Tear out or just pave over asphalt driveway?

Asphalt over concrete WILL crack at the concrete joints

Reply to
hallerb
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If your replacing with all new asphalt a NEW properly comacted base is critical.

Otherwise its just a waste of money:(

Reply to
hallerb

Z snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

This is precisely my experience, and that of 99-44/100 of the houses in my little city. The driveways are angled toward the street - - sometimes quite sharply as on my property.

These driveways do NOT NOT NOT facilitate drainage of rainwater into the lawn -- if any -- quite the contrary. Water goes straight into the storm drains, carrying with it the **** described in earlier messages.

Good on ya' !!

Nice to see somebody aware of the connections we have with each other and our environment, even though it's sometimes hard to register those connections, as we are overwhelmed with recession and terrorism threats.

If anybody's interested, a TV science documentary series called "Connections" is one of the best tools for teaching THINKING to young (and not-so- young) people I ever saw. It must be at least 25-30 years old, but is sui generis. An affable Irishman named James Burke writes and narrates the series. Highly recommended, if you can find it. It's on You Tube (barely watchable), but would be much nicer to find on DVD.

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Reply to
Higgs Boson

Absolutely not true.

Even lawns have runoff with moderate to heavy rains.

Also not true.

The whole idea is a stupid one.

Er...Honi soit qui mal y pense.

(I actually know what LSMFT meant, way back when)

Reply to
Higgs Boson

You are quite right. I noticed about the base only after posting my Jeremiad about not letting **** reach the sea (or river).

If he's interested enough, and the cost of removing the base is within his means, he could go for the permeable model. Might set an example for his neighborhood.

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Could we get back on my original questions????

Reply to
hrhofmann

I don't mean to threadjack, but where does one find a contractor that will use permeable materials? I did some web searching on permeable concrete a couple years ago when I bought my house and found lots of info but no idea as to where to start about actually purchasing same. My driveway hasn't gotten any better in the last three years :)

I'm in northern Virginia if anyone local is reading this and has any insight.

I'd also be curious as to any experiences people have had with permeable concrete in regards to working on a vehicle in the driveway, e.g. does it play nice with jackstands, creepers, etc.?

I'm going back and forth between resealing my current asphalt driveway and hoping for the best (although it was buried under soil for a decade or more - seriously - and I just unearthed it when we moved in, and patched a few of the worst spots with cold patch) and getting quotes on replacing it.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Please read the OP. The existing driveway is asphalt.

Reply to
hrhofmann

These driveways do NOT NOT NOT facilitate drainage of rainwater into the lawn -- if any -- quite the contrary. Water goes straight into the storm drains, carrying with it the **** described in earlier messages.

What kind of *** do you have in your driveway? I have some weeds and some dirt, maybe a bit of pollen.

Reply to
Thomas

I'm not saying this would happen to anybody else, but...

We have an asphalt-over-asphalt drive. No idea when either layer was put down; the house is 62 years old and we've owned it for

  1. Last fall we prepared to seal our driveway. Himself was power- washing. He knows what he's doing, and it was going along quite well. He got to the end of the driveway, right where it joins the apron that was installed by the county when they paved our road about 15 years ago. The surface there was mightily cracked, although it didn't look much different from other cracked areas. When he hit it with the water, there was a great volcano of water and broken asphalt, a couple of feet high and about 3-4 feet square.

Until then, we'd had no idea that we had two layers of asphalt. It's a little hard to tell how that top layer was applied, but it doesn't look to have bonded to the bottom layer at all. I hope modern methods are more effective.

Now, for all I know, the bottom layer could be 30 years old and the top layer could be 20 years old. Or vice versa.

We bought a boatload of cold patch and a plate compactor. It looks pretty good, but I'm saving up for a new driveway.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

It's not the **** in my driveway, or anybody else's driveway, that should be a community concern. Let me try again:

When water runs off a driveway into the gutter, it makes its way to the sea or another body of water, taking along with it all the **** that people and animals have dumped in the gutter.

Since in most (all?) communities, storm water is not treated, the **** ends up where we definitely do NOT want it to be -- like where our children swim.

So, until everybody gets decent and does NOT dump **** in gutters or let their dogs do on the parkway and shove it in the gutter, (don't hold your breath), at least let's not add to the swift current of rainwater carrying **** with it.

In the process, we also help our mini-environment by allowing rainwater to permeate the soil rather than run off.

As mentioned earlier, some large companies have gotten the message and -- in the process of creating "green" headquarters* -- they build huge underwater tanks to save rainwater for landscaping, thus saving money since they don't have to buy so much H2O.

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Easy, just slope both driveways to the outsides, so the point where they meet is the high point.

Reply to
Pete C.

The grass along the edges of my asphalt driveway are the only areas that remain green during the dry season.

Reply to
mkirsch1

He doesn't have concrete. He has asphalt.

Reply to
mm

Do you know how it got buried? How did you find it?

Reply to
mm

What kind of driveways don't do this? You don't quote anything and then you use an adjective like "these"!

Reply to
mm

But if you couldn't even tell you had two layers, doesn't that mean the second layer was pretty good? Maybe it doesn't have to bond if gravity holds in place. I know I'm not bonded to my bed, but I still seem to stick there pretty well.

Reply to
mm

"Pete C." wrote in news:4bd5ce8d$0$12660 $ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

The street also slopes. It just isn't practical.

Reply to
Han

Fair enough.

First, I am coming off statement by somebody back in this thread asserting that driveways facilitate drainage of rainwater. I was quite startled by that statement.

Now: My (old and narrow) driveway has two concrete strips with dirt in between. The strips (approx 10 feet) rise quite sharply from the sidewalk as they approach the gate, where they level off and run another 25 feet or so to the back patio.

Inside the gate, there is grass between the strips, but outside, I can't get anything to grow because car always shades it. So now bare dirt, bordered by lawn on R. side and concrete curb on L. side.

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Curious about that one myself. Sounds like there is a story behind it.

Reply to
aemeijers

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