I have two immediate problems concerning asphalt. Several months ago I had to replace my water supply line from the meter to the house. The old line ran under my asphalt driveway, and the shortest and easiest path for the new line was in the same general area. I cut a channel across the driveway to trench out with a backhoe and run the new water supply line. After backfilling, I now have a gap in the asphalt. Problem one is what to do with the cut out scrap asphalt pieces. Can it be recycled? I’m not sure I can legally take it to a landfill (as a homeowner). I’m betting I can’t. But I don’t know where to take it to recycle it, IF…it can be recycled to begin with. Second, how do I repair the channel I had to cut across the driveway without replacing the entire driveway. I suppose I could concrete it in, but that wouldn’t look to good, although the way it looks now isn’t going to win me any homeowner prizes. Thoughts/advice?
Thanks…Jeff.
Replies
call a paving contractor .. tell him what you just posted... ask him to put you on his list for patches when he's in the area.... and ask where he gets rid of his old asphalt
or....
maybe your town will patch it for a fee
Jeff,
Call your local asphalt company most, nowadays, use RAP (recycled asphalt products) in their production. It cuts the use and cost of asphalt oil.
If you patch it with asphalt chances are it won't hold up long because of settling.
Jack
I see on some driveways people will have a decorative strip of cobble stone.
My local landfill has a separate section just for recyclable asphalt and concrete.
"Cold Patch Asphalt" sold in bags and a rented jumping jack compactor for the patch .
Yes it can be recycled. It is great stuff to work with once it has been reconditioned with new asphalt. Check out the King County Solid Waste site for construction debris recycling.
How was the trench cut into the asphalt concrete driveway? If torn out with the backhoe, straighten out the edges by saw-cutting.
Did you compact the fill material as you backfilled? Ideally 6" lifts is best. And what type of material did you backfill with? Ideal material is a WSDOT spec 5/8" minus. Again, compacted.
Then have a small asphalt company come in and pave the trench for you. They should first paint the edges of the existing asphalt with liquid asphalt. Minimum of 2" of WSDOT class B mix for residential driveway repair. Once they have completed compacting the asphalt concrete, they should then top seal the seam of the patch with liquid asphalt.
" If guns kill people, a spoon made Rosie O'Donnel fat!"
I backfilled with what came out. If I had to buy it, it would be called 'pit run'. Yes, I compacted every 6" or so with the backhoe. I've been driving over it since and it's solid. The trench was saw cut by yours truly, another one of the many 'character building' experiences I've had in my life. The edges are smooth. I'll check with King County about recycling the asphalt. Many thanks.
Asphalt driveways are very inexpensive. They are like paint in my mind. Just something you need to replace fairly often as general maintenance.
I would call a couple asphalt paving companies and get a few quotes. it won't cost you much time and the estimates will be free. You'll probably be surprised at how cheap it is.
I did that after I bought the house. The driveway is 18' wide and about 22' long, straight shot, perpendicular to the main road. I was getting quotes of about 3 grand to do the driveway in asphalt, I think I got three quotes, and that was about 3 years ago, before crude oil and gas went way up in price. I'm betting the quotes are gonna be double that now. I thought that was high at the time, what do you think? Is that in line with what you were thinking as inexpensive?In the big picture 3 grand was not that much money (at the time), but if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I'll do the driveway in concrete and prep and form it myself.Actually, the front road grade is about 4 feet higher than the house, so the driveway slopes down to the garage. Not good. In heavy rain, I do get some slight rain intrusion into the garage. Since I can't lower the road or raise the house, I'm installing a curtain drain in front of the garage door.But I was also thinking of ripping out the asphalt driveway and putting a compacted sand bed in with some kind of brick or other paver for a new driveway surface, giving me a porous driveway surface so I don't get near as much runoff coming down the slope to the curtain drain. I still plan to put the curtain drain in (I already have the components). Just a matter of running that dang saw again. I'm thinking that is the best compromise to deal with the rain and have a decent looking driveway.
$7.50/sq ft for asphalt is REALLY high. I guess I don't know what the market is like where you are, but your driveway is pretty small. You should be able to get a 4" concrete drive for that much. I pay about $5-6/ft for concrete drives around here and about $1/ft for tearout. I don't do asphalt. I believe it's good for freeways but not for driveways. IIRC it's around $2.50-3/sq ft for asphalt. But that number is hazy at best.
When I toured up the Western Peninsula of Newfoundland, an area not noted for lots of money, I noticed a lot of paved driveways, but they looked just a bit rough. Then I saw why - in one driveway was a larger burner and pot, and several truckloads of torn up asphalt.
When the Provinde did road work, the locals would get the torn up asphalt, and recycle it manually, tossing chunks into this big pot to heat it up, then spreading it manually, and driving back and forth on it to pack it down.
lay a sheet of wood in your truck, go to the asphalt plant, right before lunch, it be slow at that time. slip the plant operator $50 and get all you need.