Paving

Paving

It is sure nice to see someone else working hard and sweating for once, while I get to just photograph it.

A big crew shows up--all one big extended family. Two grandfathers, a couple sons, a grandson.

First step: grade everything, so that the asphalt will be laid on a solid surface.



This is a process with a lot of human labor--it isn't just shoveling stuff with power equipment.



And then you wet everything down. I'm not quite sure why.



You know what this is for!



There's a big water tank, both used for wetting the asphalt as they crush it, and to increase weight.

And here's the little tractor bringing up a load of asphalt from the big truck at the bottom of the hill.



Weed killer goes under the asphalt. You wouldn't think that weeds would be strong enough to go through asphalt, but they manage to poke their way through concrete.



If you are in the Boise area, and need paving, let me recommend:



A closeup on the asphalt arriving:



At the edges, they are positioning the asphalt by hand, with shovels.



I'm not sure what this machine is called, but it takes the asphalt, and lays a reasonably flat and consistent surface down.





Like this:





It seems to have more controls than the Millennium Falcon (although not as cool looking).



In some cases, they are starting from a pile on the ground.





But more often, they drop a load of asphalt in the hopper:



Don't know what this machine is called, but it flattens everything out, spraying several jets of water before it (which didn't show up in the photograph).



Here's looking up the hill where the old driveway joins the new driveway.



It will take some time for regular use to crush down the new asphalt to the level of the old.

While the original paved driveway was 8 1/2 feet wide, and that should be wide enough--when you get to the sharper curves, it really isn't. Why? Because when you make a sharp turn, to have the front wheels and rear wheels both on the pavement just doesn't happen--and when your wheels are on the edge of the asphalt, there isn't enough force to keep the asphalt from spreading outward. So we had them widen the driveway in those places, while repairing the cracks.





This cost $3000, including paving the approach at the bottom of the hill. (When they put in the driveway last year, they weren't sure where the property line ended, and we weren't around to answer thhe question.)

It is astonishing to see a crew working so hard on something like this, and taking great care to make sure that everything came out right. I highly recommend this crew.