How to lay asphalt?
 

Anyone have any good diy books I can read on the topic or tips? Thanks

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Hot asphalt? Are you just trying to resurface a driveway or parking lot? I resurfaced my mom's a few weeks ago using 4 buckets of the ----, just ------ it around with a squeegee/brush and it looks like new.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

dirt lot. Need to do about a 25x25 area. Doesnt have to look nice just need it to park cars etc.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Thats seal kote nig... Bigt difference...

LOL

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

nope, but if beaners do it there cant be much education behind it. im sure there are some good tips and tricks to learn and its all very manual labor and hard work, but not mind boggling.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

just get a rake lay it flat and pack :6

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Asphalt's easy. The biggest problem people have with it is they don't layer it down thick enough. Because it's so flexible if it's put down too thin it cracks easily, and if it's down thick it has more wiggle room. It's ------- dirty and stinky and back breaking work, but it's not technically difficult, just a lot of grunt work.

Edit: You should rent a steam tamper or roller, however. You can lay it down, roll it or steam tamp it, and you can park on it sooner.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

I wouldn't lay asphalt if it's below 50 degrees out. Conrete FTW, when its all said and done you'll spend about the same amount of money.. and you can pour crete in pretty damn cold temps, just add calcium, fiberglass, and hot water to it

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

I'm not certain on the cost difference but concrete is so much better. You can't use jackstands on a car overnight with asphalt because they'll dig into it. Concrete is no problem.

check this out: http://www.bobvila.com/wwwboard/messages/5617.html

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Yeah, i'd never trust asphault for parking vehicles on. You'd just have to repair it every 2-3 years. Concrete is much better, and easy to do. Square up your pad, 4" thickness is standard for driveways. Form it up with 2x4, pull string down each side to take the warp out of the boards, and you can cut wooden stakes to keep everything straight and screw your stakes to your form boards. Then, when the crete arrives you'll only need 1 helper.. and strike off the concrete with another long board to reach across the distance and use each side of the pad on top of the form boards to strike it off even.. you'll need to get up every once in a while and pack in some crete on the low spots.. but it's fairly easy. Then to finish it, you can rent a trowel machine with I reccomend but be sure to wait a while for the crete to cure so you dont dig into the pad. It'll leave a damn nice finish on top. or you can just hand trowel around the edges.. and rent a bull float.. float it out llike that.. then broom it. your choice.

also, dont forget to put some pieces of rabar in your pad for strength, and keep them elevated with rocks to about the middle of the pad

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

When I did concrete pads for placing transformers we used vibrators (they seriously were big dildo looking things on a power cord lol) to get air bubbles out and move the concrete around easier. Is this necessary for a driveway?

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Not my land its a rental shop and I just dont want dirt to park on. So really concrete will be the same cost.Again Im not looking for something that is going to last because by the time it starts to fall apart Ill be long gone.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Not necessary for driveways, but those work great for working concrete in tight places like under foundations ;) i've used them, and they are neat as hell. you shouldnt have any air bubbles when pouring a regular pad.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

I'd just gravel the bitch.. you could get a quote for asphault but I doubt anyone would lay asphault due to the temps now.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

umm he lives in cali.. it cant be that cold out..

you cant lay your own asphalt because its ------- hard to do.. once they truck that ---- in youd have to have a ------er and a roller and that shits mad expensive to do yourself.. but like crxmatt says.. gravel is the way to go.. my grandpas grocery store in cali was a gravel parking lot and it works just fine..

but thats bullshit about not being able to jackstand a car overnight on asphalt.. lol

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Get that rock with lime in it. I think it's number 7s

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

id go with crushed limestone

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Yeah tahts what i meant to say

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

buk, it's not bs about jackstands. Anything with an edge at all will dig into asphalt in a hurry. A jackstand on a piece of plywood works, but a jackstand on any asphalt ------ in the last year or so is asking for it. How warm does north cali get?

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Ok so gravel it is. Rock with lime? Im assuming this stuff needs to be pressed down with something

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

use crushed limestone.. see if you can find a place that rents plate compactors...

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Water it, press it, and the fine dust locks into a concrete-like toughness.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

http://www.sutherlandscape.com/products.php?cat=GS
2720 Highway 32, Chico, CAlifornia 95973
Telephone: 530-893-4531

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

what about laying 1' x 1' bricks. they are like 50 cents each, comes out to about $330

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

It's so much easier to dump 20 tons of gravel and ------ it around than to do 10 tons of rock dust then bricks.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

nifty calculator thingy to find out how many cubic yards you need
http://www.soilbuildingsystems.com/CubicYard.php

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

thats sweet thanks

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

call a couple asphalt companies and get quotes before you do this

or talk to the property owner and offer him to go half and half to pave the parking lot

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

If you pay for it all and it's being done to someone else's property can it be a tax write-off?

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Chris this is HMT we only know how to destroy asphalt :6

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

----, why don't you just hire Buk as your project manager. :l


I have an asphalt driveway and it blows ass. Front jack wheel pits, squares from jackstands, and, they come and redo the damn thing every 2 years. The builder just tried to go cheap knowing that the association would have to pay to upkeep this bullshit.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

They would crack under vehicular load unless they were 3.5'' thick. Using smaller pieces would be ok.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

concrete is the way to go i do it for a living right now i get it for $87 a yard witch will do 4" X 4' X 20' go with a 4000 psi and half dose of microfiber that ---- will last a long time

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

I could never do concrete for a living. I work for a constructoin company and i've probably done a total of like 12 concrete pads. It's definatley not something I enjoy doing, but there's bookoo $ in commercial concrete pours.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Yea concrete prep sucks ass!! asphalt is easier. I worked laying asphalt for around 7months. The only thing that stopped us from laying it was rain. Cold weather didnt matter. But its not hard to lay asphalt. And there are reasons for the asphalt breaking up or smashing down in spots its cause they didnt roll the dirt/pack the dirt/rocks under the asphalt good enough. we used a big roller to do so. we usually roll it for a couple hours before we lay the asphalt. well goodluck with whatever you do!

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

if you pour concrete, don't ------ get cheapo quikrete if you do it yourself. it doesn't last, cracks, starts sanding, etc. throw some gravel in there too, or even a gravel bed. itll help depending on where you are pouring the pad, ie hillside washout. rent a power trowel, make that ---- smooth as glass.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Gravel bed tamped down is the right way to do it. And dont mix it in a wheel barrel yourself or it'll look like ---- when you're done in 2 weeks.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

whats wrong with parking in the grass? it grows back....

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

Um race car doesnt belong in grass.

Re: How to lay asphalt?
 

x2. Never.