Asphalt guys

[chicane]

I was looking at getting an asphalt driveway done. I know most of these guys are either scammers or fly-by-nighters. I will definitely check references, licenses, etc.

What should I be looking for as far as technical questions to ask them as far as prepping and building an asphalt driveway to ensure that the guy knows what he is talking about and I know that I am getting what I pay for. Also, what is a typical rate for their work?

 

[Kevin54]

I can't remember who it was, but they had the same mentality when it came to an asphalt drive. He was pretty well satisfied by the time they left. But different localities bring different scammers. LOL!!! Do a search on here for "asphalt driveways" and see what it turns up. There has been a few threads on it. What you want to make sure of is the method of laying the asphalt, the depth of the asphalt, are they going to grade everything out first, and above all...........GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING. If they don't want to do that, tell them to hit the road. NO MONEY UP FRONT. Pay only if you are satisfied. Don't let them pull the scam that "we happen to have some leftover from another job and we'll give you a hell of a deal". If it is leftover, you'll take it off of their hands or they just have to dump it anyways. No asphalt on bare dirt. If they have to grade, you want a compacted gravel base underneath. You want a MINIMUM of two (2") inches of asphalt and three (3") is better. Get a warranty in writing. None of the "This will last 10 years" Get it in writing if they say that. Check references. Get online and check Court Records to see if any suits have been brought against them. And above all...remember that the economy is tough at the moment. They need you more than you need them.

 

[clutch47]

Yo,
That right there is some good advice. I don't possibly know what questions could be left to ask......
except maybe ensuring they do it on a warm/hot day, and no rain on it for a couple of days if you can help it....
Happy 09. Clutch47

 

[Toy2]

What they use as base, gravel, flex-base, etc....what type of mix, B,C or D. B should work, D is a finer mix.....

Where the hot mix plant is located, you should be able to check the plant out and see how it is run.....clean, sloppy....

Plus you need to keep an eye out for the weather, cold/rain will runi it all...

The base is the most important, make sure it is compacted well....you might even call some of your bigger road contractors and get a price, it might surprise you, here we have a company called Knife River, they are a MDU owned company and they do large or small, and they do a good job...

Hope some of it helped..

 

[chicane]

What they use as base, gravel, flex-base, etc....what type of mix, B,C or D. B should work, D is a finer mix.....

Where the hot mix plant is located, you should be able to check the plant out and see how it is run.....clean, sloppy....

Plus you need to keep an eye out for the weather, cold/rain will runi it all...

The base is the most important, make sure it is compacted well....you might even call some of your bigger road contractors and get a price, it might surprise you, here we have a company called Knife River, they are a MDU owned company and they do large or small, and they do a good job...

Hope some of it helped..

Well how would I even tell what mix they are using even if they told me? Is the D mix better?

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

Well how would I even tell what mix they are using even if they told me? Is the D mix better?

Kevin gives some good advice. Look on the ASSHTO web pages fro some guidance, but - if the job is big enough, hire a PE to write the spec and to be on hand to perform conformity assessment, etc. It should only add a couple of hundred dollars but is well worth it. 2-inches is fine for most light traffic residential driveways, assuming a solid base. 3 or 4 inches is of course better.
One thing to look for - is how they (you ) plan to terminate the edges and how wide the driveway is. If the edges are not terminated, say with a curb, you will get alligator cracking - no matter how thick you lay the asphalt, as the asphalt will flow. For a residential driveway, you need a minimum of 4-inches of 57 gravel sitting on top of undisturbed dirt, and at least 2 inches of 21A gravel (mixed finer pieces) on top of that. ASSHTO may recommend a fabric barrier for seams. The temperature they lay the asphalt is important, and most attending engineers will have an IR thermometer to check. Make sure they have *all* the asphalt on hand at the same time - or you will get seams if they have to come back too much later.

Good luck

 

[Fast Orange]

The best way to hire a paving contractor is word of mouth.Around here,every summer there are 4-6 roving outfits-gypsies,so to speak-with addresses that are far from local.These are the guys with the "deals"-leftover mat'ls,etc.There are a couple of local,family owned outfits that have been in business for years.Guess who does the better job?-You got it-the family operation that stays local.I've seen gypsies do a 4" compacted job that measured about 2" and cracked very soon.Guess who couldn't be found to fix it?
Just as with any other contractor,check references,look at other jobs they've done and don't hire someone in a rush just to get a "deal".It'll cost you almost twice as much to tear out a **** job and redo it than it cost to do it right once.

 

[smooth72]

Most states have an Asphalt association that reps the asphalt industries, you can call them for a reference. But as said above sub grade and drainage is just as important as the asphalt mix. Every regions has its special needs as far as soil type. The price of asphalt goes up and down with the oil market. When the price of oil was high it was just about as cheap to go concrete.

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

ABC of Driveways - from the asphalt institute

http://www.asphaltinstitute.org/ai_pages/FAQs/PDFs/ABCs_Driveways_OHMPA.pdf

 

[therealjakeg]

Wow are all asphalt dudes that bad? Thats dissapointing. Mother fers.

 

[Toy2]

I work with some of the biggest hot mix contractors in the state of Texas, and yes you have to hold their hand and watch everything they do, check the temp of the mix to make sure its not cold on delivery....the state pays some of these guys $70. a ton, and we put down about 1900 tons on a good day.

So yes, watch them like a hawk, make sure no debris is in the mix, wire, trash, etc...you can get a cheap thermo gun at Harbor Freight to check the temp at differant areas...good luck with your driveway...

