Poll: Do you have a paved driveway?

[REWahoo]

The small town/rural thread made me curious - if you have a driveway, is it paved*?

*Paved equals concrete, asphalt, chip-seal or other similar surface. Gravel, decomposed granite, shell, grass, dirt, etc. is unpaved.

 

[Walt34]

When I was growing up we had a gravel driveway. Does that count as paved or unpaved?

After a while the gravel starts to sink in and you don't know the feeling of despair when your father says "I ordered ten tons of gravel for the driveway. You're going to shovel it".

Every house after that one did have a paved driveway. The luxury comes in when there is an attached garage at the end of the driveway. That got us spoiled very fast!

 

[NW-Bound]

The city home does, the boondocks home doesn't. So, I cannot vote.

 

[REWahoo]

When I was growing up we had a gravel driveway. Does that count as paved or unpaved?

Gravel = unpaved.

 

[pb4uski]

Walt, IMO gravel is unpaved.... paved = asphalt.

Our driveway is not paved, what we call "stay-mat" locally, a fine, almost like stone-dust that compresses nicely once it gets rained on a few times.

 

[Gumby]

Stone pavers. 130 feet long.

 

[2017ish]

we have 1/4 mile of gravel with a concrete parking pad leading into the garage. Figure vast majority rules, so unpaved.

 

[Hermit]

My plow truck has four cleated chains on it during snow season. Pavement wouldn't last a winter. I don't put the truck on concrete either for fear of the damage I might do. One of the neighbors said he was thinking about paving his drive. I told him I would no longer plow if he did. I haven't seen any pavement yet.

 

[Ronstar]

800' paved. 2.5" asphalt over gravel base. About 20 years old with only sealing. I have some cracks that crackfilling can't handle. I'm going to have to get some of it redone.

 

[Sunset]

I have what I consider 3 different situations, at different places

asphalt - it's cheap, soft, cracks quickly, is ruined by dripping gas on it, cannot put heavy things like motorcycle foot on it long term or will sink in.

cement - costs more, takes the weight, does not disolve, but does crack/heave badly, hard to fix yourself and look good.
no driveway as it's on an island. - pain to park on mainland and shift everything into the boat. Docks wear out quickly and are expensive.

 

[Car-Guy]

I didn't see "both" or "multiple" in the poll. Has there ever been a poll on this site that adequately covered an answer for everyone?

Anyways, I have about 25 yards that's nearest the house and barn that's paved in concrete and about 300+ yards of limestone rock/base to get me to the main road. Add to that 2 farm gates and one cattle guard to cross over.

 

[W2R]

My driveway is paved with concrete. I'm not in a small town/rural location though. I'm in a fairly urban inner suburb.

 

[jazz4cash]

When I was growing up we had a gravel driveway. Does that count as paved or unpaved?

After a while the gravel starts to sink in and you don't know the feeling of despair when your father says "I ordered ten tons of gravel for the driveway. You're going to shovel it".

Every house after that one did have a paved driveway. The luxury comes in when there is an attached garage at the end of the driveway. That got us spoiled very fast!

Nowadays a dump truck driver worth his salt has to be able to "tailgate" a load of gravel for roads and driveways. They tip the bed up a bit and control the spread of stone. Sometimes it has to be done in reverse. Driveways are trickier because you get a small pile at the end.

I've had 2 gravel driveways out of 3 houses. They were both double driveways shared with a neighbor and the hardest part was getting agreement that it was time for fresh stone. We paved the 2nd one with concrete and we have asphalt now.

 

[aaronc879]

Cement double wide driveway. Small town but not rural.

 

[rodi]

My first summer of retirement we ripped out the concrete driveway, graded, added gravel, then sand, then interlocking pavers. I put that it's paved. The norm around here is concrete. I live in the city - but a suburban neighborhood within the city.

When I lived in the Philly metro area I had the old-school 2 concrete strips with grass in the middle. And yes - it had a garage at the end. Since it was 2/3's concrete - and 1/3 grass... I guess that's paved.

I've never lived rural.

 

[splitwdw]

100 foot paved driveway. We had classic cars or we would have left it gravel.

