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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:07 pm
by DIYBODGER
Hi, I've just finished putting in a gravel driveway. At the front of the drive is an area of grass about 3/4 metre deep by about 5 metres wide. I've dug it out and put hardcore in it but am not sure what to use on top. I've seen bags of tarmac at B&Q, does anyone know if they r any good? I have to drive over this area to get on my drive. The other option would be concrete but the path is tarmac so think that would look better.
Thanks in advance!
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:15 pm
by dig dug dan
The bags of tarmac you have seen are ideal for small patching. I have used them to finish a drive edge where it meets a pavement, or if I have put a post into a tarmac drive, i dress round it with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for a large area. It takes an eon to set to any strength.
Best to find a local tarmac company that can do it for you. they often like small jobs like this as they can use up any left over from another job
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:21 pm
by Dave_L
Use a reputable surfacing company to construct the tarmac area properly, that way it will look right and last. Avoid using Easitex type bagged tarmac for large areas as Dan has said. It's a deferred set type of 'mac, never has any strength.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:20 pm
by TarmacLady
The bags are, as the gents have said, very soft bitmac -- they are designed to remain flexible, as a spot requiring a patch is, by definition, subject to some sort of motion stress.
The missus will bury you alive, too, because the stuff goes right gooey when the sun is shining or when it gets a bit warm (by design -- it then flows into any new breaks in the hole) -- and you'll track it all over her floors straight away.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:00 pm
by the lost
DIYBODGER wrote:Hi, I've just finished putting in a gravel driveway. At the front of the drive is an area of grass about 3/4 metre deep by about 5 metres wide. I've dug it out and put hardcore in it but am not sure what to use on top. I've seen bags of tarmac at B&Q, does anyone know if they r any good? I have to drive over this area to get on my drive. The other option would be concrete but the path is tarmac so think that would look better.
Thanks in advance!
At the front of the drive is an area of grass about 3/4 metre deep by about 5 metres wide...
I have to drive over this area to get on my drive.
I may be having trouble understanding this, but are you talking about the grass verge by the roadside?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:55 am
by DIYBODGER
Cheers for you replys, i'll steer clear of the bags then!!
The Lost - it's a small patch of grass between the driveway and path.
Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:52 pm
by flowjoe
There was a company around our way last year who would deliver bagged T.Mac out of the back of a heated van, the kind of van they deliver bacon butties out of on trading estates.
The T.Mac had no cut back in it so it would set, unlike like the crap you get from the B.ms and it was warm and easy to work with, so you don`t have to have it in the cab with you with the heater on full before you can work with it.
Never used the service though and have not seen them for some time, probably tells its own story 
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:42 am
by Dave_L
That's a new one on me!!!!!!
Nice concept though!
Did he do hot pasties and bacon butties too? Could have been onto a winer!
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:59 am
by seanandruby
Wife." i'll just leave a note out for the milkman" Husband. " and leave one for the tarmac man, tell him 2 bags today ". :laugh: :laugh:
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:06 am
by TarmacLady
y'know, a hot bag of asphalt would do a brill job of keeping a bacon buttie warm until you had time for a break!
(argh. Can't get good British bacon nor a flour bap here)
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:48 am
by Tony McC
Was that a "HotBox", Joe? It's a gadget that'sused by some term contractors for small patching jobs. The blacktop is kept heated and agitated inside an insulated container and dispensed as required.
Good British bacon? Is there any left? Most of the stuff I find over here comes from some sort of underwater pig, because the rashers give off a cupful of water before starting to cook. I buy traditional dry-cured rashers from a real butcher's shop in Limerick and bring it back to Britain with me (along with proper sausages and white pudding).
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:35 pm
by TarmacLady
still better than what I can buy -- we've only got streaky bacon here.
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:43 pm
by Dave_L
Perhaps the pictures don't pick it out well, but was the original surface red tarmac?
Impressed.
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:37 pm
by Wilson
It was dusk and the flash went off...but yes the original is Red...oddly enough in daylight, no flash (!), its not a bad match. Of course the original is some 18 years old and has lost its colour as you would expect. A good bitumen asphalt restorer would cover the whole thing and perk it up.
I have brushed the dust and bits and pieces over the cold seal after applying the top sealing coat and the black is actually dulled down a lot ......why don't they make cold seal in red as well ? One of lifes mysteries.
I was impressed by the workability of the IRR and good compaction and adhesion to the sub base. If I was doing it for a living I would plan a bit more as the first picture shows where I did one bit them wasn't happy with the other side of the drain so did a bit more.
