Questions about paving a driveway with asphalt (home, taxes)

[mambwe]

I hired a company to do a paver walkway/patio, sidewalks and driveway. The guy uses his cousins company to do the asphalt paving. They do the job in one day. They rip up the the old driveway add the base layer and then add the asphalt. Should the driveway settle before they add the asphalt? That's how I thought they always did it.

I spoke to the guy and he said he adds the base material and has a huge roller to compress everything down for when he adds the asphalt. There is a driveway there already so the ground underneath is obviously settled, but he is raising parts of the driveway 5". What do you guys think?

I mentioned that I thought he should wait he said that the larger companies do it in two steps. They have a demo crew that rip it up and then wait until they have a few jobs in the area and they send in the paving crew to pave a few jobs in one day.

This sound legit?

[BigBlue53]

One day job would be great. I'd believe him. The driveway is there already so it's packed down and he rolls it. We had to wait for two weeks until paving truck had a days worth of jobs. Damn dirt all thru the house.

[ar1458]

the base material should be RCA or recycle concrete aggregate . did they compress or compact the RCA first with a machine tamper or steam roller ? if so you might be fine but 5'' of that is alot to compact correctly...

[VA Yankee]

Roller compaction will ensure the base is ready for the finished materials. Am I safe to assume that a warranty is included with the job? If so you would be covered if settling occurs.

Did you get more than one estimate and compare the 2. The reason larger companies may wait is because home driveways are considered a "smaller job" and they may be tying the asphalt pour in with a larger project that is estimated to need less than a full load, that leftover is used to complete the small projects.

[Drobo]

2 hours after they poured the asphalt driveway, I washed off the sidewalk with the water hose. I wanted to remove the dirt and any black asphalt particles from staining the sidewalk. Would the water affect the asphalt after it is poured?

[sicksburgh]

Originally Posted by Drobo

2 hours after they poured the asphalt driveway, I washed off the sidewalk with the water hose. I wanted to remove the dirt and any black asphalt particles from staining the sidewalk. Would the water affect the asphalt after it is poured?

I know this is an old thread, but no. Water won't affect new asphalt. Water is actually used in the paving process, to wet the drums of the roller so that hot asphalt doesn't stick to them. It's also used in plate compactors to keep material from sticking to the bottom of the plate. One of the nice things about working with asphalt is that unless it's downpouring or snowing heavily, the process is pretty much impervious to the elements if you're skilled at it. I've paved in rainy weather, cold weather, and snow.....It all holds up the same.

[lubby]

I was told by my neighbor that if you put down asphalt as opposed to concrete for a driveway/walkway your taxes go up. Is this true?

[sicksburgh]

Originally Posted by lubby

I was told by my neighbor that if you put down asphalt as opposed to concrete for a driveway/walkway your taxes go up. Is this true?

I've never heard of such a thing, but then anything is possible I guess when it comes to tax assessments.