Residential

Issues to Consider When Designing and Building Driveways for Homes

Importance of Base Preparation

Regardless of the surface material chosen for a project, base preparation and drainage issues are often the most important part of a residential driveway project. The primary structural integrity of the driveway comes from the base stone; the surface (although structural) is only as good as the base.

Drainage

For the longevity of the driveway and for the integrity of adjacent structures, it is important to design a driveway with good drainage. Customers sometimes forget that water runs downhill and will request driveways that may express their aesthetic desires but will not adequately direct rain water away from their house or garage or favorite flower bed.

Shoulders

Shoulders are another often neglected area that play an important role in driveway construction. Shoulders provide lateral support to the surface of the driveway and separate the drive from a ditch. All too often, ditches are built too close to the edge of the roadway where the water flow can undermine even the most well constructed road.

Surface Options

Once the base is constructed, the road or driveway can be finished with either plant mix (blacktop) or surface treatment (tar and gravel):

• Plant mix, as its name suggests, is mixed in one of our three asphalt plants. There are various mix “recipes” depending on project requirements. This materials are heated to a temperature of approximately 375 degrees, mixed together and hauled to the site and laid with standard paving equipment usually to a depth of 2" compacted for surface mix.
• Surface treatment is a different process. Base stone is first sprayed with a hot liquid asphalt cutback or emulsion and the liquid is then covered with clean stone in a variety of color choices. Finally, the stone is rolled into the hot emulsion. This process is repeated one or two times, depending on the required specifications.
  
  The finished product does not have any of the liquid asphalt showing and the driveway looks like an aggregate (stone) driveway. There is a bit of "loose float" on the surface. Some of this material will get worked into the surface of the road with traffic and some will remain loose. The finished thickness of this surface is about 3/4".

A plant mix driveway will last approximately 2-3 times as long as a surface treated one; therefore the long-term cost benefit is clearly in favor of the plant mix.

Sample Projects

Morven Farm Brown stone surface treatments.

Private Residence Surface treatment with brown stone.