Asphalt driveway problems

[SeaGeo]

As with others, I suspect either an issue with workmanship. Contractors love to not compact soil. The number of times I've heard "I've done this for 30 years" from a contractor not following a very common spec...

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[R1Tom]

Out of curiosity, why do people do asphalt instead on cement/concrete??

My asphalt driveway is 24 years old and every 3-4 years when I have it seal coated....it looks brand new. Can't say that for many of my neighbors concrete that is cracked or has spalling all over the place. Plus on some of those smaller snow events the heat of the sun melts it off as the concrete neighbors are snow blowing.

As a note....my R1T has been driving over it now for 2 years and been parked on it many times and no visible damage.

 

[Gee Bee]

I replaced 4” concrete with 4” inch thick pavers , less money than either .

Every 36 inches I used lighted pavers / led

In the center we ran water supply for st Augustine Sod.

I will do the same at my other property

GB

 

[GoBlueR1T]

Update: I had a good conversation with the owner of the asphalt company this morning, and he is going to come out next week to assess, so I am still optimistic we are going to have a good resolution. He remains very confident in the work they did including compacting the base. My biggest concern is still that the asphalt itself may have been faulty.

 

[Sparky24]

We redid our asphalt driveway in April (they finished April 25). From the start, I informed them I had a very heavy vehicle, and the owner of the asphalt company and I even chatted about my R1T when we met. They told us to not drive on the asphalt for 3 days but ideally 5 days. With the R1T being so heavy, I wanted to be extra careful. I confirmed multiple times that waiting 5 days to drive or park on the driveway would be sufficient, and that's what we did.

After the 5 days, I parked on the driveway (R1T) for 2 hours (in the evening of April 30), and it left several sunken spots (see pictures; these were taken when it was sunny). I was horrified, contacted the company, and they said they could fix it but wanted to wait at least 6 weeks to let the asphalt settle more (we are on their schedule for August). After that conversation, we parked a minivan in a spot adjacent to the sunken spots left by my R1T, and the minivan also left sunken spots. Over the past few weeks, multiple small marks have been left by various vehicles.

I have been patiently waiting to see if everything is sufficiently addressed in August. However, I walked outside this morning to find a new *horrible* defect in the asphalt (see pictures; these were taken when it was rainy). I think it was left when I parked the R1T there for a few hours yesterday afternoon/evening.

Is this normal? If it is, it's wild to me that I don't hear people complain about it. The asphalt company we used is very reputable (5.0 stars on Google), and many of the people in our neighborhood have used them; I haven't noticed sunken spots or bad defects left in other new driveways.

I know that we were one of their first jobs of the season; I think the asphalt mill/factory/whatever it is had just opened. Is it possible we were given bad asphalt or something? Is there another explanation or is this normal??

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'm not sure how similar/different asphalt and concrete are in their properties, however, the contractors that extended my driveway told me I could park 5-7 days after pouring. That felt too soon for me so I researched the curing timeline for 3500 psi concrete at 4" (3/8" rebar) and the results were 20- 40 days depending on weather temperatures. I decided to wait 30 full days just in case, and it seems to have worked out....I still check for any sinking marks occasionally. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[TyeeMike]

fresh asphalt, and turning the wheels on a 7000# truck without moving.

 

[GoBlueR1T]

fresh asphalt, and turning the wheels on a 7000# truck without moving.

Is 4-5 weeks after asphalt was laid still considered fresh?

 

[jb0063]

It definitely looks like the aggregate used in the asphalt mix was much too fine.

 

[AlanP]

Your spec is fine. Looks like a workmanship issue to me. I’ve paved millions of sq ft of parking lots and playgrounds. They could successfully do a spot repair with skilled labor.

 

[YouKnowWhatsUp]

my concrete patio has rebar in it. An asphalt driveway usually has a base layer of recycled asphalt or something like it and then asphalt poured over it. There is a lot more labor in a concrete driveway.
Personally I would get pavers if I was redoing my driveway. You can easily get 30 years or more with minimal maintenance. If I was doing my driveway this time of year I’d buy some plywood for under the tires and try not to turn them when not moving. It takes a good month for the asphalt to get strong and a year till it’s cured completely.

 

[GoBlueR1T]

UPDATE: Another huge divot was created yesterday (picture). I sent it to the owner of the company who did the work, and he wondered if it has to do with the brakes on the truck. I am skeptical of this. Does this make sense to anyone? I have regen on high, so I rarely use the brake pedal in my driveway. I am admittedly an aggressive driver on the street, but in my neighborhood and driveway I am extremely cautious and slow, so I'm not speeding up my driveway and slamming on the brakes or anything like that...

 

[godfodder0901]

UPDATE: Another huge divot was created yesterday (picture). I sent it to the owner of the company who did the work, and he wondered if it has to do with the brakes on the truck. I am skeptical of this. Does this make sense to anyone? I have regen on high, so I rarely use the brake pedal in my driveway. I am admittedly an aggressive driver on the street, but in my neighborhood and driveway I am extremely cautious and slow, so I'm not speeding up my driveway and slamming on the brakes or anything like that...

Sounds like he's pulling that out of his a$$ to deflect blame.

 

[GoBlueR1T]

Sounds like he's pulling that out of his a$$ to deflect blame.

This is my concern...

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