 

[Just_Steve]

Asphalt 2 car wide but only a single care garage just enough room for my motorcycle, snow blower and tools, also have a two car parking pad on the side of the driveway since we are not allowed to park on the street from November 1 thru April 15.

 

[NW-Bound]

In some cities, the code spells out the choices for the driveway. My aunt's town code specifies that the driveway must be of poured concrete or concrete pavers, and it must be of a certain thickness. Asphalt or gravel is permissible only for a rear driveway, also of a certain minimum thickness. And that rear driveway cannot be accessed by an unimproved alley. And they stress that parking over unimproved ground is strictly forbidden.

Where I am, at the city metropolitan home, the code says that no permit is necessary for driveways, unless it is 30" higher than adjacent grade or goes over a basement. This means they don't care what you do. Ditto for my boondocks home, where most people have a driveway far better than the road that lead to their home anyway.

..When I lived in the Philly metro area I had the old-school 2 concrete strips with grass in the middle. And yes - it had a garage at the end. Since it was 2/3's concrete - and 1/3 grass... I guess that's paved.

I am trying to remember where I read a city ordinance that specifically spells out that driveways like the above are forbidden. Good grief, what is it with these guys?

 

[grasshopper]

I am the only home 3/4's of a mile from the county maintained dirt more like decomposed granite. We called a grader in 3 times in 11 years to make it driveable and redo the whole 3/4.

 

[MRG]

We have a small gravel driveway for now. DW and I were just talking about having it paved in the summer.

It's a pia to snowblow on gravel and I believe it won't be over 5-7k(hopefully less) to pave a small driveway.

Our last driveway was this huge concrete thing. Two to three vehicles wide and 75 yards long. When there was snow it drifted, badly!

 

[Philliefan33]

Paved at the main house, gravel at the mountain house.

 

[Mdlerth]

We have a 150 foot asphalt strip with a 14 degree slope leading from the garage up to the street. It's so steep, if it weren't paved, we would need 4WD to get up the hill in good weather; in foul weather we'd need a tracked vehicle. Or one of these:

 

[Ronstar]

We have a 150 foot asphalt strip with a 14 degree slope leading from the garage up to the street. It's so steep, if it weren't paved, we would need 4WD to get up the hill in good weather; in foul weather we'd need a tracked vehicle. Or one of these:

A 14 degree slope is insane. That's a 24.9% grade. IIRC, the cities I used to do work in Illinois had a maximum allowable slope of 10%.

 

[Mdlerth]

A 14 degree slope is insane. That's a 24.9% grade. IIRC, the cities I used to do work in Illinois had a maximum allowable slope of 10%.

It can be very intimidating. Most of our visitors prefer to park on the street and walk down to the house.

DW and I watch the weather forecast, and if the outlook calls for any snow, we move the cars up to the street beforehand. Otherwise we'd be trapped until it melts.Fortunately, Richmond is far enough south that we don't get snow often.

There is an upside* to living on a steep hill. It's tough to grow grass on a slope because the rain just runs off quickly. So, despite a 3 acre yard, there's only about 3000 sq ft that's level enough to require mowing. The rest is wooded, which means low maintenance. Also, we're not too worried about break-ins. No burglar is going to bother trying to negotiate my driveway; it's too much effort and there are flatter neighborhoods just a half mile away.


*On a different forum with a less discerning readership, clever puns like this one would just be wasted.

 

[Sunset]

It can be very intimidating. Most of our visitors prefer to park on the street and walk down to the house.

DW and I watch the weather forecast, and if the outlook calls for any snow, we move the cars up to the street beforehand. Otherwise we'd be trapped until it melts.Fortunately, Richmond is far enough south that we don't get snow often.

There is an upside* to living on a steep hill. It's tough to grow grass on a slope because the rain just runs off quickly. So, despite a 3 acre yard, there's only about 3000 sq ft that's level enough to require mowing. The rest is wooded, which means low maintenance. Also, we're not too worried about break-ins. No burglar is going to bother trying to negotiate my driveway; it's too much effort and there are flatter neighborhoods just a half mile away.


*On a different forum with a less discerning readership, clever puns like this one would just be wasted.

I would be so concerned anytime they forcast freezing rain on that driveway.