Let the paving commence! Work started today on paving our driveway. This is more complicated that it might appear at first blush. On our existing gravel driveway, there's nothing to worry about with water runoff, as the gravel is porous and water can't flow over it at any significant rate. With asphalt this is a completely different story – careful attention to putting a gentle slope into the surface is vital. This afternoon the foreman worked out all the various slopes that will be needed. To some degree, the flatness of our property makes this more challenging, as to create a slope where none previously existed requires moving significant amounts of dirt.
The first step is to dig out all the existing gravel and top soil where the driveway will go, down to 9" in depth below the eventual surface of the driveway. This is where all the critical grading gets done, and there will be quite a few cubic yards of dirt moved to build up some areas and cut down others. Once that's all perfect, then they will bring in “pit run” to a depth of 6", to provide a solid, stable base for the asphalt. The last step will be to bring in 3" of asphalt to cover that – and then we'll have an asphalt driveway!
