I'm looking to re-due my driveway. I live where there is snow in the winter and up to about 100 in the summer. I've had estimates on both and blacktop is a lot cheaper of course. However, because of my job I drive a 10 ton box truck and I don't believe the blacktop will hold up. They say that I shouldn't get concrete because of the "freeze factor". Where I park my truck it seems the blacktop would have to be 2 feet thick. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing someone on here can give me an objective view...thanks

 

Id Go Ahead And Do The Blacktop And Maybe Put In Some Concrete Strips Where You Will Park Your Truck

 

yeah, I was thinking of that, mixed in with some large stones....

 

Gen Contractor here, Id lay concrete, you can adjust the mix with so many options these days, you can pay for whatever application you need! Good Luck..

 

Concrete of course

27.5 Mpa or 4000psi /4-6% Air entraining agent / 10" Thick/ with 5/8" rebar cross 2' square/ Expansion Board for joints

You can even install a heating element throughout it.

Heated Driveway we call it .

 

2' deep is rather rediculous don't you think?

I work for a paving crew here in Minnesota. Even on the main highways & interstates that holds all the weight from loaded tractor-trailers, I still haven't seen asphalt laid down 2 feet deep.

Depending on how heavy your truck is when it is parked I would say the max thickness should be around 8" deep. That is usually a 2 lift paving job.

Please remember that the driveway will have to be bladed down & the proper class 5 hauled in & bladed to perfect height. 2 lifts means that the paver will do the whole job at about a 4 inch thickness of asphalt & then go over it a second time with a additional 4" thickness after the first lift cures.

Most of the major highways are built like that. The only exception will be major interstates. They sometimes get 3-4 lifts.

 

Dennis, thanks..I wrote that down.

Hardball, that's what they want me to do...PAY. ...heheh

 

there isn't much competition up here so they can charge pretty much what they want, but if I act like I know what I'm doing I can probably get a better deal...

 

How wide & long is your driveway?

How much does your truck weigh loaded? 20,000 pounds correct?

What did the contractor tell you to make you believe that you would need 2 feet of asphalt in the area your truck is parked?

What is your driveway made out of now?

How beat up is it?

 

20' deep 20' wide....about

truck weighs about 20,000

He said that it would sink, because my truck was so heavy.

1/2 old blacktop and 1/2 gravel/dirt...

Pretty beat up...where my truck is...the gravel and dirt

 

Concreat does better burnouts, but i wouldn't know that , anyway with a truck of that size sitting on concreat verses pavement for periods of time, contcreat will hold up way better, and you won't get ruts (blacktop can get very nasty ruts from loaded truck) like blacktop will do. I know this cause at the border crossing here where i live the truck lane had ruts nearly a foot deep, so when they rebuilt the port the went with all concreate.

 

where does the freeze factor come in, or is there such a thing?

 

I am still going to stick with telling you to go with asphalt.

As what was said in a earlier post ruts do happen in asphalt if it is not properly prepared and you has a 80,000 pound tractor-trailer resting on it.
Your 20,000 pound truck won't hurt 8" thick asphalt if it is prepared properly.

I would suggest investigating both options of concrete & asphalt.

You can do a search on the internet for both & read some pro's & con's about it.
You can enter the basic "KNOWN" words for both applications or you can search the proper industry words. The proper word for concrete is redi-mix & then the proper word for asphalt is hotmix.
Below I am giving you a link to learn more about asphalt. There are more websites so you will need to do a search to get those if your interested.

http://www.hotmix.org

Another thing I would suggest is getting estimates from several different companies for both options you have listed. Most of the estimator will explain to you what needs to be done. Look with in a couple hours from you also. Alot of companies will travel a few hours to do a job if needed & to try to drum up business from other areas & try to under cut their competitors.

You do also have another option that will cost you a few dollars to do right off.

Put a public notice in your local metro news paper saying that you are accepting sealed bids for the job. Put your contact info in there to where they can send there bids & put the job location in there so they can look and see what they are getting into.
This will give you a chance to view other contractors & rates. Also if the bids are sealed the contractors bidding will assume that others are going to be bidding also & will estimate the job the lowest that they can possibly do it.
It works like a normal estimate but would give you more ideas of who is interested in doing the job for you.

**edit**
Another thing you can do if your worried about your truck sinking into the asphalt is poor a concrete slab to your desired depth in the locating where your truck will be parked.
This is something you can do yourself if your energetic to do it. Just dig out the area you would like to have the truck parked, Use inexpensive lumber to build a square wall around your desired slab location, rent the mixer you need (they rent electric & gas mixers), buy the redi-mix in bags & pour the slab yourself.
After you have the slab poured you can then have a paver come in to do the rest of the area. Any good paver operator will tie the asphalt in with your slab to make it a nice smooth drive on & off of it. **end edit**

 

Maybe have a look here.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=Buildi...e+Search&meta=

 

I have about 1/3 of an acre of blacktop in my backyard. I would like to get it "re-freshed" some day. It is basically solid but needs a new "top" Any suggestions?