A 2

Thanks Jeff... as I got home I got to a little walkaround before the thunderstorm with hail hit us. Our driveway appears clean, but the asphalt appears to be a little rough. The people opposite had their driveway sealed last year and I can see much bigger cracks in their driveway. The caulking thing may be the way forward with a possible reseal early next year. I will think about it some more.

Thank you all for your opinions. I feel very valued and appreciate every nugget shared.

Crazy_Schizo

Had a little fun this morning on the drive in to work at the expense of a WRX.

I'm sitting at a light, first in line. At the light, the single lane splits out into three lanes. One for turning left, one for going straight, and one to go straight or turn right. Thing is, if you get in that rightmost lane to go straight, you're either clueless, or an absolute dick since it ends right after the intersection. Inevitably, you have someone who thinks they're too important, and gets in that rightmost lane, blocking all the people who want to turn right.

So here I am in the Frontier waiting at the light. About three cars back, I see a WRX waiting decide that he's too cool to be back there, so he switches over and pulls up next to me.

He thinks his all-wheel drive is gonna give him the jump. I try to control the smirk threatening to tug at the corners of my mouth as I casually switch the truck over to 4wd. Two can play at that game.

Light turns green, I'm off before the WRX even knows whats up. Blast through 1st, into 2nd and I've already got almost a carlength on the WRX. The smirk has now blossomed into a face-wide grin as I shift into 3rd and switch back to 2wd...the guy driving the WRX is scowling in my rear view mirror as he merges in.

He wasn't expecting that one

Triple-H

23 pails, holy crap!!!

So Jeff, how many loads would that be with Aash and his Civic?

The other thing I like about the pros, and I just wonder how much this helps them, the darn stuff is applied when it is hot, it just looks so much more manageable when it is that liquid like.

I'm just sorry to say, my days of working the driveway are over, mine is just falling apart. The base it is on is clearly poor, the thickness of the pavement itself is paper thin. I suspect it was put in some time ago, and when it was put in it was a real cheap job, real cheap. I even have a high spot from the roots of the crappy Silver Maple that's next to the driveway.

Triple-H

I used to love doing that with the Titan
Those 400 pounds of torque really shot that beast off the line fast
And the look on the poor CAR driver's face was always just priceless

Lainey

I agree with Doug, driveway sealing is a nasty job. Rick did ours a few time and it was very tough to watch. We had an asphalt top coat put on the driveway years ago, and it held up pretty well. I convinced Rick there was no need to be messing with the driveway sealer.

Now, it's time for a full re-do. Checking into that now.

As far as the do it yourself debate. Rick will tackle small jobs, back in the early days of home ownership he tackled a few large ones including building our first deck. We're older now, we're tired, we're busy with the grandkids, and time is whizzing by. We've got better things to do with our free time. I now have a reputable plumber, a painter, a shrub trimmer (8-10 foot shrubs surround our yard) and a few other guys I can call when we need things done.

Yes we have to pay, but it's worth it to us. They are way better at what they do than we would ever be. The last time I painted woodwork in a room, I was never happy with the way it came out. The next time the painter came to do a job, I asked him to re-do that room. My painting days are over.

Crazy_Schizo

Sarah is all gung-ho about doing projects ourselves, saving money, blah blah blah...

Some projects I'm ok with that. However, I tend to be a bit perfectionist in things, and even small mistakes I make I will continually see and it drives me nuts.

She loves watching all these home improvement shows saying "See? We could do that!" I watch the same shows and see the "Oh man, what was the previous owner thinking? They completely screwed up this house, and it would have cost them half as much if they'd hired a professional to do it right the first time!"

Triple-H

Here is my plan, let my already bad driveway, just get worse, not much can be done to save it, it's just not on solid ground
Then, when I splurge on the garage expansion, I'll just do the ultimate driveway

Stained concrete

Lainey

Save your pennies! I just got a price on a stained/stamped concrete walkway, from front steps to street. It's neither very wide nor long and it was a lot more $$ than I thought. We may settle for "plain Jane" concrete. One company told me flat out they don't even quote on any job less than 4K.

A 2

I wonder why asphalt is preffered in the North East (probably has to do with snow). Those concrete driveways (stamped or not) look much better IMO. and Concrete driveways of a certain finish are quite slippery when wet.

Triple-H

My neighbor knows a guy...
He just had his done, it's larger than mine, and they did an awesome job, $5,000