarter of an inch and four inches depending on how it is used.

The advantage of a penetrating concrete driveway sealer is that it gets down into the pores in the concrete. This means that it gives you the best possible protection, it also won’t wear off as fast a topical sealer. The big advantage of a topical sealer is that it is cheaper, and it does provide very good protection. The downside is that you will have to reseal your driveway more often since it wears off faster. That being said it is pretty easy to apply; you really just have to brush it on like paint.
If you choose to go with a penetrating sealer you will also have to choose between a silane, a siliconate and a silicate sealer. A silane concrete sealer is very durable and should last for five to eight years. The disadvantage is that it is the most expensive, in large part because you have to use a lot of it. A silane sealer also tends to turn the concrete a darker color. A silicate sealer will bind with the concrete permanently which makes for a very good seal. The downside is that it does not work well on smooth surfaces because it has trouble penetrating. It is better for when you need to seal rough concrete so it is not really a great choice for a driveway. You will probably find that a siliconate driveway sealer is the best bet. It will also bind well with the concrete to provide a good seal. It also has the advantage in that it can be used to both cure and seal the driveway. That means that it can be applied the day the driveway is installed.

If you are going to use a topical sealer on your driveway you will again have to choose from one of several options. The cheapest is a silicone sealer, it is generally not a good choice for a driveway. The problem is that it does not resist abrasions all that well, it also doesn’t last very long. An acrylic sealer will last longer, usually about five years. The price is reasonable so it will probably provide you with the best value. One last option that you have is a polyester sealer. This will offer even better protection than the acrylic but it does come with a significantly higher price. In general you will find the extra protection that you get is not worth the price.

Choosing a concrete driveway sealer is not all that complicated but you do have to make sure that you know what all of your options are and what their advantages and disadvantages are. Once you know this you should have no trouble making the right choice for your driveway.

Asphalt vs. Concrete Driveways: How to Choose

If you are going to build a driveway for your house the biggest decision that you are going to have to make is what to build it with. You actually have several options but most people narrow it down to a choice between asphalt and concrete. There are a lot of factors that you are going to have to consider to make sure that you make the right choice to meet your needs.

The first thing that most people think about when they are trying to decide whether to go with a concrete or an asphalt driveway is the cost. Unfortunately this can be rather tricky to determine. The problem is that while an asphalt driveway will cost less to install initially the concrete driveway will last longer and require less maintenance. Therefore you are going to have to think about how long you plan to be in your house as well as the maintenance costs that are involved in your particular case, these vary depending on a number of factors.

In most cases you will find that the cost of asphalt is about thirty percent less than concrete, although this can vary, asphalt is a petroleum product so its price varies as oil prices change. However once the driveway is installed you will need to have a sealer applied to the drivewayabout six weeks after it has been poured and then every three years or so after that. Putting the sealer on is not all that difficult, you can do it yourself, and the cost is not that high but it is something that you will have to make sure that you remember to do.

With a concrete driveway you put the sealer on it as soon as the concrete has dried and that is about it as far as maintenance goes. You may have to clean up some oil or gas spots when you have a spill to keep them from staining the driveway but that is really all that you are going to have to do. In most cases you can expect that the concrete driveway will last at least twice as long as the asphalt one. Of course both of them should last for at least ten years so if you are not planning to be in your house for that long this probably won’t be a factor in your decision.

The climate where you live is another factor that you are going to have to consider when you are choosing what material to build your driveway with. In colder climates you will find that asphalt tends to stand up better. The cold temperatures can crack concrete and when this happens it can be very expensive to repair. With asphalt on the other hand it is much less likely to crack and much easier to repair if it does. In warmer climates the opposite is true, asphalt tends to melt when the temperature gets too high, this is not an issue with concrete.

One last consideration is the appearance of your driveway; some people will just prefer the look of one over the other. Concrete does offer the advantage of allowing for more choice in terms of appearance. You can alter the color concrete and you can stamp it so that it has texture added to it. Asphalt on the other hand will pretty much require that you have a black driveway.

Ultimately the biggest factors when it comes to choosing the right driveway material are going to be the weather where you live and how long you plan to live in the house. If you plan to be there for a long time you will want to go with concrete, it will be cheaper in the long run. On the other hand if you plan to move in the not to distance future you will find that the asphalt will last just fine until you have sold the house. It is a good idea to look at what your neighbors are doing as well, if everybody else in your neighborhood has a concrete driveway there is probably a reason for it.