Concrete vs. Asphalt vs. Pavers (Edina, Wayzata: houses, neighborhood, pros and cons)

[whatever]

We need to put in a driveway and I'm wondering what we should use.
Is anyone using pavers? We had a guy come by and look, he'll get us a quote.
We'll have an f-350 in the driveway pretty regularly. He said it wouldn't be a problem.

Any pros and cons specific to this area of the US for these three types?

[golfgal]

I would go with concrete personally. It holds up better and is easy to shovel. It is more expensive though. I would NOT go with pavers. Shoveling is difficult and the freezing/thawing will cause it to buckle eventually. Asphalt is the least expensive and is fine. Our house has it. You need to recoat it every few year which isn't a big deal. You can have it professionally done for about $100 or do it yourself on a hot, hot day for about $35.

[Minnehahapolitan]

It depends on what neighborhood you are in. If you live in Edina, an asphalt driveway looks pretty cheap. In newer suburbs, asphalt is the norm and concrete actually looks kinda silly. Pavers are pretty rare, Wayzata estate type houses have cobblestone driveways.

[Camden Northsider]

if you can afford it, use a permeable material like pavers - if installed correctly, snowblowing them will be fine and they'll hold up for years, and you'll have an environmentally friendly driveway that allows water to penetrate/ avoids creating runoff.

[JenLee]

We have a concrete driveway and it has cracked through the years and can be tough to shovel if you forget where the cracks are (it jars you to hit them with a shovel of snow). Of course, it's been here over 50 years and we do repair the cracks every 2 years or so.

We also have a patio made of pavers, and it has never heaved or shifted and is very easy to shovel. Of course, we don't have any trucks parking on it either; and it's only been here about 20 years. We sprinkle some sand over it each spring and sweep it into any spaces between the pavers (I think we've used less than 10 lbs of sand in 15 years).

Our neighbors have asphalt. Snow melts faster from the black asphalt, so they usually have a dry driveway while ours is still icy. It does need re-coating every few years, but they do it themselves.

One last thing: the ground around here is clay. The ground doesn't move much, so different types of soil might make a difference.

[punkerdunker]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

if you can afford it, use a permeable material like pavers - if installed correctly, snowblowing them will be fine and they'll hold up for years, and you'll have an environmentally friendly driveway that allows water to penetrate/ avoids creating runoff.

I wholeheartedly agree with Camden. I studied landscape architecture at the U of M, so I'm kind of educated on the subject. Even if you don't use permeable ones, pavers will hold up way better and way longer in this climate than any poured driveway will, AS LONG AS THEY ARE PROPERLY INSTALLED. They should be dry set in sand over a compacted gravel bed, with metal edging. Mortared joints do not hold up to our excessive freeze-thaw cycles here, nor does poured concrete. Some people are fond of saying that there are 2 types of concrete in Minnesota: Concrete that IS cracked, and concrete that WILL crack. Please don't pour a concrete driveway here - you'll only be dissapointed. Asphalt does much better here, but still isn't as long lasting as good pavers.

One thing that would make asphalt a better choice than pavers is if you plan to have your driveway plowed. If you do, don't do pavers. The plow will probably damage the pavers and possibly pop them out. If you will be shovelling or snowblowing pavers will be fine.

[Minnehahapolitan]

I suppose if one were to go look at the intersection of 50th and Xerxes, they would see that the 100 year old cobblestones and trolley tracks have held up much better than the asphalt (trying) to cover them.

[whatever]

Perfect. Thanks for the responses everyone, they cover a lot of ground (no pun intended!) and gave me insights I hadn't got elsewhere. Someone else will probably be helped by this thread too.

-R