How To Fill In Area Between Asphalt Driveway And Paver Pad?

What product should be used to fill in an odd shaped area between an asphalt driveway and a paver pad?

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll only use a hundred or so in this post.

Note the area designated as needing to be filled in. It's a 1' x 10' ragged-on-one-side, straight on the other, tapered wedge.

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The paver pad is there to provide a clean, solid area for people to use when getting in and out of a vehicle. The tapered dirt area grows grass and weeds, gets muddy, etc. It's easy enough to step over but it looks like crap and it's hard to keep neat.

The problem is that the edge of the driveway is not parallel with the pavers, nor is it even straight. I would prefer to "straighten" the edge of the driveway to meet the pavers as opposed to cutting the pavers to fit in the wedge.

Will this type of product work, considering that one side of the area is asphalt and the other is 2" thick stamped-concrete block pavers?

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Thanks for any suggestions.

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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How far from straight is the driveway edge? My first thought would be to cut it straight. I was looking at doing similar to install a drain for the driveway. Never got around to doing it, but the plan was to use one of those cutting disk wheels for a circular saw, together with a 6 x 6 or whatever, weighted down as a straight edge. IDK if that will cut it, but I was going to try. For sure you can rent a power saw to cut it. Then you have a clean line and don't need anything but a little sand or rock dust between the pavers and driveway. I would think any kind of filler is going to look like hell.

Reply to
trader_4

Wouldn't the sand or rock dust be considered a filler?

As per the image I posted, to cut the driveway so that it is parallel to the paver pad would mean cutting from 0" at the road to ~1' (foot) at the end of the pad. Otherwise, I'd still be left with a wedge to fill in.

In addition, the edge of the asphalt, while not straight, is "finished", i.e. it was tamped at an angle when installed. I don't know enough about asphalt to know what will happen if I cut it and leave a raw edge, especially since it is a parking spot. The edges haven't cracked yet and I don't want to create bigger problems while trying to make it look nicer.

I'm also looking for a solid surface for people to walk on as they get in or out of a vehicle. The dirt/grass is better then sand or gravel since it doesn't give, it just looks bad. It also has to stand up to a snow blower.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

This is for repairing asphalt. I think that means you first need some asphalt to repair. And you can't just have it somewhere else, for that matter.

Reply to
Micky

Can you cut the asphalt back so it's parallel with the pavers, then add a couple more rows of pavers to fill in the gap? A masonry blade in a circular saw should do it, or you could rent a gas powered demo saw.

If you can't find matching pavers, maybe you could relocate the outer row or two to fill the gap. Essentially shifting the paver area towards the driveway.

Good luck!

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

Sure, you could call it filler, but the point is that with the edge of the asphalt cut straight, you'd have the pavers come right up to it evenly, so there would be an insignificant, uniform, 3/8" of sand there. That's what you're going to have around the pavers anyway so it will look good.

I'd cut it 1' all the way. Or else deal with having to cut and fit pavers. To make the paver area square, leave an angle area like that between the pavers and the driveway, IMO is going to look half-assed no matter what you use as filler, whether it's sand, asphalt patch, etc.

All asphalt is tamped. I see plenty of asphalt that meets all kinds of other surfaces and they just butt it up, roll it, etc. I would think it would be fine if you cut it off, but properly backfill along that edge and compact it. If you don't do that right, then I could see the asphalt crumbling. For street repairs and such, they cut asphalt, put in a pipe or whatever, then backfill and just put new asphalt in the repaired area that butts up to the old. But as I said before, I haven't done this, so IDK for sure and I see your concern.

Reply to
trader_4

re: "I'd cut it 1' all the way."

I believe that you and I are in agreement, although your use of the words "cut it 1' all the way" could be open to interpretation. If you mean "cut it *so that it ends up* 1' all the way" then we are on the same page. That is what a cut of 0" at the road to 1' at the back line of the paver pad would result in. In other words, to turn the dirt wedge into a rectangle, I'd need to cut a mirror image wedge out of the asphalt. I assume that that is what you meant.

Well, to be completely accurate, some asphalt is tamped and some asphalt is rolled. They just resurfaced my street by adding 2-3" of asphalt over the existing asphalt. (how long that will hold up is open for a discussion.) They rolled the street surface but did not tamp the edges. They left them rounded where they meet with the lawns (no sidewalks) and driveways. They then came back and added an apron in our driveways, sloping down from the new height of the road to our existing driveway surface. They did tamp the edges of the aprons where appropriate.

