I just purchased a house with a crumbling asphalt driveway. I know it
will need to (or should) be replaced in the next few years. A
contractor is doing a large paving job in the neighborhood. A
representative just showed up at the door and offered to put a two
inch layer on top for $1.10 a square foot (probably about $2200,
total. Is this a good deal? I really don't know anything about these
driveways, what should I be looking for?

Thanks.

On Sep 14, 1:13 pm, Lonnie wrote:
I just purchased a house with a crumbling asphalt driveway. I know it
will need to (or should) be replaced in the next few years. A
contractor is doing a large paving job in the neighborhood. A
representative just showed up at the door and offered to put a two
inch layer on top for $1.10 a square foot (probably about $2200,
total. Is this a good deal? I really don't know anything about these
driveways, what should I be looking for?

Thanks.

The old "we're going to be in the neighborhood" is the classic paving
company scam. I would walk away from them immediately.

That said, you need to invite 2 or 3 companies out to look at the
driveway and see what it needs. The company who stopped by is offering
something called "hot topping" a driveway, which is a cosmetic patch
that may well work for a couple of years if the structure of the
driveway is completely sound. But I bet it isn't. It is more likely
everything needs to be removed, the gravel base inspected and maybe
redone, then 2 coats of 2" asphalt put down. In other words, a whole
new driveway. Expect it to cost significantly more than $1/sqft. More
like $3-5.

Driveways rarely crumble for no reason. It is likely there are
structural and/or drainage problems underneath that need to be found
and addressed.

In article . com,
Andrew Duane wrote:

Driveways rarely crumble for no reason. It is likely there are
structural and/or drainage problems underneath that need to be found
and addressed.

You can get crumbling if the mix is too dry (ie, not enough oil
in it), or it was put on too thin. At any rate, the OP would not
want to overlay an existing crumbled driveway. They would want
to take your advice, remove the current blacktop, then double
check the base to make sure it is solid. If not, pull out some
material, and put in a foot or so of gravel base and pound it
down with car traffic for a few months.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

On Sep 14, 10:18 pm, "John A. Weeks III" wrote:
In article . com,
Andrew Duane wrote:

Driveways rarely crumble for no reason. It is likely there are
structural and/or drainage problems underneath that need to be found
and addressed.

You can get crumbling if the mix is too dry (ie, not enough oil
in it), or it was put on too thin. At any rate, the OP would not
want to overlay an existing crumbled driveway. They would want
to take your advice, remove the current blacktop, then double
check the base to make sure it is solid. If not, pull out some
material, and put in a foot or so of gravel base and pound it
down with car traffic for a few months.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

Great! Thanks for the advise, guys.