Hello All, Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Have just had a new tarmac driveway (10M by 5M). 10mm tarmac straight onto concrete. Concrete was in sections and the divides of the concrete were removed and filled and compacted with type 1 chippings. The driveway goes up into an alleyway down the side of the house also. In between the two is a drain for the gutter downpipe.
*** Questions For You Guys - ???
Should there have been a tacking coat between the concrete and tarmac? What would be the issues without it?
The tarmac is not compacted that well at the edges particularly in the alleyway. Am I being too picky?
Puddles form in one part of alleyway and near the top of my drive. Can anything be done about this?
Is this acceptable or normal (when sold to me I was told that all rainwater would runoff, no puddles. Now tarmac is down I'm told its impossible to avoid puddles)?
Can anything be done about this afterwards? (He suggested drilling through the tarmac so water would drain away!)
i have seen this sort of thing done as a cheap tart up job,but it will not, and cannot last long
what restraints have been put in for this "10mm" of tarmac??
did these people knock on your door or were they recommended?
have you got a written guarantee?
i take it you are in st albans ,theres a lot of pikeys in this area that do some really bad work,an overlay on concrete would require a tack coat and at least 25 mm of 6mm sma
see here for details tarmac basics
how much did you pay and have you got a photo you can upload?
cheers LLL
I take it you mean you had 10mm aggregate tarmac laid to a sufficient depth (30mm or thereabouts...) and not just a 10mm overlay?!
Yes, the concrete should have been swept clean and a tack coat either sprayd or poured onto the surface in readiness for the tarmac. Without a tack-coat, the tarmac will not bind to the concrete and will merely sit on top.......not ideal. Not good for compaction either, as it will just move around.
Ideally, the tarmac over concrete overly should be of a 2% latex SMA tarmacadam - horrible to hand lay. The latex gives it a degree of flexibility. I'd put money on your surface just being a standard surface course.......
Puddles? No excuse, it hasn't been laid to level properly. A very highly skilled job - not something that can be learnt in a flash. Did you watch them lay and compact the stuff? There is no excuse for poor finishing or compaction - areas that cannot be gotten by the roller should be wacker-plated with plenty of water - this will give an acceptable finish.
Drilling through the tarmac to get the water off?? Don't make me laugh! Ridiculous suggestion!
RW Gale Ltd - Civils & Surfacing Contractors based in Somerset
Thanks to all for your replies (even if they fill me with dread!)
To answer some of your questions see below :-
These guys have put restraints around the tarmac area, concrete edging.
Thickness of tarmac at minimum is about 25mm but the majority is 30mm plus thick. The tarmac finish was 10mm chippings.
Yep the tarmac at the edges is not smooth where its not been whackerplated (If thats a word). Can anything be done once laid? What would be the consequences of it being left?
I didn't see them put a tack coat down although they talked about it. I guess I now have a floating driveway!
£1400 for an area 54-56 Meters Square, rip or reasonable?
Will pop some photos up ASAP
Guarentee..... Well they offered 10 year but I'm now starting to realise that it won't be worth the typing on this page now.
Thanks to all comments so far, appreciated. Should I still be witholding payment, should it be less than £1400 for this amount of work? Any suggestions/comments welcome
