Pave Your Own Driveway?

[Creamer]

I have about 1/4 mile long driveway and 2700 sq ft of parking area. The parking area is currently asphalt that needs replacing. The driveway is about half limestone rock and the other half is on the neighbor's property that they maintain and is asphalt. All of the base is in very good shape so there is virtually no preparation to be done except remove the old asphalt in the parking area and grade the driveway absolutely level. The neighbor (the County library) is having some patchwork paving done to their parking lot and driveway and so I asked the company that was doing it since they had the paving equipment there anyway what would it cost to do my driveway. (Note: We do have the garbage truck and other heavy trucks coming back to our house so he was estimated using 5.5" total depth of asphalt. the quote came back at almost $45k.

Doing some figures with the local price of concrete in my area It would be about $17k of concrete to do that area 5.5" thick. I am thinking that I would need to add mesh but that it would not need formed if they could put the concrete through a Paver rather than the old style of pouring concrete. I saw them do curbs this way near my work where they didn't set forms but the machine worked with stiff enough concrete that the machine kept moving slowly and after the curb came out of the machine the concrete did not need much finishing. that got me to thinking - Couldn"t I purchase or rent a paver and just get a couple of concrete guys and using the paver just pour the concrete? I found an old paver that is guaranteed to be fully functional for $7500 - I figured I could purchase it, use it, and resell it. the one problem I see with it is that it is only 8' wide while I was thinking 12' wide driveway - how would I do the extra 4'?

What am I missing?

 

[Dwellonroof]

You would probably be better off just to use 2 by lumber and stakes to form it then pour.

 

[Egon]

There are Proper Concrete screeds that will do what you want. “Slip Form pavers”

The area you mentioned for concrete is best left to a competent company with proper equipment. Three fellows and a paving machine is just to short on manpower, equipment designed for concrete and may leave a very unsatisfactory job.

 

[oosik]

I've seen driveway paving operations. It's a fairly labor intensive operation. Really not a DIY project.

 

[Oaktree]

How well does concrete stand up to freeze-thaw cycles compared to asphalt? Here, where the frost line can easily go 3-4' down, almost no one paves with concrete.

 

[dodge man]

Concrete if done correctly will hold up to cold weather fine. Like others have said, it sounds easy but unless you have a lot of experience, sounds like a disaster. The slump is very critical on slip forming, not to wet. But enough water to make a good mix.

 

[MossRoad]

I think you're severely underestimating the cost of enough concrete to do a 1/4 mile long driveway 12' wide by 5.5" thick.

 

[MossRoad]

1/4 mile = 1320'
12' width
5.5" thick

comes out to 269 cubic yards of concrete.

IF you could get it for $100 per yard that's $26,900 just for the concrete.

Average prices of concrete today are above $100 per yard. Depending on the mix, you could be looking at $100-150 per yard.

 

[ruffdog]

My family has always had concrete drives and it is not that hard to pour. We would pour in the morning when dad worked 2nd shift and I would prep the next pour before the next morning. To have edge support you need to be 12' wide and we use 6 bag mix with fiberglass. The house we own now we poured at 5.5" deep and Propane trucks drive on it.

With a very good base, a 4" paving job is quite strong.

 

[4570Man]

I calculate 315 yards of concrete to do a 1/4 mile 12 foot wide and the 2700 square foot pad. That’s way more than $17,000 of concrete. More like $40,000 worth. Aside from that attempting to DIY it especially through a paver is an awful idea. If the driveway is already asphalt why would you demo it? Just put down another 2” on top. You’d save the cost of demoing and hauling away which in itself would be expensive and you’d cut the material in half.