Just for clarity, this is what I mean by tamping the edges:

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That is what the finished edge of my driveway looks like. Tamped solid so water runs off and the edge is supported.

Not being an expert, all I can offer is my opinion. Butting hot asphalt against an existing solid surface, then rolling it and letting it cure is very different than cutting the edge off of a 15 YO driveway and exposing the interior aggregate. As you probably know, exposing the aggregate often sounds the death knell for an asphalt surface. Trust me, over the years I've swept up buckets of aggregate from the failing road surface in front of my house. They just kept patching the surface, even after years of complaints and the town (as recently as last year) telling us that our road was not on any schedule to be resurfaced. Then, out of the blue, we get a letter a few weeks ago telling us not to park on the street because they would be milling the surface in preparation for resurfacing. They ended up changing their minds and only milled the ends of the street, simply resurfacing the rest as mentioned earlier.

Well, therein lies the problem: The backfill. What would I use to backfill along the edge? How wide would that backfilled area need to be? In other words, other than having a straight edge, how would that be any different than what I have now? The finished edge of the driveway is currently backfilled with the dirt I am trying to eliminate. Ideally, I would bring the pavers tight up against the cut edge and they would provide the lateral support required to keep the edge from cracking. The problem is, if they don't provide enough support when the vehicles are parked there, I'm screwed.

Cutting the asphalt will result in an edge that will probably see "traffic", based on the width of the parking spot. Parking further to the right would not only be harder to control, but would also result in blocking part of the main driveway.

Butting new asphalt up against old makes sense because each edge will support the other. The old will essentially interlock with the new. That is not going to happen with 2" concrete pavers. My asphalt appears to be fairly solid along the existing edges, but who knows what will happen if I cut a 1' strip off of the edge. That is also going to put the edge very close to where the front wheels of SWMBO's car will end up. That will certainly add pressure on the cut edge.

I guess I just don't feel that the pavers will offer enough support to the cut edge of the asphalt which is why I am reluctant to cut it.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

See my (long) response to trader_4 re: cutting the existing asphalt.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I doubt they are doing anything special at the transition area. The whole paver area needs to be excavated down to a solid base, eg a gravel layer and then backfilled with base material and compacted. I'd just do that right up to the edge of the cut asphalt. Then you do sand or dust and the pavers.

I see plenty of driveway aprons like this:

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I doubt they are doing anything special. If it they are, IDK what it could be because the areas just directly meet. And while I can't say I've paid real close attention to them, I don't recall seeing any where the asphalt was failing where they meet.

I see your concern, but there is little sideways force required. A car driving over it, the force is downward. You just need material there to keep the base below the the asphalt from somehow coming out. If you left it open or only filled with soft topsoil, then I can see a problem. I would think that the pavers and/or the paver base should be able to provide the lateral support to keep anything from moving out. I can't say for sure. But all I can tell you is that I haven't noticed any kind of special transition areas in the ones I've seen, nor are they in those examples in the pic, etc.

Reply to
trader_4

Assuming your pavers run parallel to the asphalt area, I would cut the asphalt back whatever distance would allow full rows of pavers. That way you won't have a bunch of cut pavers along the edge.

In other words, if your pavers are 7" wide, cut back 14" so you can fit two full rows of pavers.

If you prepare it properly for pavers it shouldn't be an issue. Dig down about 8", install about 5-6" of 5/8" minus gravel (tamping well after every

2" addition), add your setting sand, screed, install pavers. Sweep in polymeric sand to lock the pavers together and water it in.

Is the existing edge cracking? If not, why would the new edge crack?

If you're really worried about it, remove the pavers and pour a concrete slab to fill the new space. I would still cut the asphalt back for a straight edge, but you could leave the current angle if you're not wanting to mess with the asphalt at all.

Take care,

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

Rather than cut it or fill it with something else, why not back fill it with some fresh asphalt?

Reply to
ChairMan

I was thinking along the same lines -- basically widening the existing asphalt driveway to fill the space and meet up with the pavers. I guess the space would need solid fill underneath and then asphalt on top of that.

Reply to
TomR

I just looked at a QPR product, which is available at Lowes in 50# bags for $12:55 per. Home Depot carries a similar Quikrete product for $10.97.

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Per their calculator, a 1' x 10' area would require about 250# per 2" layer. For

Reply to
DerbyDad03

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