St Mary's Paving Company

[ladybug2004]

Originally Posted by Cletus_Vandam

A lot of opinions here... but one thing to keep in mind is that the drive is only going to be as good as the base it placed on. If the gravel is failing in areas now, chances are unless the paving company doesn't do proper filling and compaction, the asphalt is going to fail.

As far as "popcorn" aggregate goes in paving, the State uses this type of asphalt for thier highway paving projects because water won't pond as much (since it has the chance to drain below the surface due to the gaps between the stones). The correct name for this paving is Superpave and it is definently not what you want for a private drive-it is cost prohibitive.

Surface course and base course paving are mix designations for asphalt mixes identified as SN and BF.

One thing that you will need to check on between the two bids that you received are: (1) do they both include some basic grading of the ex. gravel before paving begins, (2) what thickness of asphalt is being applied, (3) is the drive going to be compelted in a single layer, or will it be a layer of base with a layer of surface atop?, (4) what course of asphlat is being applied.

If your base isn't in bad shape and isn't failing now, you can get by with a single layer, 2" thick. As far as width goes, 8' is tight. I just completed my drive and used 10' wide, but it was almost 600' long. Best case and if you can afford it would be to go with a two layer approach using 2" layer of base and 1" layer of surface. That isn't cheap and may be what Coopenhaver is proposing, compared to the other guys quoting a poss. single layer.

If you have failing sections in the drive now, I would go with a trusted paving company that has exeprience in doing excavation work and has the right equipment (vibratory rollers, graders, etc.).

Hope this helps and sorry to be so long winded.

Thank you for the good information here. I am currently looking for someone to do my driveway as well and find this very useful. Thanks for sharing.

[Lianehelene]

Originally Posted by icebaby1111

Has anyone ever used St Mary's Paving company? I am looking into getting my driveway blacktopped and got a really good price from them, but I am very concerned with the quality of work they do.

Anyone have an opinion of them?

Do you happen to have the number for St Mary's still?

Thanks!

[kwillia]

Originally Posted by Lianehelene

Do you happen to have the number for St Mary's still?

Thanks!

Long time no see...

[Lianehelene]

Originally Posted by kwillia

Long time no see...

haha - how are ya

[copenhaverbs]

I would just like to inform the general public that Copenhaver has been in business in St. Mary's County for 27 years. If you are looking for quality - no doubt who you should call. Beware of the cheap prices you may be getting. Most of the time - you get what you pay for..... so Beware!