Not too many people pay much attention to their driveway as long as it is doing its job. If the edges are manicured, the pavement smooth, and the car moves on and off of the driveway smoothly, what is there to pay attention to? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
But what can be done in the case of sunken driveways? A driveway will sink for different reasons. There could be a break in a water pipe or a sewer pipe beneath the driveway that causes the it to sink. If that’s the case and water is leaking beneath the asphalt, the pipe could have been broken for years without being discovered. After years of constant leaking, the water will begin to break down the base of the driveway and cause it to decay. That is when the driveway will start to look like it’s beginning to sink.
The base beneath a driveway is usually made of two inches of packing stone. Once this packing stone is spread throughout the space where the driveway will be, a compaction machine will be used to pack the stone down as tightly as it can. This compacted stone will be the foundation for the driveway. If this stone is not placed and compacted by machine, the driveway, once finished, will begin to sink, or settle. A driveway that is correctly installed should last the homeowner between 25 and 50 years. Sunken driveways are those that have not been secured from underneath with a layer of packed stone.
After living in homes newly constructed for just a couple of years, some homeowners have found that, when their home was built, driveway and all, tree stumps instead of packing stones were used as the driveway’s foundation. The builders dig up trees, cut them up, and use the stumps as the foundation, pouring the stones on top. Within a couple of years, water has gotten underneath the asphalt driveways, and caused the stumps to decay, so the homeowners are left with sunken driveways.
When needing repair for sunken driveways, a homeowner’s best choice is a company that specializes in both the construction and repair of asphaltpavement.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=891&Itemid=1068″ Title=”Find more information related to Concrete driveways minneapolis”>asphalt and concrete. The company will be sure to provide the homeowner with the foundation of packed stones and will build a new driveway on top of that foundation. Depending upon whether the family who will use the driveway needs it for one or two vehicles, the width of the new driveway will vary. Eight to nine feet wide for a single car, and 15 to 18 feet wide for two.
There are 2.6 million miles of roads that are paved across the US, and asphalt is the surface material over 94% of these roads. As with driveways, however much smaller the size, these roads need to have a good, well-packed foundation underneath in order for them to last the many years they are designed to.