JG Benhoff strives to supply the highest quality asphalt pavements at affordable prices. A lot of asphalt companies that are out there today may have cheap pricing but in this business, you really do get what you pay for. When getting proposal on a new construction or repair and overlay, the main key factor in the price of the job is the amount of asphalt you are getting. All our contracts state the actual compacted amount of asphalt you will have when we are complete. Asphalt will compact a ¼” for every 1” you lay. So, if you get a proposal that says 3” of asphalt always make sure whether that is the compacted total or the loose total. This will save you a lot of aggravation when the job is complete and you only see 2” or 2 ¼” of compacted asphalt when you thought you were paying for 3”.
New Construction
Quality construction of an asphalt pavement starts with the soil subgrade. Often when replacing a damaged parking lot or driveway we find that the soil structure below the asphalt and stone is unsuitable for building on. In this case we need to excavate additional material and install a soil stabilization fabric. The soil stabilization fabric bridges the soft areas allowing them to act as one unit. We recommend at least a 6” layer of compacted stone be placed under all new construction pavements. Once you have established a good stone base then you can begin to lay your first coarse of asphalt. We recommend 2 lifts of asphalt on all driveways and parking lots. The first lift is built using a heavier base asphalt mix followed by a second finer mix which you are used to seeing on typical asphalt pavements.
Overlays
NEVER OVERLAY CRACKED UP OR SETTLED ASPHALT. When you overlay deteriorated or damaged areas reflective cracking will occur due to freeze and thaw cycles. How long the overlay will last does depend on the severity of the damage but we would rather see you get 10-15 years out of an overlay rather than 2-5. That is why we recommend the patching of settled or cracked up areas so we can be sure that problem areas will not reduce the life of your overlay.
Don’t seal your driveway! Sealing is a waste of time and money.
Sealing your driveway will NOT prolong the life of your driveway in any way, shape or form. The sealing of your driveway will actually make repairing or replacing your driveway more expensive in the future. Once you seal your driveway it takes away the flexibility of the asphalt and causes extensive cracking in the asphalt surface. This then allows water to penetrate the surface of your driveway destroying your base. Sealing is essentially painting your driveway.
Backfilling
The edges of a new driveway are the weakest point and without proper backfill can be damaged very easily. Driveways not backfilled properly will start to develop cracks along the edges that will move towards the center of the drive over time. All our driveways come with a complete backfill and stabilization of all new edges.
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