On 9/19/2018 3:36 PM, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:30:28 -0400, Frank "frank wrote:

On 9/18/2018 9:44 PM, KH wrote:
I had a asphalt driveway installed yesterday.Â* I stopped home during my
lunch
to check on the progress to find them installing the driveway in the
middle fo
a gigantic downpour.Â* Later, when I came home, I noticed that the
surface is
uneven and there are a lot of areas that I can see uneven stripes. (mainly
down the middle...but not like it was intentional).Â* Some of the
driveway is
nice and smooth, other parts are super rough with bigger rocks (too
rough for
the kids to be able to draw with chalk...if that makes sense).Â* I see other
black asphalt driveways that look nice and even...so I don't feel like
this is
right.Â* Is a driveway supposed to be paved in a downpour???


I would have them back and stop payment until corrected.
If it is still warm enough or weather is hot simply re-rolling might get
out defects and make it acceptable. It should be compacted to squeeze
any water out.

Asphalt and ingredients are not water soluble but it is a composite with
voids and you don't want holes full of water. If water remains in yours
there are voids beyond what you normally get.

Asphalt consists of a mix of bitumen, rocks and sand. The bitumen, the
part that melts, content is only about 5% which is inadequate to
completely fill all voids. After down a few months, surface should be
sealed to keep out moisture otherwise moisture in the winter with
constant freezing and thawing increase voids and leads to failure.
The pavement needs to be replaced. The mixture will not properly
compact if cooled too quickly, leaving a pourous "grainy" finish with
lots of voids. The pavement will break up quickly if you are in a
frost region, and will also not stand up to design loads. A
residentialasphalt driveway is usually a slipshod enough job - adding
rain to the mix makes it WAY worse.

A PROPER ashalt driveway is done in 2 stages - 4 inches of coarse road
asphalt layed over the compacted base, and 2 inches of fine "topper"
asphalt laid over that - with the rough base clean and dry - and
usually a spray of asphalt bonding cement (basically a spray of tar)
applied just before laying the top layer. With the proper finish layer
sealing is not required, but it does help repel oil and fuel,
protecting the surface.


You sound more knowledgeable than me. I was thinking if soft enough it
could be compacted properly. I guess if they need to remove it it would
be remelted and reused.

My familiarity was my own drive over the years and having it redone half
dozen years ago. They added a couple of inches over the old one but
removed some sections of the old one that were badly cracked. I also
had it widened a couple of feet and they added base gravel with maybe 4
inches asphalt over it.

Asphalt drives may be done other ways but around here it is just asphalt
with no spray and sealing is required every few years. I know a bit
about composites and there is not enough bitumen to make the product
void free. Over twice as much would be needed and asphalt might be
sticky and soft.