Tips for having your asphalt driveway repaved

October 8, 2021 5:24 AM

My driveway has seen better days, and needs repaving. I’m not sure when it was last done, but my estimate is 20+yrs ago. What do you wish you knew before you undertook a similar project (which I will find a local company to do)?

I assume it makes sense to top up the existing base gravel - can you confirm? How long is between the stages of removing the old asphalt and letting gravel setting and repaving? How long do you have to let the new asphalt settle before you can park on it? How long does the fresh asphalt smell linger? (there is a scent sensitive person in the house). Better to tackle this, this fall or wait until spring? Any other tips or callouts?

Note - this is a square shaped 2 car side-by-side driveway in a cold weather climate. No drainage issues or special considerations or obstacles

posted by walkinginsunshine to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

We did it a dozen years ago. It was basically a two-day job. (New England, summer, one-car-and-a-parking-spot on an incline.)

They showed up with an excavator and removed the old asphalt, and scraped down the site. They dumped on dirt and rolled it, then dumped gravel and rolled it. During that time, they also buried a drainage pipe from a problematic area, which was a huge win. On day two, they came back and paved it.

I think we stayed off for like three days or something -- but they will tell you how long, based on your weather and the details of your site.

I love the smell, so it didn't linger long enough for me, sorry.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:00 AM on October 8, 2021

Depending on what you mean by cold weather climate and if it makes sense for you in other ways (budget, etc), I would consider a heated driveway if I were doing this work.
posted by papayaninja at 6:00 AM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you’re in the northern hemisphere it might be too late this season; I had my driveway resurfaced the weekend before last and it was the last week the guy was going out, and I’ve noticed that our patches are still a little squishy so it might have been too late anyhow. At least for the resurfacing, the smell was strong for about 24 hours and faint for a few days after.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:27 AM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

Is the surface bad or are there potholes, dips, or heaving? If it's only the surface you probably only need to "mill and overlay." They scrape the surface of the top (mill) and put an inch or two of new asphalt over what's essentially an adhesive. The new asphalt will merge into the old.

If you're in a cold climate, the asphalt plants close over the winter.
posted by sepviva at 7:52 AM on October 8, 2021

If it's possible to go ahead and get it done this fall (and it sounds like it may be too late weather wise), try to get squeezed in - we scheduled our (concrete) driveway pour for July and with our new found summer rainy season in NC, it got pushed back to September because it rained so much this summer that our guy kept having to push everyone back. So if you can get it done now, do it; between the weather and the everything, all kinds of house stuff is pushed back further than normal (ask me about trying to find an electrician this week).

We didn't have to do anything before hand; our dude came out, dealt with the old gravel, graded, etc. I wouldn't worry about topping up the existing gravel base, if they need to do that they will (and they should want to grade anyhow, which would make anything you do for naught). It was a two day job for us too, one for the grading and one for the pouring.
posted by joycehealy at 8:56 AM on October 8, 2021

It is likely too late in the season to get this done. Plus there are supply issues with building materials now. I called about some concrete and was told to call back in spring. They couldn’t even do a quote as the price of materials is changing so rapidly.

I mention this because I think you should call around now to see how far people are booked and if they are making appointments for next season now. If they are, you will want to do that rather than wait.

Also, quotes are usually free. All of these questions can be answered by the company and some may depend on the specific materials you need.
posted by Crystalinne at 10:35 AM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

Not sure about further north but here I. Philadelphia I'd say the plants will be open at least into November, possibly early December. That will vary by temperature.
posted by sepviva at 8:17 AM on October 9, 2021