Asphalt Driveway question

[Freedom]

Does anyone have a driveway with a "seam" in it? I want to know how much trouble this creates if any.

I have a 40 foot length driveway. The 8 feet closest tot he garage were not set properly by the prior owner, lots of sinking has occurred. Planning to ahve that corrected.

I can have just the 8 feet dug out and replaced, which will give me a seam. OR I can have the entire driveway dug out and replaced. The cost is more, obviously, but not 3 times more, due to the equipment already being on site.

If anyone has a seam, I'd like to hear from you!

[RICHARD]

Do you mean visually or physically?


In concrete, the "seam" just allows the slab to float-sections will be separated by wood or plastic spacers that keep a crack in one area from traveling to the next.

Asphalt is more flexible - you have to make sure that enough material is put into the fix, because it will slowly compact after a while. Also, the sealer that is used to fix the patch along the edges may make the repair obvious. Some people are very interested in the way the house looks from the street,

After the fix you can 'repaint' the whole driveway to make it look new and to hide the fact that a repair was made.

[Freedom]

Physically is what I am after. The contractor has said that --

1. he will not take responsibility for what the "old" driveway does at the seam. It could crack.

2. someone told me the seam, you get all the grass and weeds growing in it?

Definitely can't afford a concrete driveway, lol.

Repaint? I've never painted asphalt, just put on the 10 year sealer. Is that what you mean?

[RICHARD]

Physically is what I am after. The contractor has said that --

1. he will not take responsibility for what the "old" driveway does at the seam. It could crack.

2. someone told me the seam, you get all the grass and weeds growing in it?

Definitely can't afford a concrete driveway, lol.

Repaint? I've never painted asphalt, just put on the 10 year sealer. Is that what you mean?

IT will crack. check out an asphalt patch in the road or parking lot, you won't have the traffic a public area has, but eventually the patch will shrink and you will have the seam show.

Sealer! LOL, that's it! IF you keep sealing the seam you won't have that problem. If you leave it alone it will grow grass and weeds.


Also, what is your weather like? If you have snow and cold weather any water that seeps into the seam will freeze and melt, making the seam bigger!

[Karen]

Also, what is your weather like? If you have snow and cold weather any water that seeps into the seam will freeze and melt, making the seam bigger!

Her weather is just south of my weather. So she gets snow, ice, cold, rain, heat - just about everything possible over the course of a year!

[Pinot's Mom]

We have an asphalt driveway with a crack. To be more specific, we have a "shared" driveway, and our private drive runs off of that main drive. There is a seam at that point.

Yes, the sides will shrink and the seam will get wider. Yes, ideally, we should re-seal it all to make the crack less obvious. I've been "mentioning" that to my husband periodically, but we'd have to involve four families for the cost, one of which has the house for sale. We live with the crack. It's not that big of a deal. Our house and personal drive are 8 years old; the main drive is about 10-11 years old. We've filled the crack a couple of times with a black filler but that only lasts a certain amount of time. Structurally there's not a problem, though.

[Daisy and Delilah]

In Florida, I rarely see a driveway without seams. Weeds grow in the crack but you just put weed killer on them. Some people leave them for a litte character. The cold climates may not be able to handle the seams as well as we do here. We also have cracks in the concrete sometimes but they don't present much of a problem in this climate.

[Freedom]

OK good, thanks much everyone!!! Will go with the less expensive option and cope with a seam.

[blue]

Go with the cheap option, if the blacktop guys are any good it will be a good long time before it shows and becomes a problem.

[Freedom]

OK! Thank you, Blue!

[blue]

Good prep, alot of heat and compacting can make a world of difference.

[Twisterdog]

I have seams in my asphalt driveway. It's a big driveway and parking lot for my business, and I just couldn't afford to do it all at once. So I've done it in three section over the course of about seven years. I have had not problems with weeds or grass growing, nor any cracking or other issues. Yes, you can tell it was done in sections, but who cares? And when I get the whole thing re-sealed later, no one will be able to see it at all.

[smokey the elder]

The asphalt binder is a kind of hot melt. They may be able to heat the seam area, and "weld" the pieces together to make a strong joint that might last. It might work better if they clean up the seam so fresh layer of asphalt binder is exposed (dirt interferes with stickiness).


(I used to work with adhesives, many moons ago; that's how I know this trivia.)