[HRLand]

We install paver patios, walks and even full driveways but never just a border. How would you go about this?

I'm thinking of having the asphalt guys install their base and then lay my edging in, screed the sand and lay the pavers. Would they be able to compact more base next to these pavers if they need to come up a little or would they just go deeper with the asphalt?

[chesie]

We did one these this past season. We talked to the company installing the drive to get their take on it so that there is communication on both sides.

We installed the pavers first.....put in a wider than normal base, and allowed grades for the asphalt. Install your edging on both sides of the pavers. When they put in the asphalt they installed it over the the edge restraint right up to the pavers. Turned out great. Not my favorite type of job but it tied in with the patios and walks.

We have also done this after a drive has been installed for a while and it is not fun. YOu cut the asphalt and it crumbles on the edges and driveway guys don't get things as smooth as we paver guys do.....alot of up and down to it. Not quite as nice of a job as doing it before hand.

[cutntrim]

I'm planning on widening my own asphalt driveway this summer. The house is 10yrs old and the driveway appears to be in decent shape. I haven't seen UNDER the surface yet along the sides. I was figuring I'd snap a chalk line along each edge then use a cutoff saw with an ashpalt blade to make a (hopefully) straight edge.

I'm sure it won't be as easy as it sounds. There's also one of those little gas line heads in the turf along the drive where I want to lay the pavers. I was on our city's website last week and I see that I'll have to call the engineering dept. to let them know I'm doing this. It looks like they come out to cut the curb, if I'm reading their info right.

[jwholden]

Chesie,

I have heard of other members installing pavers on the edge first, a (stupid) question...

Did the driveway guys do most of the rough prep work before you did your paver border?

It seems crazy (cost prohibitive) to shoot the grade and plan the entire job so you can run a 3' strip of process for the pavers. I assume the asphalt guys would ding your work with some massive roller or dump truck in the process.

Curious what your order of operations was on a job like that.

[chesie]

Sorry I didn't read your post close enough...well this job had an existing/ established crush run base. We did most of the prep on the job so that they just had to come in and put down the asphalt right up to our pavers. So they just filled between out work.

Now problems could come into play if you have to put in a "bib" or apron at the end of the drive where they would have to work over "your" pavers.

[Paul]

A quick question guys? Why? Let them put in the drive first, saw cut the edge and install the brick........... Reason is most of drive way guys will run over your work, get junk all over your pavers and generally mess things up. Have them put in the base wider than you need, put down the 3" of asphalt, roll it, then hand it over to you.

[Tim]

Originally posted by cutntrim
[I'd snap a chalk line along each edge then use a cutoff saw with an asphalt blade to make a (hopefully) straight edge.
[/b]

If you do this when the asphalt is cold, it will help you to limit the edge from fraying when you go to remove the scrap. Also saw deeper than you know the asphalt is. This will burn some extra blade up, but it will help you from having a deep spot in the grade (before the asphalt was laid) from causing your straight line to break away jagged as well. <,"}//>{ Tim

[HRLand]

I'm not worried about my work getting run over. The guy doing the driveway is a friend and he asked me to to do the border for him. He did my drive 3 years ago and did a very neat edge by the pavers.

[diginahole]

We do driveway soldiers all the time. You get a much better job if the borders are laid before the asphalt. If you leave it up to the pavers to set the final surface elevations it will look just fine until you put the pavers beside it. Because there are no lines in the asphalt slight fluctuations in the surface disappear. As soon as you put the borders on the slight variations in both the surface and the cut edge become glaringly obvious.

When we can install the borders before the asphalt we prepare a base 4' wide on each side of the drive. We install edge restraint only on the outside. The inside gets some base material tamped against the borders. After the borders are in most of the base prep for the asphalt is just adding a bit if 3/4 to the grade we have already established. My experience is the pavers love it when we get the borders done ahead of them. The customer is happy because they get string line straight, square and flat driveway that lines up with the walkway. I like it because it is less work than cutting and working with kid gloves on fresh asphalt.

[cutntrim]

Tim: So you'd suggest making my cuts before it gets too warm? I wasn't planning on laying the brick until later spring/summer but I suppose I could cut now and then remove the waste material later. I'd rather do it all at once though.

[Bill Schwab]

I would do this Paul's way as well. The only difference is we would set a 12" bond beam of concrete, then spread a thin layer of thin set mortar on the bottom of the brick to bind it to the cement. Asphalt can mitigate over time, and the bond bam can help stop that.

[diginahole]

We retrofit driveways with soldier borders often as well. Only in the dog days of July and Aug does the asphalt become so soft that it gives us any trouble. We can work around these difficulties should we need to. When you make your cut use the full depth of the saw blade to cut a nice clean line in the base as well as the asphalt. This helps when you dig so you don't undermine the asphalt's base. For a double wide border we mark a line perpendicular to the garage. Next we cut the asphalt and base. We mark a line 32" toward the lawn and run the saw along that line through the sod. before we remove the asphalt we excavate for the new base. Leaving the asphalt in place prevents the skid steer from damaging the cut edge of the asphalt. If it wanted to break it would only go as far as the cut. We dig deep enough that we can bury the wasted asphalt because it is difficult to get rid of and would need to be separated from concrete or soils therefore requiring another trip with the dump truck. Next we fill and compact the base materials, usually by eye. Once the base is installed we use a notched screed to run along the asphalt to create our setting bed. The pavers are installed, extra bedding sand raked away, the edge is installed, and joints are filed with poly sand. We use some of the excavated soil to regrade the 16" between the pavers and lawn and a roll of sod fits perfectly to finish the job.

[Paul]

My biggest problem with asphalt paver contractors, is the diesel fuel they use to keep their shovels and rakes clean. They seem to get it all over.

[diginahole]

You got that right Paul. This is probably one of the reasons I have my clients arrange their own asphalt work. The bits of asphalt that inevitably get on our pavers seem to come off easily enough with a spade, but they often leave a huge mess of diesel and smeared asphalt on the road when they are done. To be fair, some companies are neat and tidy, but they are few and far between.

[cutntrim]

Blair: Do you use a mini-x for that? I figured to rent one for doing the excavating, since I may also extend the pavers alongside the garage to the back gate. I'm not sure I can manage burying the asphalt waste though, I've got a pretty narrow lot with a tree and the gas line on one side of the drive, and the swale between my neigbour's house close to the driveway edge on the other side.