Paving the driveway

[John K Jordan]

After waiting a month for a dry spell we finally got the driveway paved yesterday. Sure creates a different look at the farm. I left some unpaved for now where I need to move heavy trucks and equipment (and because paving is not inexpensive...) My Lovely Bride was especially interested in getting the circle drive and parking areas near the house paved.

paving_B.jpg paving_C.jpg paving_A.jpg

They built it all on top of existing gravel drives that have been in use and compacted from 15 to 40 years.

JKJ

[Thomas Wilson]

I am envious. My gravel driveway at the shop is washing into the street. I asked the general contractor for pricing information for asphalt and concrete. Gonna be a heart stopper.

[Jim Koepke]

Candy wants to get gravel on our driveway.

I don't know how to let her know about gravel having a tendency to fly away as cars drive over it.

jtk

[Jim Becker]

You're going to enjoy that, John. I did the same at the old property in 2018....400' of driveway and parking area. It was a game-changer in multiple ways, but one that was particularly great is that the issue of small stones getting caught in shoe tread and then scratching the wide pine floors pretty much went away. It was far easier to clear when there was a rare appearance of that white stuff and felt much better to drive on year-round.

We have paving here at the new place, but it's in poor condition. I plan on getting it re-done once the shop building project is complete and I restock the money coffers a little.

[Tom M King]

That's going to be nice!

[Dick Strauss]

Good for you guys! You're going to enjoy it when it rains. You'll actually have a place to step that shouldn't be too muddy. Even with gravel, it always seems there are muddy patches after it rains.

[Keith Pitman]

We paved our driveway two years ago. It does indeed improve the look of the property and I don’t have to worry as much about gullies forming during the summer monsoon season. We were fortunate that petroleum prices were lower two years ago which resulted in a lower project cost.

[Bill Dufour]

It is interesting to me that the Mansion owned by a paving contractor and quarry owner had a gravel driveway. House was built around 1922 in the city next to Berkeley. Built on ten acres so not real dense when it was built. AFAIK it is still gravel. His brother's house ,on another adjoining ten acres, was turned into a monastery after his brother died.
The house and grounds were donated to the University where the Berkeley chancellor lived for decades. It fell into disrepair and needs two million dollars to fix it up or ten million to bring it up to modern standards. Instead they rent a smaller house for 10,000 a month ten miles away from the University.
Bill D.

[Mel Fulks]

We have lived in current house about 30 years . Driveway was mainly dirt ,with a lot of rocks ,not gravel. Over the last 5 years I’ve
“reclaimed “ the rocks ,and moved the dirt to new exciting assignments. The rocks are cleaned,,, yes!, washed and moved to sloped ground
on comfy double layers of land-scape cloth and 5 mil plastic. Good dug out , sloped bed will make water run off guickly.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I am envious. My gravel driveway at the shop is washing into the street. I asked the general contractor for pricing information for asphalt and concrete. Gonna be a heart stopper.

We bought a rental with a horrible half dirt/half asphalt - all messed up driveway and had it paved w/concrete for $7500.
We priced gravel for another rental since that one needed new gravel badly. They wanted $3500 for the gravel alone!
We just bit the bullet and had concrete instead of new gravel. That was five years ago.

We have an estimate for concrete for the house we're building now. It's roughly the same square footage as the $7500 one. The estimate is $17,000.

[Jim Becker]

Concrete for driveways isn't a popular choice around here for whatever reason. Asphalt paving and various types of gravel are what you see; the latter is more prevalent outside of town. More and more rural driveways are paved at this point, probably due to shifts in demographics over the years to a more suburban mindset.

[Brian Elfert]

Asphalt is generally less expensive which is why many choose asphalt over concrete. In areas with snow and ice the black color absorbs the sunlight and heats up faster to that snow and ice in the winter. I would rather have concrete if I had the money. I can't imagine what 400 feet of asphalt driveway would cost. I got a price to pave the rest of my driveway when oil prices were lower around 2018 and it was $14,000!

[Kev Williams]

In all my years I've only seen anyone do this once, when I was like 8 years old-- A family had a new house built and moved in a couple of doors away. The owner had an asphalt driveway put in. Afterward, he bought several bags of portland cement, and began shoveling piles of it onto the asphalt, and everyone joined in with brooms to spread the cement powder around. Didn't take too long, the driveway was now similar looking to concrete, and all the asphalt smell was gone. Not sure if he ever had to repeat the process but I lived next door for about 6 more years before we moved and I don't remember them ever doing any touch-up. Always thought that was a neat thing to do...

[John K Jordan]

... I would rather have concrete if I had the money. I can't imagine what 400 feet of asphalt driveway would cost. I got a price to pave the rest of my driveway when oil prices were lower around 2018 and it was $14,000!

I almost went with concrete when we started to do this a few years ago. One problem I found is any concrete contractor I found planned to be very skimpy on the ground prep and amount/placement of rebar. As a former concrete inspector this was not acceptable. If not done "right" cracking and deterioration are almost assured, especially in some climates. I planned to buy and install all the rebar myself. When we finally pulled the trigger we chose the asphalt partly because of the cost and also since we are now in our 70s we'll may be gone from here before the expected lifetime of asphalt is up.

driveway_01.jpg driveway_02.jpg

400' of asphalt? Our driveway is probably well over four times that and the quotes I got were close to $50,000 for the entire drive. We chose to maybe 400' at the security gate entrance, down a slope that often required dressing after some good rain, and well into the woods. Gravel from there, through the woods, and up a slope past the horses and towards the house. Then paving from the garden to the house, around the circle drive, two wide areas for parking (space for up to 6 vehicles), and a "spur" towards the shop/barn will do for now. I'd have to add up the distance/area but the paving we had done just now was pushing $27k. The other estimates we got were higher and from our research, no obvious difference in quality or reputation. Be sure to check around.

In a few years when we save up enough money we'll probably do the part in the middle. What's installed now is "residential" grade - I'll do part of the remaining section with a much heavier-duty commercial grade to hold up to the dirt-moving equipment I have, the big trailers, and the occasional dump truck with 20+ tons of gravel. I have an alternate entrance to the farm where I bring in heavy things.

JKJ

[Tom M King]

I figured it must be pretty expensive these days. I haven't had any paving done since 2001. I built a little 9 lot development that included a 1/4 mile state spec road for access. It was two lane, 24' wide, and the paving cost me $10,000 then. It was done by the main crew that contracts all the work for the State and County around here. I forget how thick they laid the asphalt, but I know it was something over 2 inches.

I ended up selling the whole development a few years later, and the state has since taken the road over, but I haven't been back in there for years.