Asphalt paving is a popular choice in the Birmingham area due to the material’s economic price, durability, and speed of installation, repair, and maintenance. One critical key to a long-lasting, attractive asphalt pavement is to determine the proper thickness of the asphalt. Asphalt pavements that are too thin will be significantly more prone to cracking and other damage during their first few years. However, making the asphalt too thick wastes time, money, and resources. Therefore, contractors consider the nature of the paving job, the stability of the ground at the site, and the intended use of the pavement.
How Does the Nature of the Job Affect the Thickness of Asphalt Paving?
Most Birmingham asphalt paving professionals include constructions, reconstructions, and resurfacing when discussing paving jobs. Occasionally, an asphalt paving company in Birmingham will also include full-depth patching in the paving category.
1. When a local asphalt paving contractor performs a resurfacing job, the top one to three inches of the existing asphalt is removed. This does not allow the contractor to alter or rebuild the base layers. Therefore, the thickness of the replacement asphalt should be the same as the depth of asphalt that was removed. This allows curbs and gutters, manhole covers, and other features to be retained at their correct elevation.
2. With a full-depth patch, asphalt paving contractors may be able to access the base layers to make repairs or alterations. Thus, if necessary, they can increase the depth of the aggregate base and decrease the asphalt thickness while still keeping the patch level with the surrounding pavement. Alternatively, they could decrease the base depth and increase the asphalt depth.
3. The appropriate asphalt depth when constructing or rebuilding a pavement relies heavily on the soil and purpose of the pavement. Depending on what an asphalt paving company discovers about those two factors, the proper asphalt thickness could be as little as two inches or as much as 10 inches.
How Does the Stability of the Soil Affect Asphalt Paving Thickness?
Experienced asphalt paving contractors know that a successful installation requires a strong, stable foundation that can be adequately compacted. If the soil is unstable, there are several ways that an asphalt paving company can address the problem. For example, asphalt paving contractors may remove some of the insufficient soil and replace it with better soil. They may also design a strong, stable, compacted aggregate base, and this could affect the asphalt thickness.
How Does the Pavement’s Intended Use Affect the Thickness of the Asphalt Paving?
When you call to request a quote, one of the first questions Birmingham asphalt paving companies ask is how you plan to use your pavement. They want to know what kind of traffic your pavement will support. How many vehicles do you expect will drive or park on your pavement? Are they lightweight or heavyweight vehicles? After obtaining this information, they consider the other factors to recommend the proper asphalt thickness.
1. Residential driveways normally have an asphalt thickness between two and three inches and a base thickness of four to six inches. However, if the driveway will also provide access to trash trucks, RVs, or delivery trucks, the asphalt may need to be twice as thick.
2. Commercial driveways are frequently three to five inches of asphalt over an aggregate base that is at least eight inches thick.
3. Parking lots that only serve passenger vehicles typically have an asphalt thickness of four to six inches if the base is three or more inches deep. Mixed-use parking lots may need an asphalt thickness of six inches or more over an appropriate aggregate base.
4. City streets are often built with an asphalt thickness of four inches over an appropriate aggregate base. Heavily trafficked highways that are used by a high number of tractor-trailers could have an asphalt depth of 10 to 12 inches.
5. Bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways may have an asphalt thickness of three to five inches if there is no aggregate base. With an aggregate base, the asphalt thickness may be between two and three inches.
The Surface Masters offers asphalt paving in Birmingham as well as asphalt repairs, sealcoating, crack sealing, milling and reclamation, pavement markings, and concrete services. We are an experienced, highly regarded company with an exemplary reputation for quality, service, professionalism, and integrity. We offer free quotes, so use our online form to get in touch with us. If you would rather call us, our number is 470-557-8985. You can also send an email to Info@TheSurfaceMasters.com to submit your information.
