Asphalt Driveways in Terre Haute, IN

Asphalt driveways are our most common job in Terre Haute: replacing a driveway that has broken up, paving over a gravel drive, or installing a new one at a new house. A driveway needs replacing, not patching, when the damage goes below the surface. Look for cracks joined into a pattern like reptile skin, dips in the wheel paths, soft areas that flex when you step on them, and edges crumbling into the lawn. All of those mean the stone base has lost its strength.

Why the base fails here

Wabash Valley soil holds water. Floodplain clays near the river drain very slowly, and the upland silts east of town carry a seasonal water table within two feet of the surface through late winter and spring, according to USDA soil descriptions. When that wet soil freezes, it lifts; when it thaws, it goes soft. A thin layer of stone over that ground cannot spread a car's weight, so the asphalt bends and cracks.

HomeGuide's guide puts a standard residential driveway at 6 to 8 inches of compacted gravel under 2 to 3 inches of asphalt, and 8 to 10 inches of base with 3 to 4 inches of asphalt for heavier vehicles. Where we find soft or saturated subgrade, we dig it out and replace it with stone, and that work appears as a separate line on the quote.

Getting water off

On flat lots, which are common near the river and across the prairie south of the city, drainage has to be built in. We set a cross slope or fall away from the house and toward a spot that can take the water, keep the apron from becoming a low point, and check whether downspouts dump onto the pavement. In the county, where many driveways cross a roadside ditch, the culvert under the driveway carries that ditch's water; a crushed or undersized pipe floods the driveway from below.

Tear-out

Removing an old driveway means breaking it up, loading it and hauling it away; old asphalt is widely recycled. Indiana's dig law requires two full working days' notice to Indiana 811 before excavation, so a locate ticket is the first item on our schedule.

Gravel to blacktop

Many Terre Haute and county homes have gravel drives that have been topped up for years. Converting one starts by checking that stone. Clean, deep, well-packed rock can stay as base after regrading; rock that has been pushed into mud has to come out.

Older city lots

Much of Terre Haute's housing dates from before its 1960 population peak. Older lots often have narrow driveways beside the house, alley garages, and multiple layers of past overlays. Removing the old layers lets us rebuild at the right height against the garage and walks.