My driveway has slowly been sinking.... here's why:

The garage is under the house, and the original driveway sloped down
about ten feet. The previous owners filled it in (no access to garage,
now have a level driveway).

I need to redo the driveway so it's level (or slopes slightly towards
the street, away from the house).

I got three bids. Two said they'd tear up the old driveway, haul away
the rock, and put down a new driveway (4 inches, if I remember right).
Around $2000.

One contractor said he'd just put the new one on top, $700.

I suppose the two contractors would say that doing what the third guy
suggests would let the driveway continue to sink. But I think it's the
fill that's sinking, and their 4 inches won't stop that.

Is there any reason NOT to go with the cheaper version? I figure that
if in a few years it turns out the first two were right, well, $700
wasn't much to spend to take the chance.

Thanks,

"Shaun Eli" wrote in message
ps.com...
My driveway has slowly been sinking.... here's why:

The garage is under the house, and the original driveway sloped down
about ten feet. The previous owners filled it in (no access to garage,
now have a level driveway).

I need to redo the driveway so it's level (or slopes slightly towards
the street, away from the house).

I got three bids. Two said they'd tear up the old driveway, haul away
the rock, and put down a new driveway (4 inches, if I remember right).
Around $2000.

One contractor said he'd just put the new one on top, $700.

I suppose the two contractors would say that doing what the third guy
suggests would let the driveway continue to sink. But I think it's the
fill that's sinking, and their 4 inches won't stop that.

Is there any reason NOT to go with the cheaper version? I figure that
if in a few years it turns out the first two were right, well, $700
wasn't much to spend to take the chance.

No good answer for you, but you have my sympathy. Original owner of this
place added a 2-car garage up top, and filled in the original driveway to
the orginal 1-car basement garage. Twit. So now I have what would be a good
workshop space, execpt that the only way to get to it is via a narrow
interior basement stair, and a narrow door into the original garage. If he
had just put a 36" steel door, and left a 'hidden' offset access path in the
front yard to this walk-out door, I'd have a great place for power tools,
where I could actually carry 4x8 sheets into. And to add insult to injury,
in blocking the original driveway cut and/or adding the addition, he somehow
fubar'd the original foundation drains, so the floor drains and washer
standpipe are connected to each other, but nothing else.

Sigh. Beginning to understand why this place sat on market for six months.

aem sends...

TEAR UP THE OLD DRIVEWAY! The 700 buck job is just a waste of money

Assuming no major water problem fill is done settling after 7 years.
How old is your current driveway?

Laying new asphalt on old thats unstable will just fail again in a year
or two.

a good friend tried the cheap way and regretted it the next year when
it failed again, plus tearing out a double layer drivway will cost
more.

if you want to throw away 700 bucks please toss it my way

the key to a good long lived ashalt driveway is a good well drained
gravel base.

Water soaks through the asphalt? And that's why I need gravel
underneath?

If that's the case-- what if there's already gravel under what I
already have?

Shaun Eli wrote:
My driveway has slowly been sinking.... here's why:

The garage is under the house, and the original driveway sloped down
about ten feet. The previous owners filled it in (no access to garage,
now have a level driveway).

I need to redo the driveway so it's level (or slopes slightly towards
the street, away from the house).

I got three bids. Two said they'd tear up the old driveway, haul away
the rock, and put down a new driveway (4 inches, if I remember right).
Around $2000.

One contractor said he'd just put the new one on top, $700.

I suppose the two contractors would say that doing what the third guy
suggests would let the driveway continue to sink. But I think it's the
fill that's sinking, and their 4 inches won't stop that.

Is there any reason NOT to go with the cheaper version? I figure that
if in a few years it turns out the first two were right, well, $700
wasn't much to spend to take the chance.

Thanks,

You didn't mention the current driveway paving material or it's
condition.

Concrete, asphalt? Cracked up & a mess or sound & just poorly
sloped.

IMO your assesment is correct. The filled compacted / settled & now
slopes toward the house. You do not mention the amount of slope (total
settlement at the house) my guess is something in the 1/2' range and no
settlement near the street?

How long ago was the original work done? a few years or many years?

If it's been a long time then probably all of the settlement is done.

I'd go for the $700 fix.

cheers
Bob

I'm not an expert on paving material. The driveway is black, has
settled a few inches over the old driveway (the one that ran down into
the garage) and has some cracks in it. I don't know whether there's
concrete under it, but I assume not.

It's been this way since I've owned the house (more than a decade) and
I don't think it was this sunken when I moved in, but since it's been a
long time I doubt it sinks that fast.

Shaun Eli wrote:

My driveway has slowly been sinking.... here's why:

The garage is under the house, and the original driveway sloped down
about ten feet. The previous owners filled it in (no access to garage,
now have a level driveway).

I need to redo the driveway so it's level (or slopes slightly towards
the street, away from the house).

I got three bids. Two said they'd tear up the old driveway, haul away
the rock, and put down a new driveway (4 inches, if I remember right).
Around $2000.

One contractor said he'd just put the new one on top, $700.

I suppose the two contractors would say that doing what the third guy
suggests would let the driveway continue to sink. But I think it's the
fill that's sinking, and their 4 inches won't stop that.

Is there any reason NOT to go with the cheaper version? I figure that
if in a few years it turns out the first two were right, well, $700
wasn't much to spend to take the chance.

You have my deepest sympathies. I have been fortunate to have
found all of the defects in every house I have purchased in the
last 40 years.

My answer to you situation is to do it in a manner so that the
problem does not continue and so that you have ouside access to
the buried garage.

Dick

wrote in message
oups.com...
TEAR UP THE OLD DRIVEWAY! The 700 buck job is just a waste of money

Assuming no major water problem fill is done settling after 7 years.

Depends.

If the "fill" has either a lot of organic material that rots or slightly
soluable material that dissolves away SLOWLY, it might will continue to
settle.

The fill is ten feet deep-- remember, it's a driveway that sloped from
the street to under the house-- and I have no way of knowing what was
put there.

water collects runs off asphalt or concrete for that matter.. water
under asphalt heaves it when it freezes since water expands water
flowing under it washes out the underlying base.

the only way to have a nice asphalt driveway is a good base. after 10
years the underlying soil is most likely done settling.

if you do the 700 buck job you WILL be doing it again. worse removing a
doble thick driveway will cost more for digging and removal.

a good friend tried what your considering. 2 years after the 2nd paving
he had to get it all ripped up and done over, removal cost a lot more.

its your $ so I have ZIP in it one way or the other but have had
asphalt troubles

Did you know the top smooth coat has less strength than the underlying
base coat? thanks to the bigger rocks in the base?

when you lay one on top of another with a 3 or 4 inch settling and
cracks the new driveway will crack and have those same setting areas
within a few short years.

the highway dept mills off topcoats for that reason when repaving most
roads

feel free to come back in a couple years to report....

"Shaun Eli" wrote in message
oups.com...
The fill is ten feet deep-- remember, it's a driveway that sloped from
the street to under the house-- and I have no way of knowing what was
put there.

With that much unknown fill you really don't know WHEN it will finish
settling. (Even reasonably well placed fill can settle for a year or two).

Were I you, I would put go for the cheap job and be ready to add another
layer IF things settle more. With 10' of "unknown" just replacing the top
6" will not make much difference.