Installing a new asphalt driveway

[BWR1953]

We're installing a new driveway/parking area at our homestead. My neighbor buddies (brothers) came over 3 days ago and got started. They worked all day Saturday.

I'm very pleased with the progress so far!

Today, I have a question. Do I actually need to install a French drain along the fence and retaining wall? It was pretty standard stuff when I lived up north, so I bought drain pipe and have been looking for the other supplies.

But down here in sandy Florida, it seems unnecessary. I've been reading websites and watching videos, but I can't get a consensus. The more I research, the more dubious I become.

There is no problem with water draining around here. There's no such thing as standing water on our property. The soil is all sand. There is no clay, rock or "regular" dirt. If you want that stuff, you have to buy and install it on site! A standard "perc test" can be passed in a matter of seconds here.

I took a zillion pix, so I'll share...

Grading started. We flagged the area that needed to be graded and also marked off around the well area.


West side of the garage will be paved and once that's done, a lean-to will be added to the side of the building. A retaining wall will be installed along the fence line from here to the big green power box up by the gate. The well bladder tank can be seen in the direct line of sight.


The boy dug the 7.5" trench around the garage concrete slab. We'll be installing a 6" lime rock road base with the asphalt on top.




Grading around the well area was a PITA.

 

[BWR1953]

So the brothers talked it over and decided to move the well stuff out of the way!

Tired of grading around the well, they were standing on the mound and talking over best solutions. They moved everything except the well head!


Things started coming apart quickly.


Where's that bladder now?


Teamwork! The boy was getting an education in many ways.


Tracing down the existing underground pipe from the well head.




My wife got in on the action! (Well, she moved one root. ) Note the "parking lot" on the east side of the garage. A sand base will be added on that side, in preparation for another asphalt pad and lean-to.


One works on the hookups while the other explains to his wife why it's taking so long.


Working, working...

 

[foodfisher]

Check city codes. The covered areas won't percolate any more and the runoff may overload the area where it accumulates causing unwanted washouts.

 

[BWR1953]

Well bladder relocated, well head secured and covered. Grading continues unimpeded!


What a straight line. Looks like a runway!

 

[BWR1953]

Getting the electric hooked up.




View from the gate. More fill will be added to the left, to level up the turnaround area.


Much more room now!

 

[BWR1953]

Much better!


The boy did a great job squaring off around the concrete.




Plenty of room between the vehicles with extra space all around.


Everything done for the night. Graded, well moved, CATV reconnected. All good!

 

[BWR1953]

Check city codes. The covered areas won't percolate any more and the runoff may overload the area where it accumulates causing unwanted washouts.

No such thing around here. I live in the country, not a city. We're zoned agricultural. And any "runoff" will be on our property, nowhere else.

 

[dingbat]

I live in the country, not a city. We're zoned agricultural.

I am as well but all that buys me is a requirement to submit a drainage management plan every 5 years....lol

Surprised your allowed to bury a well head under a driveway.

 

[sphelps]

Good move relocating the tank ! Might add some sort of manhole access to the well head or if the well ever goes south have another one put in in a different location ..

 

[sphelps]

BTW, did you do a price comparison of concrete to asphalt ?
I really need a driveway installed and have been wondering which way to go . I have heard it depends on the price of oil at the time of installation ?

 

[BWR1953]

Good move relocating the tank ! Might add some sort of manhole access to the well head or if the well ever goes south have another one put in in a different location ..

Yup, relocating the tank was a great idea. My neighbor buddies have much experience with such things.

There's already a steel well head access plate now. It was covered with sand in the pix. As the project progresses, it will be "boxed in" up to the height of the lime rock, then to the asphalt, at which point it will be flush with the new blacktop.

BTW, did you do a price comparison of concrete to asphalt ?
I really need a driveway installed and have been wondering which way to go . I have heard it depends on the price of oil at the time of installation ?

There's no comparison. Asphalt is waaaaaay cheaper!
My 18' x 32' garage floor and surrounding aprons cost $4000 a few years ago for just 903 sq ft. And that's with no road base installed.

My entire driveway asphalt (about 5000 sq ft) is only going to be $5500.

Both the asphalt and the concrete require a good road base, which is in addition to the cost of the pavement, regardless of type.

In my case, we're adding commercial grade road cloth over the bare sand, then 6 inches of lime rock (which will be compacted) and finally the asphalt which will also be compacted.

So the cost of a concrete drive would be significantly higher!

 

[BWR1953]

This project is going to take awhile. Probably 2 months or so. That's mostly due to availability of my neighbor friends. They can basically help only on the weekends and only when they're not already booked up (like they are this weekend.)


A week ago I brought in a load of sand, which will be used to elevate the turnaround area.





My buddy came over a few days later and knocked the pile down.

But not before my wife got her truck stuck! This was the third time since the project started.

 

[BWR1953]

Yesterday I decided that I wanted another load of sand delivered for the turn around area.

Overnight and early this morning, we had major thunderstorms roll through and we now have 2 new creeks in the front yard, going around the new pile!