 

[rcleaver]

The best way to hire a paving contractor is word of mouth.Around here,every summer there are 4-6 roving outfits-gypsies,so to speak-with addresses that are far from local.These are the guys with the "deals"-leftover mat'ls,etc.There are a couple of local,family owned outfits that have been in business for years.Guess who does the better job?-You got it-the family operation that stays local.I've seen gypsies do a 4" compacted job that measured about 2" and cracked very soon.Guess who couldn't be found to fix it?
Just as with any other contractor,check references,look at other jobs they've done and don't hire someone in a rush just to get a "deal".It'll cost you almost twice as much to tear out a **** job and redo it than it cost to do it right once.

How many people do you know who even realize they got a good deal. I've been trying to get people to think before they buy for 4 decades. In my experience it doesn't work. That leads me to the conclusion that most references are worthless. For example, one time I called a reference for a framing crew. The guy I talked to said they did a good job. After I asked a few more pointed questions, he told me it took them three times longer and they asked for $20k more when then were done (because it took longer) and he paid it. This is just one example. I have many more examples but none quite so bad. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

 

[MattSteele]

Does anyone have any experience/opinions on porous asphalt? Pros/cons?

http://stormh2o.com/may-june-2003/pavement-porous-bmps.aspx

I've got an acre lot in Seattle, and the county has a limit of 10,000 sq ft of non-porous footprint, including the main house, accessory structures, and driveways. I'm wondering if a porous asphalt driveway is worth considering to stay within this restriction.

 

[fotoflojoe]

I can't remember who it was, but they had the same mentality when it came to an asphalt drive. He was pretty well satisfied by the time they left. But different localities bring different scammers. LOL!!! Do a search on here for "asphalt driveways" and see what it turns up. There has been a few threads on it. What you want to make sure of is the method of laying the asphalt, the depth of the asphalt, are they going to grade everything out first, and above all...........GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING. If they don't want to do that, tell them to hit the road. NO MONEY UP FRONT. Pay only if you are satisfied. Don't let them pull the scam that "we happen to have some leftover from another job and we'll give you a hell of a deal". If it is leftover, you'll take it off of their hands or they just have to dump it anyways. No asphalt on bare dirt. If they have to grade, you want a compacted gravel base underneath. You want a MINIMUM of two (2") inches of asphalt and three (3") is better. Get a warranty in writing. None of the "This will last 10 years" Get it in writing if they say that. Check references. Get online and check Court Records to see if any suits have been brought against them. And above all...remember that the economy is tough at the moment. They need you more than you need them.

This is great advice, I'll add my two cents:

Make sure they provide an eight inch gravel base, then at least two inches of binder before finished asphalt.
Make sure finished surface grade pitches AWAY from house/garage.

 

[Oldmics]

Also consider the obvious of some sort of gulley or water drain path in front of your garage doors unless your at the top of the hill.

Oldmics

 

[Tech Guy]

Here is a quick ashpalt horror story.

Idiot neighbour signs a deal to have his driveway done prior to selling his house but takes the lawn sign down for a garage sale. Paving company shows up and guy has it narrowed down to mine or the idiot neighbours house. No lawn sign and neither of us are home. However I have contractors on site installing a new walkway. Guy on paving crew knows my house as I coached his kid in hockey. Figured I was getting a new walkway so Im the one getting the driveway. They tear up the driveway, dump the base mix and realize they have the wrong house. They then do the proper driveway and take off. No paperwork or phone numbers left in my mailbox. The walkway contractor calls back pissed saying I should have told him the driveway was being done as it was getting in their way and the paving guy ripped up the first part of the walkway with the bobcat. This is how I first heard of it.

Now for the good part. I have 9 surveillance cameras around my house. Play the video back and get the names of the vehicles of the paving company. Phone them to see whats up and they say they never dug my driveway up and I have the wrong company. Nice. Told them I have video of the incident and he changes his story. Also refuses to own up to the walkway damage even though its on camera. Then tells me I owe them $600.00 in material to complete the driveway.

Threatend them with legal action and they finally agreeded to repave it. In the meantime I took a gas powered tamper and beat the driveway into china. They show up to pave and ended up adding more base so I got ripped off on the ashpalt. Good thing I have such a solid base.

In the end I got a free driveway, Tv coverage of the entire incident and it turns out the paving company has been disowned by the BBB as they screw customers left right and centre.

Keep an eye on paving companies.

 

[mikester]

The stuff out here has changed over the years. Im afraid to have my driveway done at this point. The original was done in 1981 when we first bought the house but its starting to show its age. Its got 3 or 4 cracks that get wider with every winter. The guys that did it are local and Ive known the family for most of my life. They still do paving. The problem is the materials have changed. The original stuff was put down over a large bluestone base. The asphalt had at least 1/2" stone in the mix. Now everyone uses RCA as the base. And some of the mixes of that are better than others. It has to be left down for quite a while to harden before you can pave over it. The plant making the asphalt has also changed the way they make it. Instead of just using stone now they use recycled asphalt in the mix as a filler. They also used recycled glass for a short time. One of my friends at work had his 100' driveway done a couple of years ago and when I pulled into it at night for the first time it sparkled like diamonds. I know a guy that works for the DPW and he told me that some roads not all are paved the old way but it adds a fortune to the cost. I guess it would be the same for a driveway. The large bluestones arent "native" to my area so I guess it would add alot to have them trucked in. I dont want to spend 10K to have my driveway done and have it fall apart in 5 years. Thats why Ive left it alone.