Let's See Your House Projects!

[Marmugmotleocay]

They came back today to seal the driveway. The shine is nuts.

[cbpip]

Asphalt over concrete ?

[Marmugmotleocay]

Originally Posted by cbpip

Asphalt over concrete ?

No. Asphalt over asphalt

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Marmugmotleocay

They came back today to seal the driveway. The shine is nuts.

Any reason for asphalt instead of concrete? I’m on the fence myself. Looks great!

[Marmugmotleocay]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Any reason for asphalt instead of concrete? I’m on the fence myself. Looks great!

Thanks. When I bought the house new 24 years ago its what all the houses in the development had. It's probably a lot cheaper and easier to make it look fresh.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by Marmugmotleocay

Thanks. When I bought the house new 24 years ago its what all the houses in the development had. It's probably a lot cheaper and easier to make it look fresh.

What kind of lifespan have you been getting before needing to resurface? I can't imagine it's been 24 years...?

[Marmugmotleocay]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

What kind of lifespan have you been getting before needing to resurface? I can't imagine it's been 24 years...?

I have had it sealed around every 5 years but the asphalt driveway is 24 years old.

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Any reason for asphalt instead of concrete? I’m on the fence myself. Looks great!

Concrete is significantly higher in cost.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by M-technik-3

Concrete is significantly higher in cost.

Yep! We're playing the numbers game now. New construction in a rural area, so we opted for gravel courtyard and driveway until we can make up our mind. I personally think asphalt looks cooler

Curious on the long term costs over time. Concrete could be most expensive up front, but asphalt is more expensive in the long run with its maintenance.

[M-technik-3]

If I could do it again I would go like I had in Germany. Something like this. promotes less heat saturation and is repairable and durable if done right.

Just me being a bite earthy crunchy. My driveway is one big heat sink in the summer.

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Yep! We're playing the numbers game now. New construction in a rural area, so we opted for gravel courtyard and driveway until we can make up our mind. I personally think asphalt looks cooler

Curious on the long term costs over time. Concrete could be most expensive up front, but asphalt is more expensive in the long run with its maintenance.

T.O. concrete is more expensive up front and the prep work is important for the concrete. Good solid base is important and make sure they use reinforcement wire. Saw cuts for expansion important also. Just replaced a 25 year old concrete driveway 50'L x 20'W with new concrete. Old driveway started to crack and show age, but happy how long it lasted. Regularly power wash 2x-3x year and sealing every 2-3 years. I am pretty anal about keeping it clean and stain free. Have had to deal with oil stains ( one from a leaky BMW) which can be a bit tough to remove.

Had an Asphalt Driveway at an older home prior to this one. Had it replaced, and while a lot less to replace, hated it. My kids were younger then and didn't tend to remove their shoes on their way in. The oil/aggregate from the asphalt stained our carpets. Moved out of the house soon after the driveway was installed never sealed or anything. Would never have asphalt again though.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by SpeedBuggy

T.O. concrete is more expensive up front and the prep work is important for the concrete. Good solid base is important and make sure they use reinforcement wire. Saw cuts for expansion important also. Just replaced a 25 year old concrete driveway 50'L x 20'W with new concrete. Old driveway started to crack and show age, but happy how long it lasted. Regularly power wash 2x-3x year and sealing every 2-3 years. I am pretty anal about keeping it clean and stain free. Have had to deal with oil stains ( one from a leaky BMW) which can be a bit tough to remove.

Had an Asphalt Driveway at an older home prior to this one. Had it replaced, and while a lot less to replace, hated it. My kids were younger then and didn't tend to remove their shoes on their way in. The oil/aggregate from the asphalt stained our carpets. Moved out of the house soon after the driveway was installed never sealed or anything. Would never have asphalt again though.

Thanks J.L.! Cost will play a factor. We’ve got a fairly long driveway (x2 because I cut in a loop) plus about a 2000 sqft courtyard area. We’re free to do as we please without restriction out here in the sticks, but don’t want to be peddling out cash all the time just to keep it alive when it could be a one and done with concrete. Good thoughts on the interior stain. Not even a consideration of mine until now.

