Do it yourself Asphalt Driveway

[TheRealCannonCooper]

I’m a paving contractor, I’ve never seen a homeowner try to tackle this on their own. I’m impressed! Good job brother!

[brandonbunsold]

As a person that owns my own paving business I can tell you without a doubt you and your family did very well for never doing paving. Great job

[herbiesnerd]

I used to be a paving contractor. I’ve only seen this done once by a homeowner and a bunch of friends. In the end, you saved a bundle and you have a functional driveway. If I had met you a couple days before hand there are a couple of things I would have recommended using what you had.
#1) Use a long 2x6 as a screed, just like with concrete.
#2) Make sure your water spray system on the roller is working and keep the drum wet.
#3) With a roller that small, never do more than a 3” lift at a time. 4” you won’t get proper compaction without a larger roller.

Breakdown rolling-immediately while hot with vibratory.
Finish rolling-as the pavement cools and sets but still very warm, multiple passes over and over getting the pavement as smooth as possible and rolling out the roller marks.

You’ll get many many years of use out of that driveway. I see this is about a year old.

It’s time for sealcoating the asphalt with an asphalt emulsion seal coat. Repeat that every 3-5 years, not more. Let the seal wear down some.

The sealcoat protects the flexible asphalt pavement from oxidation which makes the asphalt brittle. When it turns gray, it’s oxidized.

[MrBeard-igzc]

1 day of complete ass breaking work. Save enough money to take the family on a little vacation. Teach your children how to get things done.

[gravelboss]

10 year asphalt guy. I have decided to avoid any negative comments, and instead I have some suggestions for anyone wanting to do this them selves:

1. if you dont have a paver, youll have a hard time seeing grade before rolling. I would suggest using an idea that people use in concrete, and setting grade stakes every 10 feet or so, so you have something to shoot off of. Additionally, it common place to use a long level to check grade/drainage as you go. done need to do it every few feet but it doesnt hurt to check every so often.

2. you can see where, part way through paving, they rolled all the way over the edge of the asphalt, then started luting again. This is not recommended. keep your roller/wacker back a few feet from your working edge and you wont have a seam as you see in the video.

3. on single pass driveways, we dont crown them in the center, but insead pitch the whole driveway to one side. it doesnt have to be a dramatic pitch, 1 or 2% is fine.

4. as you rake/lute your asphalt, youll often see your bigger aggregates working to the top. you will want to pull these all to a pile and flick them off so you keep the fines on the surface, basically using the fines to "seal" the top of your driveway.

5. the rolling sequence is to;
Static roll (no vibrators on) the first pass, let cool for a bit (10-15mins)
Vibe it (if your roller doesnt have vibes, then use a plate) going one direction, let cool a bit more,
Vibe the opposite direction.
Finish roll, static to remove roller seams, going length ways if possible.

5-b - USE A TON OF WATER. Your roller and your wacker should both ahve water tanks. use them liberally to avoid asphalt sticking to the plates your youll have a bad time lol.

6. keep a putty knife handy. As a raker, I always have one in my pocket and every few minutes use it to clean my shovel or rake as I go. it keeps it light, and easy to use.

7. use your rake or a hand tamp to tamp the edge of the driveway as you go. this will give you a long lasting edge that helps avoid crumbling,

8. Remember that all contractors are not bad. we arent here to screw you over, and asphalt and asphalt paving equipment is expensive (think $250-$500, 000)

9. For those of you asking, i pay about $90/ton for asphalt. To calculate your asphalt tonnage needed, the math is Length (ft) X Width (Ft) X Depth (In) X 2 / 160.

Example:
12' X 40' driveway, 3" thick = 1440.
1440 X 2 = 2880
2880 / 160 = 18 tons.

[PowerArsenal]

Note to self: make lots of kids with wife for an effective labor force.

[eharrison]

That’s amazing man! I’m a 3rd generation asphalt installation specialist and I’ve done it by hand dumping it in piles and I’ve paved roads with a highway paving machine but I’ve never seen a family and neighbors pave their own driveway and make it look that good I mean it’s amazing!! All I can say is WOW! Great job 👍🏻👏

[shannongagnon]

As I look at the finished driveway, I had a proud vision of this father’s children bringing current and future friends (future partners, children as well) over to the home and saying “.... and this is the driveway we all put in ourselves one really hot and fun, long summer weekend!” This is the best DIY project I’ve seen in a while👍🏼

[red]

Looks great, I like the brick pavers at the end of the driveway, good touch.

[cheeky]

Wow! A real man leading his family the way that he should. You did a great job! One thing is for sure, your family can depend on you. How lucky your wife is.

[browne]

Just in case you haven't heard enough:
You guys did a really good job! I was in the business for 40 years, and it's been a LONG time since we paved by hand; but my Dad was old school and that's how we started.
You refer to "the tri-axle"; I assume he made more than 1 trip because you can't get anywhere near 35 tons on a tri-axle unless severely overloaded. In PA, the average tri-axle can legally haul an average of 23 ton per load. It's hard to tell how many square feet you have, but from the looks of it, 35 ton wouldn't be near 4" thick; my guess would be closer to 2" thick. At 2" you would get about 2800 square feet; 1400 square feet at 4".
You did save a lot of money; but keep in mind that a paving company is paying for the labor, so he wasn't going to make $4000 on the job. Also keep in mind that he will have $250, 000 or so in equipment on the job (not including the truck); plus outrageous worker's comp/liability insurance.
Again, nice job, and for sure you know what a hard day's labor is all about!

[rreyes]

I work in a construction company where we do paving and concrete and i have never seen anyone ask on how to do something like this themselves. The pavement obviously wasn’t perfect but much respect for going out and doing it yourself because i’ve worked for almost 2years doing paving and i do 3-6 driveways a day and it is not easy. So much respect.

[arobyte]

I also have looked on youtube for DIY paving driveways and was surprised how I didn't find any. Searched about a year later and found this lol. Considering more people will try to DIY concrete which I think is less forgiving, kudos to you and your family on a job tackled successfully. Seeing kids, especially that age chipping in is the icing on the cake. Shows good upbringing which is too rare nowadays!

[timothyjerry]

I rarely comment, as it doesn’t really matter but I have to say that I think this dad is what all dads should be like, especially with such a lazy generation in today’s world, good job to the dad for not only taking on such a job, but also showing the kids that nothing is free in life and the greatest rewards comes from the biggest efforts, you get out what you put into life.

[michaeljp]

Ive done many things that "can't be done" ive never tried this though. Great job and glad your happy.

[terrysweitzer]

You've got good friends!!! I spent the first ten years of my working life paving, I know what it takes to do what you did!!!
All that help you had on site was a key part of your success, along with your audacity in tackling a job like that! I'm impressed to say the very least!!!

[coralbeckwith]

Our kids still remember the all pitch in days better, than what material things they got. You've made memories doing this.

[wadetaylor]

That driveway significantly increased your property value. 20-30 thousand, believe it or not. You'd be 2 go dad. Well done.

[chuckw]

Great job. Loved how you got the kids and friends involved. I have been in the construction field and proud of what I have had a hand in building. You guys must be proud of such a huge task and can look back at your great work for years to come. Kudos to you and your family for some hard work. Again, it looks great!

[roybdaman]

Very nice job. I worked in Asphalt. Your labor force was KEY in doing this. Well thought out and done!