Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man,
play a song for me
I'm not sleepy
and there ain't no place I'm goin' to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man,
play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning,
I'll come followin' you
Take me for a trip upon
your magic swirling ship
All my senses have been stripped
And my hands can't feel to grip
And my toes too numb to step
Wait only for my boot heels to be wanderin'
I'm ready to go anywhere,
I'm ready for to fade
Unto my own parade
Cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it
Friendly Reminder
Ghost, I have a question for you as an architect. (And for anyone else here who might have relevant experience or just some good ideas).
I need to fix my driveway. It is a longish driveway that bends to the right directly in front of the house and leads to an attached garage.
The house has a long narrow cement slab as a front porch. The driveway used to be Blacktop. I like the weathered country look of the old cracked drive but it has sunk some and chipmunks are having a party under the front porch where there are gaps because the driveway level is too low…. so I have to fix it. As a temporary solution I’ve filled it in the gaps with that black top stuff you buy in bags and tamp down to plug holes but it doesn’t look nice and doesn’t last.
My choice would be to regrade the whole thing and have gravel but gravel is no good in a cold climate where you have to plough snow. I don’t like the look of cement and it cracks. And I don’t want shiny new black top leading to an old house.
Any thoughts on driveways in general and on how I can have a new driveway that won’t look new or break the bank.
No gravel, no cement, no blacktop. Your options are getting pretty thin.
How about a dirt driveway with magnesium chloride to bind it? Or decomposed granite with a binder?
It’s expensive, but laid paving brick? Either with mortar, or no mortar. The no-mortar brick pavers won’t crack, but they will lift over time with the tree roots. You can also have cinder-block decorative pavers that have gaps and holes, for grass to grow in.
ghost is probably the guy with the best answer but even though I didn’t stay in a Holiday Express last night, I’ll toss in my 2¢.
My first question would be what’s your environment? Wet, dry, trees, open, temp extremes?
From my personal experience, maybe landscape gravel on dirt. Not too hard to plow; the rock will settle in and you don’t need to plow to surface. Concrete fractures too easily unless you build near-highway quality – deep (6″) with fair amount of rebar or concrete screen, ie $$$. Blacktop is a better option but you don’t want that – though blacktop ages fairly quickly. I doubt you’d be happy with paving stones but I can’t speak for you or your situation. Not cheap to install properly and you’ll have inevitable settling problems and weeds. Personally, I’d probably go with graveled dirt (but not just plain ground – mud, potholes, and too many organics) if you live in an area where that’s acceptable.
I once lived up high on a forested mountainside with a 100′ driveway and lots of snow. Temp extremes could push 110 in summer, -40 in winter. Graveled dirt was the best option (decomposed granite but that was the underlying material anyway). Plowed with a bobcat and snowblower. Didn’t have a blade on the PU or I’d have used that.
Thanks to you both, gentlemen, for your ideas. Much appreciated. I’ll look into the graveled dirt and granite with a binder. I spoke with a driveway installer again this evening and he suggested blacktop because it will age quickly, as you indicated, and is a less costly option than some of the others. Environmental is open prairie, very cold winter, hot sometimes humid summer. I’m in a place where there are no rules about driveways. Thanks again for taking time to answer.
SK – John and DT are pretty much right. Dealing with a driveway is an expensive problem. Or maybe no problem at all?
Gravel is by far the least expensive solution. Our gravel driveway is huge and is about 19 years old now and showing it.
Our neighbor plows our driveway in the winter with his Kubota and it’s no problem because he pulls the bucket rather than pushes it, so it’s not possible to dig in.
Pavers with the proper underlayment is probably the best and most expensive way to do a driveway that will be mostly problem free for decades. How expensive? 10X the cost of gravel.
A big consideration is how long do you intend to stay in that house? If you intend for it to be your “forever” there will be costly renovations along the way. (we had a $4k furnace installed last Oct)
As time goes by the repairs and renovations will accumulate and the time may come that you regret your choice of an inexpensive driveway repair. Good luck!
Thank you. Very helpful.
Great photo. So much going on.
I was taking a break from the design project for a large apartment complex in Atlanta and was sitting back in my chair with my Harmony Marquis guitar in hand.
Approaching the bridge in “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and my wife came bursting in, “Don’t say a word, just come quick!”.
So I bolted out the door after her and Shannon was right on my heels.
We get over to the front porch and pointing, she said, “There’s a snake on that table!”.
I took a look and indeed there was, a tiny little scudder, maybe 12″ long, mostly brown with dark markings down it’s length.
It was aware of the commotion and about 1/4 of it’s length was cantilevered out from the top of the table, in mid-air, flicking it’s tongue – tasting the air for clues.
I knelt down close to it and looked at it intently, it ain’t everyday I get to see a snake up close and personal and I wanted to take advantage of it.
I just watched it, and it watched me, nothing moving but it’s tongue.
Cool!
After a couple minutes I gently picked it up by it’s middle and dropped it over the railing into the grass.
Stood there and watched it for a bit then came back in here and grabbed up my Marquis.
I likes me sum nature….