Chip and seal drive way?

[Paddy]

Anyone have a chip and seal drive way? Can it be done over a solid gravel drive? Our drive is on a hill and after big rains, we get some wash out. After the 10th time it's no long fun seat time on the tractor.

Patrick T

 

[brin]

Anyone have a chip and seal drive way? Can it be done over a solid gravel drive? Our drive is on a hill and after big rains, we get some wash out. After the 10th time it's no long fun seat time on the tractor.

Patrick T

We have chip and seal county roads here that have been here for 50 yrs. or more with little to no repairs...Some think chip and seal is superior to asphalt....I drive on them all the time ...and they are attractive too...I have an asphalt driveway but I would have had chip and seal if I could have found a contractor that knew how to put one in.. Yes chip and seal goes down right over a solid gravel drive ..they will pack in down , crown it and then install right over it...that is your base..

 

[k0ua]

IF your hill is too steep the chip and seal can wash out too. IF any water gets started in a little hole it will "eat" and grow..You need to figure out some way to divert the majority of water to not go down the road in the first place.

James K0UA

 

[RobertN]

Our road is chip-n-seal. Works great, but you have to have drainage.

If you are having wash out problems, it will undermine chip-n-seal or asphalt too. When we had our road done 15 years ago, all the contractors that I had look/bid on it, said the same thing. Drainage drainage drainage. Drainage drainage drainage. Over and over they said that.

And when they finished saying that, they said maintain the drainage.

We are ready for some repairs and another layer of chip seal. Lot of traffic, a couple being heavy trucks.

Guess where we need repairs...??? Where the drainage was not maintained by our loose unofficial neighborhood group(8 houses, all 5 or 10 acre lots).

Sounds like you need better ditches, culverts, and crowning as much as you need chip-n-seal or asphalt; have the contractor do that as part of the bid...

 

[k0ua]

Our road is chip-n-seal. Works great, but you have to have drainage.

If you are having wash out problems, it will undermine chip-n-seal or asphalt too. When we had our road done 15 years ago, all the contractors that I had look/bid on it, said the same thing. Drainage drainage drainage. Drainage drainage drainage. Over and over they said that.

And when they finished saying that, they said maintain the drainage.

We are ready for some repairs and another layer of chip seal. Lot of traffic, a couple being heavy trucks.

Guess where we need repairs...??? Where the drainage was not maintained by our loose unofficial neighborhood group(8 houses, all 5 or 10 acre lots).

Sounds like you need better ditches, culverts, and crowning as much as you need chip-n-seal or asphalt; have the contractor do that as part of the bid...

You said it more elegantly than I did, but If his gravel is like I am envisioning, where water runs down the road, and digs a furrow..putting chip and seal or 4 inches of asphalt on it where it is on a hill, will just be a waste of money without improving the drainage like you said..

 

[Buppies]

Tar and gravel or chip and seal or prime and double seal is a three step process consisting of a coat of tar at .30 gallons of tar per sq. yard followed by 30 lbs. of # 68 stone, .35 gallons of tar followed by 35 lbs #78 stone then .35 gallons of tar psy. followed by 35 lbs. #8 stone. The tars available to day are not the same as of old and around here a water based tar is the only type is the only one readily available and is called CRS 2. Steep hills do not take well to tar and gravel and proper maintaince requires that a new coat be applied every three to five years. Water drainage is very important as others have said. There are different colored stones that are available for unique and different looks but keep in mind stone must be chipped and not round or they will not bond to tar. Some different colors around here are brown, grey, green, and black. Our personal driveway is in brown stone like what is seen in Williamsburg, Va.

 

[Paddy]

I agree, drainage is important. Generally I can maintain diagonal "speed bumps" that divert the water. But after repeated snow clearing with the grader blade I start to loose the shape.

I have had a steep drive at my previous home. I had it sloped to one side and it worked for a year at a time with little maintenance. My home is at the bottom of the hill so I must keep the water away from the house. That leaves one side of the drive with a neighbors fence very close. I have found a ditch on a steep drive just makes for the Grand Canyon. Better to have it draining as it goes down.

Anyone know the cost of Chip and seal? I may be better off just pouring a concrete drive.

Patrick T

 

[Buppies]

It depends on size how much grading has to be done and how much stone base has to be added. The price is figured by the sq.yd. and varies but if job is 500 sq yds $11.00 per . Hope this helps

 

[Soundguy]

. The tars available to day are not the same as of old and around here a water based tar is the only type is the only one readily available and is called CRS 2. .

is it truly a water base.. or is it a LA emulsion like most of the rest of us use?

 

[Buppies]

You are correct emulsion type not as good as rc250 in my opinion especially for the first coat as the RC 250 bonds better than the CRS 2 which is only one type of the emulsions including trackless tack