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got it thanks. do you know what company he works for/owns?
thanks
Manny is the king of best pricing round these parts. Seen his work and he's a competent mason/ hard worker & nice guy. (had him give us an estimate for a paver patio - but we ended up not going that route).
I have had aN asphalt 125 ft driveway on a downward slope resurfaced twice in 40 years I use rock salt the cheapest and have had no problems.If I put in Belgium block the rock salt might eat up the mortar joints so I never did that.
I just got an estimate yesterday and have another coming today.
Driveway is 129 feet long, half is flat and half on a steep incline, with varying width from 11 ft to 28 ft.
Total square footage 2850
The quote was to:
-completely rip out the driveway & remove the existing broken blacktop and rotted railroad tie/Belgian block border
-compact and level/regrade the flat part and to slightly regrade the existing steepness of the driveway by adding crushed stone
-put in new asphalt driveway with new Belgian block border.
quoted $12,000
A few questions:
-is this a reasonable price
-this is without the 'apron' I've seen driveways with. I really didn't want to do an apron but is there a functional reason to consider it?
-I want something that is the least PITA. Im confused as t the difference between asphalt, blacktop and tar/chip. But it appears asphalt is the least of the maintenance whores. Am I right?
I spent all of last summer installing an 800sq paver patio in my backyard.
Full rip out of deck & slab w/ bobcat rental. 25 yards of compacted rca w/ 1"sand bed.
Border, medallion & planter wall
I did a TON of research on pavers and as far as the concrete pavers themselves my recommendation is TECHO-BLOC
Most everything I read about Cambridge was horrible and that they have a class action law suit against their false advertising claims against fading.
Nicoloc and Belguard were highly regarded too.
Besides my massive Google searches I asked a lot of questions from guys who do the work themselves at contractortalk.com for my project. Obviously none of these guys were trying to sell me anything and just gave their opinion based on years of experience.
From what I've read never use rock salt on pavers or anything concrete. However calcium chloride is supposedly okay - but may cause short freeze/thaw cycle of melted ice that could damage concrete. Best is Potassium Chloride and wont damage concrete
-I want something that is the least PITA. Im confused as t the difference between asphalt, blacktop and tar/chip. But it appears asphalt is the least of the maintenance whores. Am I right?
$12k is a lot for asphalt which will end up cracking again. But it is probably your best bet for that large of a driveway. Get at least 4 quotes imo.
-I want something that is the least PITA. Im confused as t the difference between asphalt, blacktop and tar/chip. But it appears asphalt is the least of the maintenance whores. Am I right?
I wish we could find someone who did tar/chip (macadam). Do you know of any asphalt businesses that offer that???
Just an update, since our initial estimate of $12,000 for 2850 ft.² of Blacktop, we are now looking at pavers.
Both my parents and my in-laws have a paver driveway. But I could have some concerns about pavers on our incline because in my mind, the sand between the pavers might wash away when rain is draining.
This morning we have gotten an estimate for pavers for 2850 square feet along with the retaining wall for $25,000 and this includes "4 circles".
Then I called the original person that gave us the estimate for $12,000 for asphalt and they quoted us $25,000 as well but the retaining wall was $4500 extra. He basically said that for pavers it was nine dollars per square foot.
I am now leaning toward putting pavers in. But regarding the insulation, my understanding is that first crush stone is put on and compacted down then something called RCA is put on top of it and mixed with sand and then the pavers are put on top of that. If these are being installed on a long driveway which is on an incline, will running drainage water which goes over this pavers become a problem regarding the erosion of the sand particles used in the paver installation?
Last edited by tiberiusP; 04-13-2014 at 04:12 PM..
One suggestion I might make is what your going to put down as a base under the pavers. I went with crushed stone stampted and compacted. BUT I own a F250 Super Duty Long Bed Crew Cab truck . It has depressed the area of the driveway I park it on. in hindsight I should have spent a little more and poured a concrete base. Live and Learn.
A mason I hired when we bought our house in syosset two years ago is an honest person to work with and later we become friends. If you are going to get a few quotes anyway I'd suggest to give him a call. Manuel, 516-902-4149.
Hi, I actually gave Manny a call and, while he seems very nice and knowledgeable, his prices seem a little "too good to be true." He also didn't have a card with a license number on it.
Super Mario is the best, yep that is his companies name
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