Welcome to All About Driveways, where we believe that getting a new driveway installed, repaired, or maintained shouldn't be a stressful experience. With over 34 years of experience in construction and 27 years in the driveway business, I've helped thousands of homeowners and commercial property owners achieve successful and lasting results for their driveway projects.
My goal is to help you navigate your next driveway project with ease and confidence. I provide expert guidance and referrals to vetted, background-checked contractors who will get the job done right, without the stress and anxiety of sub-standard work or worse.
I started my first company at 16, building decks and awnings, basements and remodels. I started in the driveway business at 27. Since then, I've become a trusted advisor for driveways. Passionate about sharing my knowledge, I created this RU-vid channel for tips and advice on installation, maintenance, and repair.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Our home was just finished in November and we just have a stone driveway and parking area. We are having it paved and I was concerned about the edges and how they should be finished. It seems if you get it "shouldered" well- it doesn't matter so much about the edges. What I DON"T want it those side cracks from FedEx or UPS drivers going over the edge.
I have paved meny meny driveways . it’s all about money when possible a driveway should be at least 14 foot wide. This way you don’t drive off the edges in the first place but every customer insist on 10 foot wide to save money and they insist on getting many many estimates, and finding the cheapest guy. so now the good companies have to lower their prices to be competitive to a guy that gave us satellite estimate and then of course he goes to the job and jacks up the price plus most of the time you get to a driveway and you don’t know how the base is until you put the paving machine on it and manipulate the ground grading it Now you’re in a position where it really needs to be reinforced with Stone or asphalt but you did not get enough money for the job in the first place so now you just have to do your best. When really it needs to be all dug out and 6 inches of stone put in and then left for a good month but then the job turns into two days and the paving contractor loses money. if you give the correct price to begin with you don’t get the job the cheap guy does.
Always tamp the edges before and after top surface is rolled and just after paved while hot unless its a highway. Raker should be on each side behind screed. Then push rock up to edge to hide edge after.
LOL. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. The rakes get bent constantly. Come back here after you have a bit of experience and then let us know how many rakes you've gone through in an entire season.
I can promise who ever your working a rake for, hates you. Quit before your fired, or come back down to earth. It's probably the hardest job on a dang paving site
Thank you for the video is very important to know these things I'm looking for a company to give me a estimate but I don't know who can trust because I seen a company that did my neighbor driveway and I know they didn't do it right plus they charge him a lot of money about 7,000 for the space it was to much money
@@AllAboutDriveways i meant to say shoulder. So are you saying gravel, dirt or recycled asphalt won't do anything to protect the edges from cracking when vehicles go off? It'll provide some protection won't it? I can't do concrete or pavers. My driveway is to long.
Like most endeavors, the test of quality is the passing of time. This opens the door to the unethical who know they are installing a subpar product but know they will get away with it. To your point, driving over the edge is detrimental to the driveway, so how is the entrance edge of the asphalt driveway finished?
Is there such a thing as a "floating" driveway? I'm about to have my driveway paved and I notice dirt with a bit of stone in it. I ask the contractor, "where is the crushed stone?" He tells me that the asphalt will be laid over the top of the dirt and stone, as a floating driveway. I never seen such a thing.(?)
Sounds logical. However, I would also say that, as with anything below the surface, it would likely only last a few years. Also, a properly installed asphalt driveway rarely has weeds growing into the edges.
@@AllAboutDriveways 😲Bet you never seen the kind of weeds that grow through driveways growing on a beach! Give sand a second thought! 😲 Thanks for your feedback and have a Wonderful Day! 🇺🇲
Pretty difficult to do that when the equipment to install asphalt and to do the job correctly starts at about$150K. Used. Installing asphalt is not really a DIY project unless its a super small driveway. I'd be curious to know how much you're being quoted?
@@AllAboutDriveways I've found people who have done it themselves for rental properties, and it wasn't too bad. One had the asphalt delivered and rented a roller. The other used their dump trailer and a plate compactor, and they came out alright. As for me, I was quoted 4 grand for a 20x20 that already has the base. Literally just needs to come out and lay the asphalt.
Yeah. The smaller the driveway the more expensive it's going to be. When you factor in mobilization fees and labor, it pushes the price up there for a smaller driveway. We would have charged a similar amount and quite frankly not made much of a profit on it. You might be surprised by how much it takes to run a paving company and be profitable.
I personally have a long concrete driveway. Love concrete. Asphalt is less expensive for longer driveways though. Hard to complete with asphalt on the bigger driveways.
I love when there's no pitch/grade for the driveway in general . The homeowner's problem becomes mine and they don't want to spend the extra money to fix their problem..... 😂 .
If you educate them, they will. If you educate them and they still don't, they're just looking for the cheapest price regardless of the quality. Also could be they're selling their home and leaving the problem for the next homeowner. I've seen this a thousand times.
Hey I got two quotes for my driveway that were within a couple hundred dollars. One installer said I didnt need a gravel base, while the other said he would be putting one in. Should I go with the one installling a base? There's hard clay soil and some gravel driveway left there now, but the gravel is worn away
@@AllAboutDriveways there is clay soil and dirt right now. He was talking about putting down a crushed rock underneath the asphalt since the driveway is on a hill.
Ok Got it. But I need to know exactly what the contractor means by "gravel base" in order to give you good advice. If it is an actual base material meant to be used as structural base, then yes. I always recommend base. It's good insurance for a couple of hundred dollars. Just make sure that your quotes are apples to apples and include the "compacted thickness: in writing.
Unfortunately 304 or 404 are not a standard name across the country. What is the detailed description? Is it 1/2" aggregates and less down to fines? Or something else?
Good and relative point. In the video, I am referring to crowing the driveway. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z7jmib1ztQ0.html So a single lane driveway that the paver could fit all the way across (12' to 15') is an opportunity for a scammer to add a crown.
@@AllAboutDriveways ok so if your driveway is 12-15 wide would you want to add a crown if your driveway is over 50ft long? I guess that’s what my question was at what length would it be appropriate?
That would depend on what the drainage looks like. Only in a very, very rare occasion would I ever recommend a crown. If you have this scenario you're asking about, the best thing would be to send us pictures.
I understand that if it's thin it's no good. I am a paving contractor. Are you saying you never get a puddle? And as far as a base over clay. You can't dig all the clay out of it and if it's clay you should put a geotextile fabric to separate the base from the clay. You can put 2 ft of base over clay but the clay will eventually push through the base. Where is your geotextile fabric mat? Maybe you are the flyby lol
After publishing this video over 10 years ago I didn’t realize it would become the #1 video with almost 1M views. Also, after moderating thousands of comments there are some reliably common themes amongst commmenters. Homeowners and good, honest, reliable contractors LOVE it. The negative comments are reliably always the absolute worst contractors. It's true!
Who said 5"? No one said 5". And BTW. 2 1/2" could potentially be fine in some places, but certainly not in all places. The soil is the determining factor. Fly by night rip offs will tell people anything they want to hear.
You’re leaving out some very important info , like before laying asphalt the stone base should set up to a few months to make sure when you lay the asphalt it doesn’t settle, you just can dig out , lay stone and pave the same day , that’s the ripp off way
