I need a new driveway this year. My driveway still works just fine but its configuration drives me batty. It’s 1 car wide at the bottom and 1.5 cars wide at the top. Terrible for parking multiple cars on and the grass gets ripped up along the side.
I’m having work done on my ditch pipe so there will be a cut across it at the end and if I want to have plow service this winter, I need a new driveway.
It’s about 80 feet long and I want to have a 2- or 3-car parking area added on the side. I’d like it to be 2 cars wide all the way up.
My folks have always had an asphalt driveway. They just had theirs re-done after 30 years and made into the size/shape I want. Dad used to work for the asphalt guy he hired so he didn’t even consider concrete.
There are only like 5/50 driveways in our neighborhood that are asphalt. Mine is. No dobut it’s 35 years old. Everyone else has concrete. The neighbor across the street got a new concrete last summer.
I’ve heard that asphalt is way cheaper. Does it last longer? (NE Ohio so we’ve got heat, humidity and freezing temps)
Concrete looks nicer but not so much when you get oil stains on it. Then again, you can clean the stains if you catch them early enough right?
Concrete is not as nice to walk on in bare feet (those ridges!) or draw on with chalk but it’s walk-able and draw-able.
I dunno…you guys need to fight this out for me. I probably will end up getting quotes from both asphalt and concrete companies but no doubt they will all tell me their product is the best.
From the environmental point of view, asphalt is more porous (you can even purchase special asphalt that is more porous then typical) and will allow stormwater to percolate through in to the ground rather then running overland.
You can also purchase warm-mix asphalt that is mixed at a lower temperature, thereby reducing air emissions. Set time is faster as well.
I was going to lay off, but just realized it’s IMHO, so I CAN give an opinion!
I don’t like the way asphalt looks, personally. I like it even worse when it begins to crack and has to be sealed with that goopy black stuff. I just think concrete has a nice, clean look.
I wouldn’t think that the concrete would have to be ridge-y enough to make it uncomfortable to walk on…sure that can’t be a broom finish, perhaps that’s a deeper type of texture? All of the driveways I ever worked on were just broomed, which results in plenty of traction but not a severe ridge.
Finally, a well-prepared concrete drive should last longer than asphalt.
Oh, and if you’re willing to shell out a little more, there is some awesome stuff they can do with dyeing and stamping concrete.
Oh, another pro for asphalt is it’s flexibility. It’s less likely to crack (which is important in warm/cold climates). It also promotes snow melt in the winter because of it’s dark colour.
Besides the advantages mentioned above, if you ever need to work on the ditch pipe again, it’s a lot easier and less expensive to cut out and replace a section of asphalt.
Concrete probably looks nicer longer but I love a south facing asphalt driveway because the sun melts a lot of the ice and snow that otherwise would need scraping and shoveling. I would go asphalt over concrete any day just for that reason.
Concrete costs more than asphalt. It also lasts longer.
If you seal the concrete before using the driveway, you can avoid or minimize staining. A spill on unsealed concrete will stain, no matter now soon you clean it up.
Concrete also adds value to the house.
If it gets REALLY hot, asphalt can melt and bleed. You don’t want that stuff on your shoes.
Properly laid concrete with appropriate joints can minimize frost damage, and a surface that maximizes drainage with no ponding will extend the life of the pavement.
It’s a LOT easier to do chalk drawings on concrete than asphalt!
~VOW
Hmm…my folks have had their asphalt driveway for probably 6 years now. There are no tar patches and it’s insanely smooth and easy to draw on. My niece draws on it every day.
Some of the complaints against asphalt are not realities from what I’ve seen on my folks’ driveway. Even my super-old driveway is smooth and only slightly cracked, with no patches.
Oddly enough my parents old “asphalt” driveway was more stone-with-tar and both hard to walk on and hard to draw on indeed.
I’m guessing there are different grades of asphalt and the cheaper you go the more prone you’d be to having patches and bumps.
I do agree that concrete looks much better. Stamped concrete actually might not look as good because it’d look different than everyone else’s non-stamped drives!
Concrete is more rigid than asphalt, especially if the concrete is laid with reinforcing mesh. This means that asphalt will deform where concrete might crack. But asphalt seems to deform much more readily than concrete cracks, and you’ll get dents in it anywhere where the tires of vehicles habitually rest. Not that asphalt doesn’t eventually crack as well.
Also, asphalt fades from black (I suspect the black tar in it accumulates light-coloured sand and so on), leading some to apply that black sealant to make it look new. Concrete darkens, but I’ve never heard of anyone bleaching it to make it look bright white and new.