Guy-Fast

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

Guy-Fast

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

bigdaddyvtec

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

LOL

RotaryGeek

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.

chriskuipers

just get a rake lay it flat and pack

TorganFM

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.

crxmatt2

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

TorganFM

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

crxmatt2

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