Rain puddling on new tarmac drive - Advice required

[Big Phil]

tarmac doesn't sink for no reason. there must have been some form of point loading like a parked vehicle. this would indicate a weakness in the lower layers (binder course or subbase), or secondary compaction if the surface course was laid way too thick.

the sealant will hold water for longer, therefore making the puddling more noticable. the tarmac will have a degree of in-situ air voids and depending on what mix, it may not be 100% waterproof and some water may eventually drain through. if the contractor used a good thickness of dense tarmac, properly compacted and laid to a fall to drainage then there is no need to seal it. the only risk of frost damage would be if he skimmed a poorly compacted veneer over subbase.

it doesn't look good mate

[lutonlagerlout]

sorry phil i forgot about you
LLL

[Stoker]

Thanks for all your replies. Here's another photo showing more of the driveway and where the car is parked. It only shows one of the puddles though.



He admits that it wasn't done properly - that the roller driver possibly paused for a moment and created is slight depression in the tarmac. Before the surface was sealed the water must have been soaking into the tarmac. His proposed solution is to drill through the tarmac and install drains so that the water soaks away. To make them as small as possible he's proposing to use 70mm soffit vents. I'm going along with this as I can't see him redoing the whole job.

[seanandruby]

Hope he cat scans the area first. If there are services below beware :;):

[DNgroundworks]

you would only drill down to sub-base level though wouldnt you?

On the whole, from here, it doesnt look to bad a job.

[Stoker]

Hope he cat scans the area first. If there are services below beware :;):

He's only going to drill through the thickness of the tarmac.

[local patios and driveway]

dont tell the contractor this as it may be a good 'get out' excuse for him but one other potential reason could be mains water supply leak. im not saying it is or isnt but it 'could' be a valid reason. have a look at your water meter out on the road and see if it is spinning while everything is off in the house. job looks great in that last picture, what a shame this has happened.

[local patios and driveway]

dont tell the contractor this as it may be a good 'get out' excuse for him but one other potential reason could be mains water supply leak. im not saying it is or isnt but it 'could' be a valid reason. have a look at your water meter out on the road and see if it is spinning while everything is off in the house. job looks great in that last picture, what a shame this has happened.

[Stoker]

you would only drill down to sub-base level though wouldnt you?

On the whole, from here, it doesnt look to bad a job.

Yes - he's only going to drill through the tarmac itself.

The only thing wrong with it is that when it rains we now have two puddles that we didn't have before - one right outside the front door. If it's not fixed then when it freezes during the winter it will be a real hazard.

[rab1]

I`m not a pro.

I think there is a problem with your sub-base, nothing sinks if its correctly supported and as this is only happening in two localised areas means in my opinion only that its to do with the base of your drive not the top layer.

[seanandruby]

..........that's why i was persuing the existing services line of enquiry. If a storm/foul'drain had been fractured then enough subbase would of gone down the pipe allowing sinkage above, its got to be the subbase failing. Could of been soaked subsoil'been taken out but not compacted when replaced. If you could jog your memory as to what was being done in those two areas. Not really over excited about his remedy either, that will just saturate the ground underneath. Too close to the house for mini soakaway

[DNgroundworks]

Its gonna be a patch up job...

[Stoker]

dont tell the contractor this as it may be a good 'get out' excuse for him but one other potential reason could be mains water supply leak. im not saying it is or isnt but it 'could' be a valid reason. have a look at your water meter out on the road and see if it is spinning while everything is off in the house. job looks great in that last picture, what a shame this has happened.

The water supply goes into the house through the garage and is not near these puddles which only form when it rains.

Yeah I feel sick about it.

[Stoker]

Its gonna be a patch up job...

I called the Consumer Line people today and they said I had to give the contractor the opportunity to put things right. Only if I could get an expert report on the job then I might have a case to pursue. The only problem is how can I get and expert report when I couldn't even get other contractors to come out and give me a quote.

I'm trying to find out what is considered i the trade as an acceptable solution. I'm sure this isn't the first time that something like this has happened.

[lutonlagerlout]

it doesnt look like a bad job TBH
maybe cut out the 2 affected areas and retarmac to levels
but you will see it
weep holes will not solve the problem
LLL