Weeds and big "bubbles" on new tarmac drive

[AMBLESIDE18]

Hi there - I am hoping someone can tell me what "may" be have happened to my new drive ? I had it tarmaced on June 15th by a very "good" company apparently local to me here in the West of Ireland. Now the contractor is on holidays so I am going to be on his case ASAP when he gets back but I want to be armed with as much info myself.

It was one of our hottest days when the job was done and it looked to have turned out fab BUT it still feels soft and sticky and I am now noticing loose tar bits here and there.

Also an almighty weed burst through yesterday and you can literally see where the new tarmac erupted and this weed pushed up. Now I have just done a big inspection and I see more little hills in the tarmac here and there as if something is underneath pushing it up so I am worried more weeds are going to erupt.

Now I dont think this should be happening so soon and I am terrified to drive my car up as I dont feel confident its as solid as it should be at this stage .

Please could I have some opinions - much appreciated

[lutonlagerlout]

sounds FUBAR but one of our tarmac regulars will be along shortly
if you could take and upload a digital photo that would be excellent
LLL

[AMBLESIDE18]

Hi there and thanks so much for replying. I am really starting to worry now as I seen also where our postman drove up this morning and its like a brownish tint left in the tyre track marks.

My husband left me to sort it as he works in Scotland (sadly no work here at the minute ) and only gets home every few weeks and I am dreading him seeing this after me telling him job looking great.

I will defo take pics tomorrow....

Thanks so,so much - I really do appreciate ANY advice

[Suggers]

As LLL said - 2 brilliant tarmac guys on here - Dave & Big Phil - can you fly them both over to your place before hubby gets home?
With this heat in Sth Engerland, even the weeds are dying....
Welcome to the BC by the way - it's a bit stuffy in here, I'll just open a window....

[AMBLESIDE18]

Well an update as I didnt get a chance to take pics yesterday as it pelted rain ALL day. But this morning a guy from the company that did the Tarmac came around as I had left a message for the actual guy who did the work but he is still away.


This guy looked at where the weeds came up and also where the other little hills were starting to erupt that were starting to push the tarmac up .....He then sprayed these areas with some kind of spray and then he had this type of blowtorch thing and then when he finished with that he had a flat hammer type thing that he poured something out of gallon on to and then he used this hammer to whacked all the areas where the little protruding hills were.

Is this normal as you can see clearly now where he did this "patchwork" so wondering if it will fade with time ?

Thanks so much ...

[47p2]

Sounds like you had a visit from a leprechaun who was using his magic shillelagh to kill the weeds

[AMBLESIDE18]

Ha dont know about that as he was an Eastern European "leprechaun " who literally hadnt a word of English apart from Hello. *sigh*

[Dave_L]

Really could do with some pictures.....

Sounds like weed growth from the existing surfacing coming up through

Was this an overlay job or brand new full construction?

[AMBLESIDE18]

Dave_L - Well I am not sure bit at a guess I would say overlay ? Our drive just had loads of stones on it that we had whacked down ourselves before the tarmac job was done.

The stones were very rough and of course were become loose as is typical of most new build houses over here. It was very rough for my little ones to cycle on so we saved like mad for a tarmac job.

When the job was being done they put this fine stone - dusty type stuff over what we had down already and packed it all in and rolled it so the drive looked almost white and smooth before the tar was spread the next day.

Is it bad if weeds are coming from existing surface ? Thanks so much - I REALLY REALLY appreciate any help.

[rab1]

is there any chance that you could post a picture as this will help tarmac lads

[AMBLESIDE18]

Well it goes from bad to worse as a local farmer parked the other side of my gate today. We had the tarmac done out to the road and when he drove off tonight there was a huge oil leak where he parked............He had an crappy old 99 reg van and its peeing rain here and the stains look like slatey blue in colour/multi coloured in the centre and there huge speading out all over the place....

I am giving up the will to live today...... *sigh*. I know the damage oil can do and I am convinced I am going to have potholes by morning. Its pouring rain and I have power washed the area for a hour and gave up .........grrrr

[GB_Groundworks]

soak the oil up with dry sand if you can, or you can get special spill absorbent granuals but unlikely to have them to hand

[mickg]

cat litter works too

[AMBLESIDE18]

Oh ok.........well its bucketing down here still....I have cat litter but would it be silly to put it on right now when its raining or would that make any difference ? Thanks so much

[lindacarrick]

Hi
I think your tarmac person came to Wales on holiday! I have just had my drive and parking areas tarmaced and within 2 weeks of completion weeds came through. When I complained I was informed that this was usual and to put weed killer down. It also appears it is not covered by the 7 year guarantee, as the dispute is with the tarmac suppliers and not the tarmac layers!!! After emailing the photo's and threatening to report them to everybody under the sun including the tax man (was coersed/harrassed into paying cash), they came and put weed killer down. One week later the weeds are coming up again. I am looking at taking legal action, and in the meantime when I see a weed, I pour pure bleach on it and this seems to do the trick - then I push erruption down with my foot. I am becoming obsession with weed watching. Paying out a huge sum for tarmac was supposed to make life easier as with the previous gravel drive I was forever putting down weed killer. Sorry I know this is no help to you, but perhaps it will be a warning to others to check out contactors work - (preferably from some time ago to make sure drive is still good) and get recommendations.