The driveway will be pretty tight to some trees, so I’m worried about what the roots will do over time. Asphalt seems to be a bit more malleable which may be beneficial over concrete. Still a problem, but maybe less so?

I’m like you on keeping the concrete clean. Part of me wants asphalt so I’m not a slave to it again. This was my last house. My driveway had to be perfect.

[SpeedBuggy]

Yeah, I know all about anal. Young kid with a 335i with a major oil leak pulled in my drive. He worked for a landscaping company, wanted to see my 330i. Not sure where the oil leak was on his car, but it poured a huge puddle on my driveway. Ended up getting my concrete contractor to come out and powerwash/scrub the whole driveway and reseal. $1000.00 later no evidence of the oil leak.
As the driveway looks sitting underneath my 330i 😁

[vreihen16]

You can supposedly add coloring dyes to concrete before it is poured, and in these parts there are several concrete installers who do stamping so that the concrete looks like faux brick/cobblestone or rocks.....

[UncleWede]

My experience with stamp and color was mixed. We poured 33 yards and had a nice stamp picked out. They threw colored dust to make it look somewhat stone-like. Stamped it all nice and I was impressed.

3 days later they came back and SAWed the stress lines into the whole thing, over the top of my beautiful stamps.

W
T
F???

Said they didn't have time to put normal stress lines THEN stamp, the concrete would set up too fast for that.

I had a friend come out about a year later who was going to pressure wash/seal for me, he has a big commercial unit he used for shopping malls, etc.. He took one look at the coloration and said "I'll just do this little section first, see what you think." Color washed right off, so he simply seals it as is except for a few oil drips he cleaned up.

[unluky]

I know it some areas - there are plants that will sell colored concrete. The guy that poured my huge patio was trying to find one that could deliver to me in the sticks, but there was not one close enough so they had to used the coloring dust. It has held up well for me, but he said the colored concrete was much better as it's colored all the way through.

[hooligan_G01]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Yep! We're playing the numbers game now. New construction in a rural area, so we opted for gravel courtyard and driveway until we can make up our mind. I personally think asphalt looks cooler

Curious on the long term costs over time. Concrete could be most expensive up front, but asphalt is more expensive in the long run with its maintenance.

Have you looked into decomposed granite? Could be a possible alternative.


https://www.truegridpaver.com/is-dec...for-driveways/

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by hooligan_G01

Have you looked into decomposed granite? Could be a possible alternative.


https://www.truegridpaver.com/is-dec...for-driveways/

Never heard of it...? I'll look!

[RickFLM4]

I’m in Asheville with the dogs but no wife for this and the next 2 weekends so I decided to swap out cabinet door hinges in our condo here for soft close hinges. Small project but I’ll probably do a little each weekend until done.

For some reason the drawers came soft close but not the doors. I got an estimate from someone to do it in 2019 and it was something like $1,000, which is absurd. $85 for the hinges from Amazon + a little effort.

[RickFLM4]

Ran into a minor issue. The hinges I bought open to 105 degrees, which seems to be the standard. However for the doors in corners and near walls, they open too far and bang into other doors or the wall. So I ordered some new hinges that only open 90 degrees for those doors. I’ll end up with some extra hinges and double work for a few doors but not that big of a deal.

Never thought about opening angle so mentioning as something to bear in mind if anyone else decides on a similar project.

[floridaorange]

Finally bought a hot tub, getting new windows installed this week, new couch is on order an new interior doors and kitchen cabinets are next. Will update with photos.

[RickFLM4]

I spent about an hour today changing a light bulb in a ceiling fan because whoever installed it over-tightened the glass shade and it wouldn’t budge. Turned to YouTube and the trick that worked for me was using a sneaker like a mallet to repeatedly hit the glass with the rubber soles until it eventually loosened up.

Then the bulb that was out wouldn’t budge… but I eventually got it out without breaking it.

I was actually considering replacing the entire ceiling fan because of this little annoyance but glad I exercised a little patience to just change the stupid bulb.