Driveways & Paving

Tram lines in the drive and puddles

Anonymous user 3 March 2024 - 3.35 PM

Good evening, We have recently had our drive laid in tarmac. The base was correctly installed by ground workers at a level to ensure the water ran off it and into the purpose built drainage. The tarmac company have come in and put there base in, and top layer of tarmac. But the water doesn't drain properly. And it has some areas which puddle. One rather large. It is also flat in some places so they have lost the slope, also they have laid it in 3 strips using a machine and the lines are very obvious and I think look messy, the middle strip is slightly higher than one side stopping the water from draining there. Is it normal to have it looking so messy? Thanks for your time, Update to your questions it's approx 130m2.

Anonymous user

How big is your driveway? A good tarmacing firm should complete most driveways in one hit and even if they were to do it in several strips it should still look seamless when finishing. As for the dips and puddling it’s more likely the base has subsided when the tarmac was being rolled or waked or the tarmac has been done that poorly that the levels are all wrong hence holding warmer, unfortunately the best and only real solution to solve the issue is to scrape back the tarmac check the sub base and relay tarmac. The minimum depths of the base that I work to are 150 mm of crushed hardcore compacted down, 100-150mm of type1 (mot) compacted down. Also if there’s any drainage pipes running under the drive that are seeping water out the joints this could cause the ground to sink. Hope this helps

Answered25 November 2020

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ROMACONSTRUCTION

Rating: 4.8 out of 54.8522 reviews

Frome

Thats going be very costly just to check if the sub base is the issue. You could over lay with a 10mm open graded material That would act as a soak away, that would get rid of the lines and puddling issue. I am assuming this drive has been layed in a close graded 6mm? Also if they havent done it fast enough and the material as gone as they have laid each rip, thats what can cause a bad joint. If you over banded the joints you can see would this make it look any better?

Answered13 December 2020

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Fine Fencing

Rating: 5 out of 5551 review

Calstock

I would agree with the above but check with the contractor to see if MOT type one was used as a sub base and watered gently as it was compacted, watering it allows for any fine particles to migrate and leave any voids to the top so the tarmac would fill these, also worth asking did they install a terram membrane under the sub base to stop combination of material, I would never advise on the use of crushed concrete for a vehicular trafficked area unless it is ministry of transport,(MOT) ticketed, proof of this can be obtained from the aggregate supplier as large voids in the crushed concrete will inevitably lead to sinkage, as for the puddles and lines it's does sound like a poor rake and roll, I would chase the company for all proof of installation procedures and ask for proof of what sub base was used

Answered29 November 2020

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Torbay Drop Kerbs and Driveways

Rating: 4.5 out of 54.5511 reviews

Totnes

When you say it’s done in stripes, this is called machine lay. The other option would have been to hand rake it if you wanted it all done in one complete surface with no joins . If it is dipping unevenly that would suggest settlement in whatever is below the hardcore , maybe softer areas of earth. If it was constructed on an area that wasn’t previously a well compacted and used area , it’s best to install a greater depth of hardcore and use lots of heavy compaction every 100mm depth built up, to help stop this happening.

Answered12 December 2020

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