Ground up Blacktop

[trackrat]

I like recycled asphalt much better than millings as it tends to have large chunks in it unless the contractor runs screens in the milling machine recycled asphalt is run thru a crusher and is a consistent size. We have used a lot of it for driveways and have had very good luck, used 50 trailer loads on our neighbor's farm roads worked very good , think you will like it RAT

 

[ss55]

It's October in NW Illinois, probably not enough warm days left in the year to melt it together. This isn't a high traffic area, Just need to get the car close enough to the sidewalk that my wife can get to the car with her rolling walker once in a while when winter get here and I don't get stuck in the yard rolling onto the downhill slope.

Asphalt, seal coated asphalt, or even DIY rubberized/jet-black asphalt sealers should all give better traction than smoothly troweled concrete.

 

[300jk]

I need to add a place to drive up close to the ramp from my deck to be able to get my wife out of the house and into the car, she can't do the 2 steps from the other door anymore. It's just grass now with a slight downhill grade. When the snow gets here, I'm afraid of getting the car stuck. I need to remove a little dirt to make it level and then rock or crushed blacktop to drive up on. I'm thinking that the blacktop would be a smoother surface than gravel for snow removal. I can get crushed blacktop for $15 a ton, rock is quite a bit more. Anyone have experience using the crushed blacktop? If I get a tandem load can I move it ok with my loader? The dog fence will go away. Thinking I’ll need railroad ties or something to make a wall at the ledge. Thoughts?View attachment 167136View attachment 167137View attachment 167138View attachment 167139View attachment 167141I would like to pull the car up to the end of the handrail.

I work for a large construction company who among many other things does a lot of milling and paving. I am pretty involved with both. As far as milling go a lot of the quality has to do with the material being milled. Older roads were more just asphalt based. Newer ones in this area anyway have polymers mixed in. Poorer quality millings are the result. I’ve run the mills in the past. Smooth road equals better millings. Slower mill speed is finer millings. Get into the shoulder and lots of chunks. Gravel based asphalt vs crushed limestone millings is also a huge difference. Many variables. Just from someone who actually mills roads. Best advice is do proper prep, don’t skimp on material, and pack it in when it’s hot out. Like 80-90 degrees. If a good pile of millings sit a day or 2 in the heat it will become hard. Many others offered good advice. I just thought I’d add my thoughts.

 

[super99]

This is a do it myself project, It's been a very expensive year for my limited budget. Had to replace the bathtub with a walk in shower for my wife, then a taller toilet, she wanted a new kitchen sink and then a automatic back up generator. I'm pretty well tapped out for this year! She doesn't get out of the house much, varies with Dr appointments but usually once a week or less. It's a tight area to get into, edge of the sidewalk closest to the garage has raised and has about a 3 inch rise where it cracked and settled. The dog fence has to go, I can barely get far enough forward for her to get into the car without being on the crack. It slopes down quickly, if I take the fence out, I'm sure without doing anything that when it has snowed and I clean it down to the grass that I'll be setting there spinning the tires trying to get backed out. That bridge that I said I'll cross when I get to it is right in front of me now. I should have done this last summer but it's too late now, have to do something before the snow flies. If worse comes to worse I'll get a ton of so of gravel and make 2 tracks to drive on raising the car to the level I need to get thru the winter. I have enough dirt to raise it but it won't be packed down and when wet or the frost goes out it will be a sink hole so that's out. I just thought that the ground asphalt would be easier to clean snow off of than loose gravel. The only way I have to pack it down is to drive the pickup back and forth over it several times. Thanks for the replies. Chris

 

[Dick L]

It's October in NW Illinois, probably not enough warm days left in the year to melt it together. This isn't a high traffic area, Just need to get the car close enough to the sidewalk that my wife can get to the car with her rolling walker once in a while when winter get here and I don't get stuck in the yard rolling onto the downhill slope.

Down hills and side hills are a problem with rollator walkers. Even on cement. I have been using one for several years. My drive is cement and not level when getting into a car the dumb thing has taken off down the drive. Almost level will be the safest.

 

[showcrop]

This is a do it myself project, It's been a very expensive year for my limited budget. Had to replace the bathtub with a walk in shower for my wife, then a taller toilet, she wanted a new kitchen sink and then a automatic back up generator. I'm pretty well tapped out for this year! She doesn't get out of the house much, varies with Dr appointments but usually once a week or less. It's a tight area to get into, edge of the sidewalk closest to the garage has raised and has about a 3 inch rise where it cracked and settled. The dog fence has to go, I can barely get far enough forward for her to get into the car without being on the crack. It slopes down quickly, if I take the fence out, I'm sure without doing anything that when it has snowed and I clean it down to the grass that I'll be setting there spinning the tires trying to get backed out. That bridge that I said I'll cross when I get to it is right in front of me now. I should have done this last summer but it's too late now, have to do something before the snow flies. If worse comes to worse I'll get a ton of so of gravel and make 2 tracks to drive on raising the car to the level I need to get thru the winter. I have enough dirt to raise it but it won't be packed down and when wet or the frost goes out it will be a sink hole so that's out. I just thought that the ground asphalt would be easier to clean snow off of than loose gravel. The only way I have to pack it down is to drive the pickup back and forth over it several times. Thanks for the replies. Chris

At this point the gravel sounds like the better solution. You can count on it being uniform and to pack well enough to enable getting the car in nand outn without difficulty.