 

[BWR1953]

This is the roll of commercial-grade roadway stabilization cloth. It's 12.5 feet wide and 432 feet long; 5,400 square feet total. We'll cut and trim it to fit the various spots to be paved.

 

[jhande]

The rain at least helped find the low spots that need to be raised for proper run off. Here in the north we don't have easy access to lime rock. Even if we did we wouldn't use it. Lime dissolves especially with acid rain. Up here we use hard pack under asphalt and concrete. Installing drains? Helpful if you need to divert run off somewhere else. Hopefully when all said and done the driveway has a crown to it so at least the water runs off to the sides. Then watch the soil/ground around it to make sure you don't get any creeks appearing.

Hard pack...
"Mixture of stone, sand, and fines that forms a hard, erosion-resistant surface when compacted. Very popular for use in gravel roads, driveways, and walkways. Sometimes referred to in the industry as ledge pack or hard pack."

 

[jhande]

BTW, did you do a price comparison of concrete to asphalt ?
I really need a driveway installed and have been wondering which way to go . I have heard it depends on the price of oil at the time of installation ?

Concrete will usually always cost more than asphalt. Best to call your local companies to get prices.

We layed a cement slap for someone where they parked their vehicles. He didn't have a garage and worked on his vehicles all the time. He didn't want the floor jack or jack stands slowly sinking into the asphalt (smart idea actually). The remainder of the long driveway was asphalt which kept the cost down.

 

[alldodge]

^^Agree, but if you have help and pour it yourself concrete is cheaper. I poured my own with friends. Supplied stakes and beer

Don't understand why when I mention concrete anymore all I hear is crickets

 

[cptbill]

Couple things 1. asphalt is at lest 1/3 cheaper than concrete, expect to pay between 120-140 dollars a yard for concrete
2. if you looking for a base material try recycled concrete, down here they use it for road base and crush it finer for paver base
Lastly, French drains are not used anywhere that I've seen, but if you feel the need to try and channel the water in some special direction I don't know why it wouldn't work, only thing is with all the sandy soil here water tends to wash out around pipes and stuff that are buried and not covered by something like asphalt, concrete, pavers, etc.
Looks like a pretty large project and since you doing all the prep work your going to save a ton of $

 

[BWR1953]

The rain at least helped find the low spots that need to be raised for proper run off. Here in the north we don't have easy access to lime rock. Even if we did we wouldn't use it. Lime dissolves especially with acid rain. Up here we use hard pack under asphalt and concrete. Installing drains? Helpful if you need to divert run off somewhere else. Hopefully when all said and done the driveway has a crown to it so at least the water runs off to the sides. Then watch the soil/ground around it to make sure you don't get any creeks appearing.

Hard pack...
"Mixture of stone, sand, and fines that forms a hard, erosion-resistant surface when compacted. Very popular for use in gravel roads, driveways, and walkways. Sometimes referred to in the industry as ledge pack or hard pack."

Yeah, the rain is still "helping" today. Been pouring down off and on all day. It's definitely turning into springtime around here.

Limestone is extremely common here. Heck, most of Florida is made of the stuff. We don't have "hard pack" but we do have crushed concrete, but it's much more expensive in this area. Lime rock is $370/load while the crushed concrete is $500-600/load, depending on availability. And we don't have to worry so much about acid rain down here.

We'll definitely be adding slope and crown to direct runoff. I have a couple places that I really want it to go (for irrigation.) And in certain areas, we'll be adding ground cover to absorb the water.

^^Agree, but if you have help and pour it yourself concrete is cheaper. I poured my own with friends. Supplied stakes and beer

Don't understand why when I mention concrete anymore all I hear is crickets

Concrete is expensive. And if people do their own asphalt, it's still cheaper compared to concrete. I watched a couple of videos of DIY asphalt installation. I look forward to paying someone else to do that!

Couple things 1. asphalt is at lest 1/3 cheaper than concrete, expect to pay between 120-140 dollars a yard for concrete
2. if you looking for a base material try recycled concrete, down here they use it for road base and crush it finer for paver base
Lastly, French drains are not used anywhere that I've seen, but if you feel the need to try and channel the water in some special direction I don't know why it wouldn't work, only thing is with all the sandy soil here water tends to wash out around pipes and stuff that are buried and not covered by something like asphalt, concrete, pavers, etc.
Looks like a pretty large project and since you doing all the prep work your going to save a ton of $

Yup, asphalt is the choice. And after doing some online research and talking with a couple contractors, I decided not to use French drains. They're just not necessary.

The lime rock road base is cheaper than the crushed concrete and there are issues with the crushed concrete. Specifically, pieces of rebar stuck in the mix. No tire-busters wanted!

 

[BWR1953]

Today we did some tree trimming by the gate. I bought a cheap electric pole chainsaw from Walmart and we put it to work. All three of us used the thing and we all liked it very much.

This little Hyper-Tough chainsaw did a great job.



And the battery is interchangeable with our weed whacker, so we have 3 useable batteries.



I actually wanted to completely remove that tree by the gate, but my wife likes it and says that it looks like an African Acacia tree. I dunno about that, but if it's still a problem later on, I'll keep my removal option open.