yep homesteading adventures..boy do I know them all to well. I appreciate you sharing your with us. We don't feel so alone. We have a long long driveway here in the panhandle where we have our homestead. We actually did find a tractor which has made life a little easier. Use it for everything form plowing that long driveway in the winter, to making ditches in the spring if it floods, to moving earth for the garden. might want to consider one for your homestead too!
Starry Hilder We're looking for a tractor too. We'll need one to keep the road graded. We've redone the road and now have a solid base layer. We're off to a much better start now that we can actually get to the house!
I've heard if you put diesel fuel in a "bug sprayer" type device and spray it down it will cause the asphalt to bond together and help it hold together.
Oh Honey. Welcome to Tennessee! I am in Ky. This land eats the gravel. Even if it was compacted properly this could have happened. This land is an anomaly. No KIDDING. I had a piece of property. I dumped enough gravel on it over the years to fill the grand canyon. I had neighbors from the city who did what you did. I mean you would think that asphalting it would resolve the issue. Unfortunately not. I think here it is knowing the land and the drainage run. Have to work with the natural run of the water. Take it from me, you will never be able to bend it to your means. Take Care. I just subbed you. I would like to see how you progress ;-)
Zion Prepper Yes Sir it will. I will be happy to lend you what I have learned over the last 10 years. I have good friends that are lifers. Just hit me up ;-) Wishing you and yours well.
I am sorry about your delimma, but better to find out about this shortfall now rather than later. Might I ask why you or the property owner(s) chose to asphalt the drive? Given the construction locale, weather extremes, and maintenace requirements/costs I think you would have been better served by a stanard gravel drive for the following reasons: 1.) Installation costs based not only materials but labor 2.) The asphalt is a non permable surface and requires well planned drainage to prevent erosion & frost upheaval issues. Gravel would greatly reduce such concerns. 3.) Asphalt requires more labor and material intensive maintenace thus consuming more resources(time & $). 4.) Subltleness(OPSEC) = a paved drive in the woods will attract more attention as a path to something of interest rather than just another gravel road(possibly another logging access road, etc...)--easily disguised Or initiate vehicle hindering obsticals(remove section and put back when needed, mound up into pile at entrance and looks like an uncompleted/abandoned access project. 5.) In your area ice buildup can be areal hazard, black ice can form on asphalt(traveling downgrade nightmare), not as treacherous concrern with gravel, ice still an isssue but drastically reduced in its camoflaged appearance. 6.) Asphalt can not withstand heavy vehicle weight traffic without major prior construction considerations. This may or may not be a concern for you based upon if all your heavy material and construction needs are already met at your sight. 7.) Etc... In conclusion, my opinions are just that opinions and questions that I have in regards to the road please don't take them as criticizing or I'll meaning. It is ultimately your decision no matter what. All that matters is that you got what product and service that matters. Although I think I would be looking strongly at the contractor's quality on this job. They should have applied an adequate paving base substrate and also compaction rolled the asphalt as measures to prevent such events. If they did this, I would be reinspecting all their work as to find out the cause. It seems that an experienced contractor would have forseen such an issue and advised/undertaken steps to midigate such matters in the construction phase. Good luck with your new location and please keep us posted where you can. Thanks. Again I just had inquiries.
I had replied and accidentally deleted it.Sorry. Thank you for your response. It's a great response with detail to think about. As part of our adventure we had to convince the wife's that living on top of a mountain with a 3/4 mile drive was the way to go. The asphalt drive was an agreement we came to to help them feel comfortable with the idea. You're right in that I'm still concerned about ice, etc. We're looking for a used 4x4 to park at the bottom of the hill as a means to get up the hill when our daily drivers won't work. I need to think about 4) OPSEC. This wasn't factored in my equation and really need to think about it. Great ideas. Great comment. Thanks so much for taking the time. Bryan
LOL HAHAHAHAH what ever possessed you to try to drive on uncompacted asphalt? 2nd what contractor would dump asphalt like that? Did you hire billy bob driveway paving service LOL?
