Recycled Asphalt Driveway advice

[Vikings_59]

Hey guys,

Has anyone applied recycled asphalt on their driveway?

I am planning on doing it in a couple weeks. (we have a long driveway- 140 yards long) We will be using a drum asphalt roller to get it flat.

I have heard that if you apply a coating of diesel the asphalt will adhere to itself.

Has anyone done this before or do you have any advice for do's and dont's?

Thanks!

[efgh]

That stuff will be tracked all over . Your shoes, cars lawn mowers, tillers ect. will track it into your house or garage. diesel fuel will smell a long time and be a fire hazzard.

[brakedancer]

I wouldn't recommend it ..in 3 years the tar will be gone left with just gravel..it doesn't hold up at all

[Powerstroke]

Diesel does the exact opposite. Diesel keeps the asphalt from sticking. We put diesel on the shovels and rakes to keep it from sticking to the tools or the bed of the truck.

You want tack oil to help the asphalt stick.

As far as recycled asphalt, if done right it is a great surface. It doesn't last as long as new, but you should still get a good decade out of it.

There are many highways now using recycled asphalt. Just make sure you chcek into who's doing it and make sure they know they're stuff.

[Tom7227]

Wouldn't recycled be OK if they added the tar or whatever the liquid part of asphalt is? Pretty much gravel and sand and the tar I would think, warm it up a bit and you're good to go. Just taking the stuff that gets ground off a road wouldn't be very much more than gravel and not enough tar to do anything at all.

[Vikings_59]

Thanks for everyones advice.

We are scheduled to do the driveway on Saturday.

I will post some before and after pics when its finished.

Thanks again.

[Hillbiehle]

If it's not too late, cancel the installation. My parents did this and are very dissatisfied. My brother did it as well, and he too is very dissapointed. It simply doesn't last.

[delzz7]

Are talkin blacktop millings? My buddy did It at his house and it worked great. Snow melts off in the winter nice too.

Its hard to get flat, but if you have a roller you should be good.

[Vikings_59]

Yeah, Blacktop millings.

From what I have seen, heard, and read from people, if you get it flat and roll it, coat it with water, on a warm day the sun molds the oils contained together and it can hold up similar to paved asphalt.

We will see. Thanks again for the input.

[Vikings_59]

Here are some pics of our driveway.

The Asphalt milling were very easy to work with. We spread it out with a skidsteer, wet it all down and used an asphalt roller to pack it down. It looks just like real asphalt. We laid it down 6'' thick. We have actually had a few people stop in to ask what company did our asphalt.

[Vikings_59]

[Vikings_59]

[Tom7227]

Looks really good. I guess I don't understand what the water does. Did anyone explain that to you?

Unrelated, but dude you have to do something with the yard. Way too much grass to cut.

[Vikings_59]

Wetting the millings helps pack and bond the asphalt oils together. Another important factor is heat/sunlight. The water, sun, and packing it down really bonds the old oils and makes the product hard.

Ha- yeah we have alot of grass to mow. Luckily someone invented Ferris mowers.

Thanks again for all the advice. Good luck if anyone is thinking of doing something similar.

[CAMAN]

Curious to know what the cost difference is between this and hot mix? Also keep us up to date on how its holding up, especially after the winter and plows have been over it.

Good luck and hope it works out for you. Looks pretty good for a DIY!

[Vikings_59]

I actually did get a quote for hot mix. (I would have done the grading myself) So the bid only included application/equipment at 3'' (DOT standard) our driveway was 396' by 16' Bid price of = $10,000-$12,000. And that bid price came from a good friend who does commercial asphalt.

The Asphalt milling were $18.00 a yard. We used 138 yards. ($2484.00) and $96.00 for a full day rental of the asphalt roller.

Ill give updates or any concerns I have in the future.

Good Luck

[3andadog]

Any gravel product is only as good as the quality of it’s gradation. It needs a certain amount of each size particle so it can pack together and leave no voids so water can enter.

Also the bed it’s laid on needs to be prepared properly too. If you leave a soft spot there it will work it’s way through the gravel, flexing and allowing water to get in there to loosen it up.

You can always cap it later with bit, but this is where the strength of an asphalt road comes from, the base course of gravel.

So to answer the question of this or hot mix, you will need to put this down before you put down hot mix.

[paceman]

That looks awesome gatoreye. 6" deep. That will last a very long time! Good Job!

[Pinusbanksiana]

Who mows your lawn? Looks like a full time job to me.

[Vikings_59]

Ha, we mow our own lawn.

Thanks,

[bbells]

Gatoreye, I am just a little south of you. Who did you buy your recycled asphalt from? We would like to use it on our driveway. I have seen others with successful installations and others with unsuccessful. The unsuccessful all had 1 thing in common: Their recycled asphalt included recycled concrete. This stopped the asphalt from adhering.

[Vikings_59]

Hey BBells,

We got ours from Mike Ludenia (lives at the intersection of 39 and CR 8 in Maple Lake) The stuff he had was in great shape. It was really black and has some moisture. One thing I read was to make sure the pile you buy from has had some rain recently. (otherwise it tends to be dry and might not adhere as well. The place you buys from should be able to tell you where the asphalt millings came from if you are wondering if the millings contained concrete. Our driveway is holding up nice. The week after we put ours down I sealed it with asphalt sealer. I will probably do it again next spring.

If you are doing your driveway this year make sure it will be during a warm week, water it down, and pack it with a roller. Good Luck!

[Del and Jan]

Hey read you post, My husband and I are thinking about using the recycled asphalt to do our drive, your's looks great. Our drive is about the same length but very steep. Did you prep your old drive and level it out first or just use the asphalt to fill and level?

[Steve T]

Hey read you post, My husband and I are thinking about using the recycled asphalt to do our drive, your's looks great. Our drive is about the same length but very steep. Did you prep your old drive and level it out first or just use the asphalt to fill and level?

I have to re-surface a 400 foot and very steep driveway also. I saw this thread during my searching and was wondering if you used RAP on your steep driveway. If so, how did it workout?

Steve