Grading a Driveway
Every driveway, whether you will pour concrete, lay asphalt, install road base, or interlocking pavers, will need some amount of excavation. The amount of excavation and grading that will have to be carried out for any driveway can vary greatly from driveway to driveway.
You will never find two driveways that are the same.
When you want to have a solid driveway of good quality, two things must happen.
1) You need to make sure that you have a stable subgrade so that your driveway gets built on a solid foundation. Driveways can only be as good as the subgrade that is beneath it.
2) Driveway grading must be carried out in such a way, that the water drains and the driveway sheds water as it should.
The drained water must run away from the home or the garage so that any flooding is avoided, and hence any grading of the driveway must ensure that water is drained away from the garage or house.
We also need to ensure that any water runs off from the surface and is never allowed to pool or stand on the driveway surface, whether it be concrete, asphalt, gravel, or interlocking pavers.
These are the two factors that make for the fact that every driveway must have some grading performed on it. The occasions where a driveway will not need grading will be very rare.
Despite this, whether you believe it or not, you will find some driveway contractors who spend very little time on the proper grading of a driveway, and what you will then end up with is a driveway with problems and one that will not last as long as it is meant to, or to make things worse, will be a driveway that leads to your home getting flooded.
Long Driveway
When the driveway that leads to your home is long and winding, you will need to decide whether your driveway has to be graded, must have paving with a crown, or whether it should be graded flat.
For long driveways, it is better that you do not opt for a crown. If you have a crown on your driveway, the problem with it is that when you are driving on it, the tires of your vehicle will run on either side of the crown, with the hump of the crown in the middle. As a result, the asphalt, pavers, or concrete will be pushed outward on both sides, and be pulled away from the middle, resulting in cracks in the concrete or asphalt, or opening up the joints in the pavers that are parallel to the driveway.
If your driveway is made of gravel or road base then it’s material will just be pushed to the sides, leaving ruts on the driveway and lead to a muddy mess.
You want a driveway that does not start cracking as soon as it is installed. So make sure that you grade the driveway and install the concrete, asphalt, or pavers so that the surface is flat. The right way to grade a long driveway, instead, is to pitch it to any side, so that the water drains off. This pitch does not have to be drastic and can even be as less as 1/4 to 1/2 inch on the side that you choose. To assure that your driveway willl last longer and require less maintenance contact Clean Cut Outdoor – we can help you with any grading or excavation.
