Asphalt Driveways & Pathways

Design

Asphalt is a great medium for drives and pathways allowing flexibility in shape and form. It is also a smooth, non-slip surface that is easy to maintain. The use of complementary materials such as brick or concrete edging can also add character to an entrance as well as protecting gardens and lawns.

Brick edging can also be used to tie the house with the pathway by selecting a paver that compliments the colour of the house. Drives and paths may be straight, providing smooth access. Alternatively they may be curved to enhance the shape of a garden or to avoid trees and other features. Pathways and drives may also be linked providing convenient access to both vehicles and pedestrians. Asphalt drives and pathways may meander to reduce the steepness of slopes, to allow for vegetation to provide screening of doorways or garage doors. Whether straight or curved, asphalt driveways must be designed to ensure appropriate drainage and to ensure no pooling of water. Where driveways are curved these must ensure that vehicles can readily manoeuvre, taking into account the topography, vegetation and drainage.

One advantage of asphalt paving over other materials is that changes can be made to the alignment by taking up part of an existing surface and adding new asphalt to another section. Damage to a surface can also be repaired. Asphalt is attractive, durable and economical and is the most flexible surface for all driveway and pathway requirements. Home owners should therefore work with their architect or asphalt contractor to design a driveway that is both attractive and functional.

For example a driveway must have a solid base. Placing bitumen or asphalt on an unprepared sub-base will fail. However, a pathway will not require the same depth of sub-base material as a driveway. A driveway that frequently has heavy trucks will also need a stronger sub-base. For new driveways, the area to be paved must be stripped of any vegetation and topsoil. The underlying soil or rock should then be removed to a sufficient depth to ensure a stable base. The depth of material that must be removed will be determined by your asphalt contractor. Contractors would usually place a layer of crushed rock on the stable base to give a solid surface for the asphalt. However, in a few cases where the natural base is solid a contractor may be able to place the asphalt directly on that surface. A full depth asphalt surface may also be used where the there is already a firm stable base. However, simply spraying bitumen on an unstable sub-base will lead to immediate failure. For existing gravel driveways, the depth and quality of the existing material must be assessed prior to surfacing with asphalt. Where the depth is sufficient there may be no need to add additional base but this will depend on the thickness of the gravel and the base on which it is laid. In some cases where the depth of crushed rock cannot be increased or the quality is unacceptable, the existing material may need to be removed and replaced.

Coloured Asphalt and Edging

Coloured asphalt can be used to enhance a drive or pathway. Colours such as red and brown are relatively easy to obtain. Other colours may require the use of a special bitumen. Aggregate of a compatible colour should be used in the asphalt; as aggregate forms about 92–94% of the asphalt, a dark coloured aggregate (e.g. basalt) will dominate the colour of the asphalt once the bitumen wears off the surface of the aggregate. Your asphalt contractor will be able to discuss with you potential coloured asphalt. Edging is important to support the edge of asphalt.

It may be concrete, brick or timber and the range of colours, textures and materials allows for a wide choice of finish. Edging should typically be least 300mm wide to support the pavement edge. Such edging also leads to improved compaction of the edges of the asphalt surfacing.

Quotations & Price

Roadseal Bitumen Services will always offer competitive prices. However, as with all major investments it is recommended that property owners obtain written quotations with complete details of compacted thicknesses of layers, material types, quantities, areas and special requirements. This will show that the asphalt contractor has assessed your needs, taking into account the particular requirements of your property. It is often worthwhile asking the contractor to give you details of previous work and if possible you should also establish the past performance of the contractor you accept and remember the cheapest price won’t necessarily produce the best outcome.

Warning about unscrupulous contractors

Unfortunately there are some unscrupulous individuals who periodically operate in Australia offering cheap asphalt work. They call on unsuspecting people and advise that they have some material left over from a larger job and will do a driveway, pathway or carpark cheaply for cash. These people look very professional and appear to have the appropriate equipment but then put a thin layer of bitumen over unprepared ground, lay some stones on it and advise people not to use it until the bitumen has set.