Little Rock asphalt paving

A bag of cold patch sits near the register at the hardware store, and it looks like an answer to the hole in the driveway. Sometimes it is. For a few cold weeks it is a fair answer. For the long run it is not. Cold patch is a temporary fix, and hot mix is the lasting one. The Minnesota Department of Transportation says cold mix "should only be used for temporary fixes in small to medium potholes." Alec's Asphalt Paving, a family-owned Little Rock company started in 2015, handles asphalt repair and patching and gives free written estimates. What does cold patch do in winter? MnDOT's "Asphalt Patching Methods Best Practices" poster, drawn from its Research Report 2017-25, is plain about the limits. Cold mix "is not designed to be structurally sound for depths beyond 2 inches," and a deeper patch should go in two lifts, compacted separately. For cold mix, the same poster calls manual placement with shovels the preferred method, with compaction a...

The bump you feel at the curb comes first. A dolly's wheels catch where the driveway apron meets the street. The asphalt edge sits higher than it did last year, and the surface looks pushed up from below. On my appliance route around central Arkansas, the nearest tree is the first suspect. Tree roots lift asphalt because they thicken as they grow and push upward against the pavement over them. A repair can cut out the raised section and make the surface level again, but it cannot stop the root from growing. Alec's Asphalt Paving, a family-owned Little Rock company started in 2015, does asphalt repair and patching, including level corrections. Why do roots lift pavement? Iowa State University Extension and Outreach explains it in a page by Aaron Steil and Jeffery Iles, last reviewed in July 2024. "As roots expand, they can push up sections of the sidewalk, resulting in buckling and lifting," it says. Roots can also enter small cracks and widen them. Purdue Extensi...

Dump a load of asphalt millings in a driveway and what you see is dark gravel: crushed pieces, black at the edges, loose underfoot. Nothing about day one says pavement. What matters is what that pile becomes once it is spread and packed, and whether new hot mix is the better buy. Asphalt millings are old pavement, ground up and reused, and a driveway made of them behaves more like bound gravel than like new asphalt. For a long, low-traffic lane they can make sense. For a smooth, sealed driveway meant to last, new hot mix is the better buy. Alec's Asphalt Paving , a family-owned Little Rock company started in 2015, handles asphalt paving and installation. Ask whether millings fit your job. What are asphalt millings, exactly? The Federal Highway Administration defines reclaimed asphalt pavement, or RAP, as "removed and/or reprocessed pavement materials containing asphalt and aggregates." Milling is one way the old surface comes out: "Milling entails removal of the...

Take two measurements with a tape: the length of the driveway and its width, both in feet. If the width wanders, measure the narrowest and widest points and average them. Write the numbers down before anyone starts talking tons. Tons of asphalt equal square yards, times pounds per square yard per inch, times inches of compacted thickness, divided by 2,000. Your tape gives the square yards. The written quote gives the real quantity. Alec's Asphalt Paving, a family-owned Little Rock company started in 2015, gives free written estimates, and its website, alecsasphalt.com , is where to ask for one. Step 1: Turn feet into square yards Multiply length by width for square feet. Divide by 9 to get square yards, since one square yard is 3 feet by 3 feet. A 12-foot by 40-foot driveway is 480 square feet, or about 53.3 square yards. I will use that driveway for every number below. Step 2: Find the weight per square yard per inch The Tennessee Department of Transportation shows how a DO...

From the cab of a delivery truck, a driveway and a business lot look like two different jobs, and the pavement agrees. I deliver appliances around central Arkansas for a supplier, so I park on both all week. A dolly carrying a washer rolls over one narrow strip of a driveway. A loaded box truck, a garbage truck, and the next supplier's van roll over the same lot entrance from morning to night. Residential and commercial asphalt paving differ in five places: thickness planning, scheduling, striping, insurance paperwork, and drainage. Alec's Asphalt Paving , a family-owned Little Rock company started in 2015 by Alec Bennington, paves residential driveways and commercial parking lots. It figures compacted thickness separately for every job. How is thickness planned for a driveway versus a lot? Asphalt Magazine, which the Asphalt Institute owns, sets the two side by side. For a typical residential driveway, its November 2007 guide describes 6 to 8 inches of compacted crushed a...