Re-surfacing over tarmac

[missmardy]

Help please!!

I have recently bought a house which has two off road parking spaces walled either side, it is currently tarmaced but is in a complete mess there are several large divets and cracks. I would prefer to have shingle rather than having it resurfaced with tarmac but having read other threads and the help sections I can see that I would have to take the tarmac off. My question is really would this be feasible and would the surface underneath the tarmac be suitable for laying the shingle onto? Cost wise would there be a huge difference between shingle and tarmac taking into account that I would do the shingle option myself as I am assuming it just required a lot of grunt work.

Any help much appreciated.

[Dave_L]

Given the fact that there are large divets and cracks present, I'd assume the sub base isn't up to much.

A test dig would confirm this.

No point in resurfacing over this failed surface.

[missmardy]

By test dig do you mean I should just get a pick axe and go at it? Because thats something I could get on board with. :;):

[Tony McC]

Yes - aim to dig a hole roughly 300x300mm in plan and 200-400mm deep. Let us know what you find.

[missmardy]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for replying, just to let you know I have a driveway bloke coming round on Monday evening to quote, I thought i'd be a bit cheeky and find out if its going to be a big job before i decide what to do.

I'll let you know what he says.

Claire

[missmardy]

Well the guy came on Monday night with one of those rolling measure things, got the quote this morning, he wants 700 quid to do it which seems a bit steep to me considering its only about 28 square metres?!?

[seanandruby]

would help if we knew what he planned to do, or did he just pluck that figure out of the air? ???

[Dave_L]

Never ceases to amaze me how a wheel makes a "contractor" look professional! I'm certain they do it on purpose.

Still, I guess it's better than pacing it out.

Let us know the specs of the work, we'll guide you along.

[lutonlagerlout]

700 seems a fair price if he is doing it properly
LLL

[MatthewWakeman]

price sounds fair 28m2 is small but the guy still has to mobalize all the kit

[Tony McC]

But 28m² of what?

[missmardy]

Hello,

He was going to resurface over the existing tarmac.

I've decided to shingle it now so i'm planning on digging up the layer of tarmac and adjusting the base layer so that it can be shingled on. Looking at places where the tarmac has come off it looks like its sand and stone underneath. Would this be ok with a new layer of sand over it before the shingle?

[Dave_L]

But 28m² of what?

Something very "thin" I reckon!!