Mansfield

How to Prepare Your Driveway Paving

You’ve been ready to get the best driveway paving Mansfield, LA has to offer but aren’t sure what steps to follow. This confusion is understandable because there’s often a large number of variations that you need to keep in mind to avoid issues. For example, the following steps are things that we at Ark-La-Tex Paving always do to ensure that your driveway is as secure as possible.

Step One – Prepare Your Drainage

When you are getting driveway paving for your home, you’ll need to start by preparing the drainage around the pavement to ensure that it is as secure as possible. This step may not seem hard at first, but it is much more involved than you may think. That’s because you need to get it right, or else your driveway may easily get damaged by water pooling on the surface of your driveway.

First of all, you need to make sure that your pavement has a slope of at least one-quarter inch per foot of the driveway. This slope is something that requires a careful balance between your excavating and other steps in this process. If you aren’t careful, you may end up damaging your driveway and getting in trouble with your neighborhood authorities and other legal authorities in your area.

As a result, it is vital to work closely with your pavement experts to get this process exactly rightly. Most of these experts understand the unique challenge that this process can cause and will be patient enough to handle its demands. Make sure that they show you the level of drainage to get an idea of what to expect. Don’t forget – some soil types will make this process harder, such as clay.

Step Two – Putting In the Sub-Grade

Now that your driveway paving has the proper grading, you need to add the sub-grade to ensure that it sits correctly. Technically, the sub-grade is something you might have to do before the grading of the pavement site. However, we put it here because you’ll be grading the surface around where you’ll place the pavement before you end up checking your sub-grade for proper strength and stability.

Remember: your sub-grade is going to be installed any time you put in a new driveway. If you already had a driveway installed, the sub-grade will be inspected to ensure that it is durable. But if you’ve never had one on the spot where you plan to install it, you will need to make sure that you get the sub-grade installed before you end up putting any pavement up on your driveway area.

Typically, all of the topsoils must be removed before the sub-grade is installed. If you have a sturdy and dense surface for your sub-grade, there may be minimal installation needs. However, you may have a weak or plastic clay soil type. When this type of material is present, the sub-grade must be much more reliable because the clay is more likely to sink and cause pavement damage.

Step Three – Adding the Base

Once your sub-grade is durable enough for your soil, it is the time to add the base for your driveway paving process. You might not expect this process to be that hard, either – however, the base is another part that must be carefully prepared by professionals. That’s because it helps to form a crack-resistant surface that keeps your pavement from getting cracked or broken up in bad weather.

The base of your driveway is typically made out of a variety of different materials and is, minimally, six-inches deep. As a result, you need to dig beneath the surface of your soil when adding the sub-grade and for your base. In some cases, you may even want to add a base that is 10 inches thick. This thickness is a good choice if you want your driveway to be more durable and more protected.

What material do you use for your base? Usually, most jobs apply gravel because it provides the most strength and a large amount of resistance to damage. Unfortunately, you’re going to use a lot of base material in this process – up to several tons – so you need to make sure that you choose a base that is strong enough for your needs but not too expensive for your needs.

Step Four – Adding Your Pavement

At this point, it is time to add your driveway paving to the base. The type that you choose will vary depending on your needs. The process described above is standard for most types of pavement but is usually suitable for asphalt and concrete. However, you can use it for other options if you think that it is right for you. So carefully pick the type of pavement that you may want to use for your home or landscape project.

Don’t forget to add sealant and other protective elements to your driveway to ensure that it stays as secure as possible. The type that you use should be specific to the kind of pavement that you install for your home. Most of the time, there are particular sealants added to your pavement after it has dried and cured. So talk to your installation experts to learn more about this step of the process.

Getting the Pavement You Want

As you can see, the best driveway paving in Mansfield, LA helps to protect your yard and keep it secure for years to come. So please don’t hesitate to contact us at Ark-La-Tex Paving to learn more about this process. We know that finding the best option for your needs can be tough, which is why we are here to give you the help that you need for this challenging step when getting pavement.