Asphalt Installation Process Explained

A Brief Explanation of the Asphalt Installation Process

Your home’s driveway serves as a focal point from the road. Visitors, neighbors, and people passing by will all formulate their judgement about your house by taking into consideration the appearance of your driveway. In addition, your driveway serves many important purposes, including providing your cars with parking space, your children with a play area, and more. With so many important factors relying on the quality of your driveway, it is important that the asphalt installation process is done correctly.

The best way to achieve a beautiful driveway is to hire an asphalt construction company that you can trust. There are plenty of asphalt driveway scams out there, so pick a local and reputable company to help you with this task. Even though the experts will have it under control, here is what you should look for.

First of all, an asphalt driveway doesn’t begin as asphalt. The key to a long-lasting surface is actually granular base underneath, so your asphalt company should create a base that has the right composition and thickness made from crushed stone and other course materials. Since the crushed materials in the base have jagged surfaces, they compact easily to lock together and create a foundation that won’t settle in the future but can still allow water to drain through. Cement dust or another type of binder needs to hold the entire foundation together.

This base should sit for about a week to allow for natural settling, and then the entire surface must be mechanically compacted with heavy rollers or plate compactors based on the size of the driveway. Of course, all of this needs to happen at the correct angle to ensure that rainwater falls to the sides and/or bottom of the driveway. Incorrect or inefficient grading can ruin the driveway quickly.

Lastly, the asphalt itself will be laid. Residential driveways tend to receive a finer aggregate mix than roadways so that the surface is smoother and more appealing. The right company will know exactly how to do everything so the end result is a gorgeous, long-lasting driveway.