Which is better when and why?

14 responses total.

Asphalt stinks in hot weather.

Concrete pavers.  They tolerate the earth moving under them without
cracking and you can redo a section without redoing the entire driveway.
Water can get between them and water the earth below, creating a bit less
runoff than a continuous surface.  They can also be taken up and recycled
either by you or someone else.

Check out Fendt out on Liberty.  They even sell seconds for about $1 /
sq. ft.  I have done all of my paver projects using seconds and am very
happy with the results.

Reuse center sometimes has used ones, we have been collecting from there for
pavers to border our brick walk.  Reuse, don't recycle them.

What are "concrete pavers"? I have not seen any driveways around here made
from anything but poured concrete, or squished asphalt. Who installs "pavers"?
(I am not likely to undertake that much heavy moving and lifting, having an
'iffy' back.)

Pavers are very trendy right now.  Basically manufactured flat things, in a
variety of sizes, shapes, and colors.

The cheaper ones are essentially solid concrete blocks, only 4" thick.  If
you lay them in sand the grass and other large plants grow in the cracks, so
it is not all that practical.  In concrete, they are harder to replace.

Well, in another item somewhere somebody mentioned a variety of sand that
plants don't like to grow in.  Slag sand, maybe?

I wonder how well pavers would work on a long sloped driveway.  For that
matter, is there a square foot price (ballpark estimate) for concrete?  I've
still got gravel.

Does anyone know comparisons of cost and durability for poured concrete
and rolled asphalt driveways (what I hoped to learn when I started this
item!).

Thick concrete is more durable, of course.  Less maintenance needed.

How does one "maintain" either? Seems to me they just sit there and slowly
crumble over time.

Concrete, properly installed for the local climate, should not need
maintenance.  If put in wrong it can crack, or sink, or one end can go higher
than the other.  Asphalt gets blacktopped regularly, or it will dry and crack,
and flex, expand and contract.  It also absorbs a bit more heat and it is not
pleasant to sit near.  COncrete should be installed with expansion joints,
like in sidewalks (with rubbery stuff in the joint.

Concrete will last longer if it has a good base and
has a higher ratio of cement to aggragate and if the aggragate is not a
sedimentary stone that crumbles easily under pressure or from freeze /
thaw cycles.  6 bag mixes are considered very good for this climate.
(I assume that means 6 bags of cement in every cubic yard of concrete.)
I watched a neighbors driveway turn into limesand and stones after one
winter.  My concrete driveway is 43 years old and is in OK shape.  Its
biggest problem is that it gets heaved during the winter and pops all
the patching out of the cracks every year.  I need to find a flexible
crack filler.

I suspect the durability of an asphalt surface also has a lot to do with
the ration of tar to stones as well as its thickness and how well the
soils its laied on drains.  As Keesan said, however, it will dry out with
time.

My neighbors maintain their ashphalt driveway every year by pouring some kind
of sealer over it.  Takes them all day, and seems like a lot of work.  It does
seem to be effective, though.  The driveway is in great shape.

I have a driveway made with pavers and recommend them.  The only thing is that
they shift a bit.  Down at the bottom of the drive, they've sunk a little, too.
 Could be I just had a schmuck put it in, though.

Or the earth under those pavers is not stable.

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