"aemeijers" wrote in message
news
Ohioguy wrote:
We moved into our refurbished (FHA rehab loan) 1979 home back in
March. I had been planning on just applying a couple of those
"squeegee" sealcoats onto the old asphalt drive, but the huge and very
heavy dumpster that they had resting there during the rehab process
caused a bit of damage on the way out.
I tried patching one of the holes with pothole filler, with mixed
results. (looks ok, but we were tracking in black crap on our shoes for
weeks)
I really just wanted to call a local blacktop place and have them take
care of it for about $500. (it is a roughly 180 square foot area - not
too big) It would have been taken care of quickly. Guess what? Not an
option. The city where we've moved has issued an order where homeowners
have 2 options:
1) put in concrete that meets a long list of requirements (cost: about
$3k)
or
2) homeowner must do the repair 100% on their own.
The latter would allow me to do less expensive options, however,
nothing is going to look like new. There are pitted areas that need
filled in, since this is at least 20 years old, and has been let go.
I've cleaned all the dirt and debris out, and killed any plants with
herbicide. I am rather miffed that I can't just have somebody come in
and repair it.
It's hard to understand the reasoning behind such a regulation. I really
hope the OP finds out the "official reason" for the restrictions. It seems
conflicting on many levels as in "we want to make sure it's done properly,
but it's OK for the homeowner to do a ****-poor job." Sounds odd.
What I'm considering now is called "whitetopping" - basically covering
the pitted blacktop up with a fiber reinforced concrete layer, about 2"
thick. I've seen the 40# quickrete bags specifically for this selling
for about $10 each locally. It would probably cost about $220 total,
and I'm guessing that it would need a lot less maintenance than an
asphalt surface. Plus, my wife and I don't really care for a dark
black - we are used to the grey of limestone out in a driveway. The
dark black is just too hot for barefooting in the summer.
I was wondering - anyone out there have experience with whitetopping?
I'm wondering how well it holds up.
My neighbors did it, and I didn't think to take any pictures of them when it
started to fail. I believe the guys who finally fixed it said "Asphalt over
concrete, yes, the other way around, no." When you think about it, highways
are always done in that order. When the concrete gets bad enough, they
cover it over with blacktop. They resurface by scraping the asphalt up and
applying a new coat to keep the road at the same height (for manhole covers,
storm drains, etc. I only see it done differently on bridges.
The CITY, not an HOA, issued that order? The restriction isn't called
out on the deed for the property? I'd be inclined to spend the 3k on a
lawyer, just on principle.
There are SO many steps you can take before wasting 3K on an attorney. I've
worked for enough of them to know that they'll rarely refuse the money even
if they know they aren't likely to help you or makes things worse. Here in
MD we have some very aggressive government workers who will make your life
hell if you get into their rice bowls. It's not fun to be at the top of
every inspector's **** list in the county, and that's what happens if you
rock the boat too hard. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. I'd
probably start by doing recon: going down to wherever the edict was issued
for a visit to see if you can find anyone who fought the process before you
to see how it worked out for them.
I was all set to take my medical insurer to arbitration over some arbitrary
formulary change, and as soon as I called and asked how I we set up an
arbitration session, they faxed me a denial, followed the next day by a US
snail mailed approval (with a copy to my doctor, too). Sometimes you just
have to squeak a little to get some grease.
What possible legitimate public interest is
served by the city banning professionally installed asphalt drives? Are
all the streets concrete around there?
My local city has a long laundry list of driveway requirements. I happened
to have "grandfathered" pea stone down and it's a bitch when the make me
replenish it because it's much harder to walk on when it's not anchored by
the dirt. Plus, it migrates like an SOB, gets into the lawnmower and is a
bitch to shovel snow off of.
I've been waiting to pave it until they finish relining the sewer pipes.
which caused some massive digouts. Apparently when terra cotta drains
crack, tree roots head straight for the moisture, especially during long
droughts. Almost every sewer near a large tree had to be dug up and cleared
of tree roots. Fortunately, it was mostly people uphill from me that were
clogged. By my now-deceased giant red maple roots. (-:
I do not think it would survive a
properly-done challenge. Sounds like somebody on city council has a
brother-in-law that owns a concrete company.
It would at least be worthwhile inquiring the reason for the rule. They'll
likely at least have a cover story if there is a BIL getting a "sweetheart"
deal. Do your homework before going into a battle like that. They have
ways to make your life stink because they're the gubbmint and they are there
to help you.
But having ranted that- I'd be highly dubious of a 2-inch layer of
glorified sakcrete over an asphalt substrate holding up very well. In
concrete, substrate is everything. Asphalt and concrete expand and
contract at different rates with temp swings, and asphalt drives flex
with ground moisture and frost conditions. Not to mention, concrete
wants to be one continuous pour, unless you are going to put in LOTS of
expansion joints. That thin overlay concept my work for a spalled front
sidewalk or back patio, but cars are HEAVY.
Agree. Substrate IS *almost* everything in concrete. Neighbors DIY
driveway job was not well prepared and parts of it heaved severely this past
winter with all the freezing. With the added thin coat, it's just more
demolition work to do. There's never time to do it right, but always time
to do it over. I would not whitetop, based on the little of it I have seen
unless you were flipping the house and wanted it to look perty until the
sale went through.
In addition to good substrate, the now totally spalled front DIY front porch
resurfacing the previous owners of my house did shows the importance of
using the right mix the right way (they sure didn't!) They used way too
much sand with predictable results. Same for their DIY brick porch mortar
job, which has finally gotten to the point that re-pointing won't do.
Gonna demolish and enclose it and use the reclaimed bricks to repair the
side porch brickwork, where the faces of the brick are shearing off due to
settling. I told my wife we've just been waiting to see how long a bad
mortar job will last (truth is I'm lazy).
The forecast from all the recent hot weather is a bumper crop of mosquitoes
so it's time for an enclosure. A totally screened in front porch will also
provide a bit of an "air lock" at the front door - I've seen more than one
bug get sucked into the house as the door opens and with West Nile virus
propagating throughout the area, it's gonna to be nice to be able to sit out
front without a bug zapper running, a collection of citronella candles
burning and my arms slathered in insect repellent. I will be "supervising"
the local teenagers, some of who are actually pretty handy because I live in
a true working class neighborhood and I'm proud of it!) but pull the permits
myself. The teens unfortunately don't take much pride in a job well done -
yet. That's what crotchety old dudes are for.
Can't decide exactly how to construct it - there are a lot of choices when
it comes to screen in porches, but that's something for a different thread.
--
Bobby G.