Paving one side of a driveway

Hello all,

I know it's a stupid problem to deal with but wonder if someone can offer some insight on what might be the implication of paving only one half of an approx. 20 ft wide 40 ft long driveway. The neighbour does not want to pave his side and mine is pretty badly deteriorated due to its being lower and water pooling on it after heavy rain. Aside from looking just silly, is there a potential downside to paving ony one side of a driveway? Thanks! \\//.

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DA
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on 9/4/2007 10:47 AM DA said the following:

I don't think that it would look silly. I've seen it done and it shows that the paved portion is yours. I hate shared driveways. Do you know how many neighbor disputes are over shared driveways? I don't have a count, but I used to have to respond to them. Someone parked over the line a little, or even too close to the line, or unknowing guests parking on the wrong side, or one mowing their lawn and the clippings blowing over their driveway half. Even so far as newsboys throwing the newspaper on the wrong side. Admittedly, these people are a little over-possessive or nuts.

Reply to
willshak

When you pave, you cause the water to go "someplace else" rathern than much of it just soaking into your driveway.

If you don't want excessive "neighbor trouble" in the future, ensure that your paving slops to "your side" that than you don't cause the runoff to damage his property.

As a matter of practicality, the paved portion would have to be 100% on your side of the line. If he ever comes around and paves his "half" he will likely (but not necessarily) "fill the gap."

Personally, I'm not a fan of paving driveways. The same things you do to create a good base for the paving will often "fix" the conditions than made you want to pave it in the first place.

Reply to
John Gilmer

I'm sure your neighbor will appreciate your new 10' wide driveway and may use it when his side gets bad. But if only your side was bad to begin with, then repairing your side is the right thing to do.

FMB (North Mexico)

Reply to
FMB

I can think of a couple of issues arising from bad experiences with neighbors.....either you repave your side and it causes damage to his side, or he repaves his side later and damages your side. I would be extra careful that your contractor does not drive heavy machinery on his side. Apparently you have discussed it with the neighbor.....his side is in better shape? If his side is not in good shape, does he have a plan for resurfacing his side? If possible, perhaps temp. repair to your side until his is ready and you can do the whole thing together? It would be ideal to do it together, if possible, just to maintain good relations with the neighbor.

It may be a long-shot, but try getting bids for doing it both ways .. just your side and separate bid for the whole thing. If the differance is minor, you could give him a "gift" and do the whole thing, but only with his written permission. You would have to be very careful in getting very specific bid as to what is done, material, etc.

If his side is in bad enough shape, the city code might enable citing him and require repair, but that is a pretty unwelcome way to proceed.

Reply to
Norminn

Thank you for your suggestions!

I guess, it is more of a human relation thing than an asphalt properties matter here. From what I gather the freshly paved side (mine) is not going to suffer but my already so-so relationships with the neighbor might.

I am actually gathering these suggestions to try to persuade him to actually do the entire thing. I have already priced the whole thing and it was quoted $1400 to me (not sure if it was a good price or not) but he did not like the idea of having to pay $700. That said though, he did not get out and get his own quote either simply because, like I said, his side is OK. Not in the best of shapes (and obviously, same age as mine which is pushing 20 years soon) but better looking because there were never any water damage on his side. So he's not feeling any urge to repair it anytime soon.

Anyways, thank you all for your suggestions. I'm going to approach this as a social rather than civil engineering project. :-)

Thanks! \\//.

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