New Driveway

So your patient wife can’t handle the dust anymore and has pressured you to asphalt the driveway.

So where do we start? How many different contractors do I need? How much is this all going to cost?

We can take over the project at any stage, also if you consider yourself pretty handy we can recommend a few projects you can complete yourself to save money.
Now for the biggest question, what is on the ground right now? Old asphalt driveway, gravel, sand, grass, old road base or limestone which has been done on the ground since the house was built? The preparation costs generally can cost as much as the asphalt. The strength of asphalt is from the preparation, asphalt is only a seal to protect the base work underneath from rain/water.

Ok so let’s start. We meet on site and walk the perimeter of the driveway, we look at the shape, paint some marks on the ground. We look at symmetry, soft sweeping curves or hard angles.
Now where is all the water going to go?

Does the roof down pipes drain onto the driveway which need to be considered?

There needs to be a minimum of 1-2% fall on the asphalt so it can drain properly. This means than a road 3.5m wide needs to be 35-70mm higher on one side compared to the other.
No what do we do with the water?

Soakwells can collect the water and allow it to soak into the surrounding soil (not clay). Spoon drains can collect water along the entrances to car ports, sheds or garages and pipe water elsewhere. Cheapest option is to “sheet” the water off the edges of asphalt into the gardens or grass.

To kerb or not to kerb?

If you are going to kerb it must be laid after base work is completed and before asphalt is laid. Now there are four kerb shapes, barrier kerb (commercial), semi mountable kerb (commercial), mountable kerb (commercial and residential) and flush kerb (commercial and residential). 230mm wide mountable kerbing seems to be the most affordable and popular with driveways.

Now what about the asphalt?

Red or black thick or thin many options to talk through but let’s look at what most people choose. Red 30-35mm or black 30-35mm would be considered.

Now for the sales pitch!

You have a lot of choices when choosing a company to help you with your important driveway project so why use us?
Jackson Asphalt has completed more driveways than any other company in Perth. We put a lot of time and effort into completing your project. We understand this is a massive capital investment and we will do everything we can to ensure value and quality. Our work is guaranteed and we have 11,000 projects completed since 1977.

Thank you for reading this blog. We will try and write a new one every month.