 

[Hobo,NC]

Gutter drain looks like an issue. My wife was in a wheelchair, my van had a rear lift so all I had to do was extend the concrete pad 6ft are so. Concrete is going to be hard to beat with a little help it can be a DIY project.

 

[MeanGene1]

After 49 years in general engineering, everything from shoveling/ raking, finish grader, dozers, excavators, crushers, many years as Foreman, Estimator, Project Manager etc., I have seen hundreds of thousands of grindings and crushed concrete. Next to a house and using hand tools, I would not use it, unless it's also been thru a crusher it will very inconsistent in size and quality, from good to "chunk style". If the pavement was broken up, what we call in Kommiefornea "alligatored" from it's appearance, those chunks just flow thru the grinder without breaking up, and any areas that get hand-removed and cleaned up by a loader get tossed in the truck with the stuff that went thru the grinder, and will be very chunky. Appearance is poor at best to put around your house, and that area is quite small. As has been mentioned, if truckloads sit in the hot sun for a while, it's a chore to break it back up to spread it out. When we were finishing up the New Bay Bridge on the Oakland side, where there is a huge Toll Plaza, we shut down the Bridge for the whole Labor Day weekend, what we called the Labor Day Paving Party, two 12-hour shifts, nonstop grinding and paving with the cherry-picked best pavers in the company, I ended up on the "night" breakdown roller. We had 7 grinders in formation, then cleanup/sweep with the paver right behind. I actually had to go around and through the toll booths a couple times to get to the paver, made for unique pictures

 

[rrlund]

This has to be a regional thing like the different definition of gravel. All the ground asphalt I've seen here packs like fresh ashalt. I've never seen it stay loose or have to have anything added. Ya, my brother had brought me stuff that he just peeled up with the loader that wasn't ground and had big chunks, but he ran over it with the dozer after he dumped it and the tracks broke it up and it packed.

What do some of you call gravel? Is it just crushed stone? Here, gravel comes out of the ground and is a mix of coarse sand and small stones. There are different grades of it. Some is pit run, some is screened to get the larger stones out, some even has clay added so it packs. We call that road gravel.

 

[Watthour]

In this region (northern Ill-Noise/southern Wisco), gravel is usually ground limestone, including the lime powder from the process. That's likely what @super99 would have to deal with. It packs quite well and survives water and snow. It's the common base for asphaltic concrete as well as Portland.

 

[m16ty]

Asphalt millings are pretty popular around here, it’s half the price of white rock. I’ve got millings on my 1/4 mile long drive, I like it.

Weird thing is though, I’ve got it before and have it pack as hard as concrete, then other loads that won’t hardly pack at all. I don’t know what The difference is, it all looks the same.

 

[Dick L]

Just to be clear this is what my son in law dumped 1 year ago in early fall just taken. I have been filling low spot from it with s shovel this summer when I could. The next two pictures are of what they skimmed the top and laid down 3 inches thick and rolled with his vibrating road roller like what you see in construction sites That was done three years ago. Millings are not the same as you can read from reading from different areas. These pictures were taken between 1:09 and 1:12 ---10/18/2026

This first picture is what I put down last fall after repairing the fence on the left. The next picture is where I stop and dump feed every day and with the rain what happens when I try to back up ehat causes the rear casters to rotate causing resistance.

 

[showcrop]

This has to be a regional thing like the different definition of gravel. All the ground asphalt I've seen here packs like fresh ashalt. I've never seen it stay loose or have to have anything added. Ya, my brother had brought me stuff that he just peeled up with the loader that wasn't ground and had big chunks, but he ran over it with the dozer after he dumped it and the tracks broke it up and it packed.

What do some of you call gravel? Is it just crushed stone? Here, gravel comes out of the ground and is a mix of coarse sand and small stones. There are different grades of it. Some is pit run, some is screened to get the larger stones out, some even has clay added so it packs. We call that road gravel.

From my twenty some years of being involved with it the most common term is crusher run. Blasted ledge is run through the primary crusher, then divided through a screen and goes to secondary crushers that most commonly produce 3/4 and 1.5 inch crusher run. Both are powder up to pieces either 3/4 or 1.5 inch. On the other hand for base material, under the gravel, usually bank run gravel is used. However, it is very rarely actual bank run. It is produced by piling sand, 1.5 inch crushed gravel, and six inch minus, into large piles with a specific thickness of each type. The mixing takes place when the loader scoops it to load the truck.