Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with paving

Paving? Sealcoating? What am I doing?

um_maverick — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:29:35 -0800

What do I need to know about fixing up (repaving, sealcoating, I have no idea) my driveway? I have a 15 foot wide by 50 foot long driveway that has seen better days. It was paved when I bought the house, but has since developed some cracks across it (through which some weeds have sprouted, and the surface itself is missing a few pieces. Not sure how best to describe this, but it's almost like there's little flakes on the very top of the driveway, some of which are missing - looks almost like this.

I plan on calling a number of local contractors to get quotes, but is there anything I need to know before doing so? I don't want to sound like a dope on the phone and get taken for a ride, and I want to make sure I only ask for what I need. As a side note, is it possible for someone who's not particularly handy to fix this himself, or is it not worth the effort, and should I just go with a pro?

Thanks!

Driveway Paving Cost

cvoixjames — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:31:10 -0800

How much does it cost to pave (asphalt) a small driveway? Gravel is already in place, it is a small driveway and an area for 3 cars to park. Are there different methods?

Why aren't roads made out of plastic?

lpsguy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:55:04 -0800

Why aren't roads made out of plastic? Just passed some road construction on my way to work, and read an article on the decaying U.S. roadways, and it got me thinking. Why hasn't there been a radical improvement in road paving materials? Why asphalt? Why not plastic? Or rubber? Or artificial turf? It seems to be materials science should have, by now, come up with something that would be freeze/thaw impervious, non-slick, and not need to be replaced every few decades. Why not a one-and-done for 200 years paving solution? Anybody know?

Why does road paving take so long in Massachusetts?

scottso17 — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:43:15 -0800

Why does road paving take so long in Massachusetts? Last year, when the Mass Pike was being paved, it was a multi-month project. They would mill the road, leave the milled road as is for several weeks, then pave it. The process of covering the length of the work area took several months. By comparison, when I lived in the DC Metro area, paving happened overnight on Route 66 in Northern Virginia inside the Beltway - seemingly instantaneously. One machine would mill the road, collect the milled asphalt, turn it into new asphalt, lay it, and then it would be paved -- in hours, not weeks or months. They would mill/pave one lane one night, then move to the next lane the next night. As another example of the lengthy paving processes that take place in Massachusetts, there is now a major project underway to pave Route 9. It's so involved that it even has its own website: www.pavert9.com.

Regarding the paving on Route 66, I thought of three reasons why it may have been so speedy - and these are far from comprehensive:

1. Capital area security: Milled roads might provide a hazard in the event of a disaster inside DC.

2. Budget and/or availability of machinery: Mass doesn't have access to the fancy machines in the DC area or can't afford them.

3. Weather: It doesn't get nearly as cold in DC, and that may make the milling process easier.

Any of these make sense? Anything else?

Getting weeds out of paving?

krisjohn — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:21:23 -0800

What's the best way to get weeds out of brick paving? We've got a paved section outside the back door. The weeds grow out from between the bricks. We've tried using a "whipper snipper" ("weed whacker"), but that resulted in a shattered glass door when a small stone was picked up by it. (We have glass on two sides of the area.)

We've tried poisoning the weeds, but you still have to dig them out. We tried covering a section with opaque plastic to kill the weeds without poison, but they didn't die after a couple of weeks and the plastic looks crap.

Currently, the most effective way is to dig them out with a screwdriver, but that's an awful lot of work, particularly for something that will come back.