Blacktop or Concrete driveway?

[scoutcub]

Looking at purchasing a home in Ohio with a fairly sloped gravel driveway. Would like to get it surfaced, always liked blacktop more, but looking for recommendations, pros/cons for either....

thanks in advance!

 

[JB4310]

Looking at purchasing a home in Ohio with a fairly sloped gravel driveway. Would like to get it surfaced, always liked blacktop more, but looking for recommendations, pros/cons for either....

thanks in advance!

If you get sub freezing temps don't get concrete, asphalt is more forgiving with any movement, less sensitive to ice melting compounds, I would think much less expensive.

And you already like blacktop

JB.

 

[tree farmer]

Just a couple of thoughts here. The surface, concrete or asphalt, will only be as good as the base prep. under it, so do your homework on this. Carefully select a good contractor, and check out some of his local work. A well constructed concrete drive is by far the most durable, but will keep you off it 'til it cures and is also the most costly. Asphalt (pavement) is the fastest, installation and cure time, cheapest, but has a few negatives: It is not gas or solvent resistant and tends to develop potholes and gouges easily if you're plowing snow . Requires maintenance patching and sealing occasionally. Personally, I like asphalt as our county tax office doesn't see asphalt as a permanent item, so they don't skyrocket your property taxes like they do for concrete drives.:thumbsup:...Dan.

 

[gwjd]

Looking at purchasing a home in Ohio with a fairly sloped gravel driveway. Would like to get it surfaced, always liked blacktop more, but looking for recommendations, pros/cons for either....

thanks in advance!

for a slop i would thing asphalt would be cheaper

what ever you go with make sure you get the base right dont let them throw pavement on the exsisting gravel at a minimum it needs to be bladed and compacted. asphalt is just as good as con but is more sensitive to base movement

 

[Diamondpilot]

In Indiana Concrete is considered a permanent surface. Black-Top is considered temporary. Due to this there is no extra property tax on BT but there is on Concrete. Check with your local assessor.

I got a bid a few years ago to do my drive both ways. BT with 2" base and 1" top was $8600. Concrete was $42,000. I did not do anything yet due to the economy and me wanting to hang on to my $$$$.

This summer I have decided to do a 20'x40' stoop of concrete in the front of my Pole Barn. I will then use BT on the remainder of the of the drive.

By the way here is a picture of my drive. Its 280' long and is 25' at the road and 40' at the barn. I think its 8,500 SQ FT give or take.

The drive is as wide as the stakes in the snow picture but I only plow X wide to keep the gravel out of my yard.

Chris

 

[FinMod]

One other thing to keep in mind in snowy places (like Michigan). Once you blow or push the vast majority of the snow off the driveway, the blacktop will be clear in no time but it will take a lot longer with concrete to melt/evaporate. The sun on black does wonders! I have a pad in front of the garage that is concrete with a blacktop drive and the difference is, well, black and white.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Ray

 

[Cat_Driver]

Concrete BUT add stainless steel fibers of other fibers to the cement mix. I just laid a side walk on powder sand with no base and it has never cracked and I drive trucks across it.

With asphalt you will always and I do mean always be repairing it, weeds will grow up through it, it will crack so that you always have to fill the cracks and don't forget sealing it every year.

I know I used to install asphalt and repair hundreds of drive ways.

 

[etcallhome]

One other thing to keep in mind in snowy places (like Michigan). Once you blow or push the vast majority of the snow off the driveway, the blacktop will be clear in no time but it will take a lot longer with concrete to melt/evaporate. The sun on black does wonders! I have a pad in front of the garage that is concrete with a blacktop drive and the difference is, well, black and white.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Ray

I agree with all the above , only bad things with blacktop,
If you drop gasoline on it,eats down in to surface
if you jack up a car truck setting on blacktop, jack will make holes
Every year you have to clean and put on a sealer.
Buying sealer each yr and then spreading on sealer staying off drive for a couple of days.. Depending on size of drive 1 5gal can or 15 cans or more ,couple of brushes to put sealer...
After about 20-25 yrs, time to resurface and start process all over again

Concrete put down good base same as blacktop
pour concrete stay off drive for about 3 -5 days
should last rest of your life..
no sealer each year , over 20 yrs the extra cost of concrete evens out a lot.
Not much difference in price when you add up all the costs ,
Brother in law choose blacktop ,I choose concrete
His looks like crap now after 25 yrs ,,,,Yes I replaced the bottom 1/2 of mine because of a drain failure not because of the concrete. But upper part was poured in 1978 still looks good no cracks..
Just my 2 cents

 

[arrabil]

I've got 300'+ of blacktop. I believe it was put in in 1985 a year after the house was built. I've had it since 2002. Never done a single thing to it. Literally nothing. Its just starting to crack and make holes. Yeah, it eats down to the "rock" when you get bad stuff on it. No idea why you would need to seal it every year. No idea why I would do anything at all to it. Maybe ten years from now we'll seal it. Maybe.

 

[JB4310]

I've got 300'+ of blacktop. I believe it was put in in 1985 a year after the house was built. I've had it since 2002. Never done a single thing to it. Literally nothing. Its just starting to crack and make holes. Yeah, it eats down to the "rock" when you get bad stuff on it. No idea why you would need to seal it every year. No idea why I would do anything at all to it. Maybe ten years from now we'll seal it. Maybe.

Don't seal it you'll make it worse, ever see them Painting (sealing) public streets.

JB.