Asphalt estimation

Something I have not been too good at in the past. I can estimate, stone, mulch, topsoil fine. Asphalt throws me. I am not a paver and don't do enough of it so that adds to the difficulty.

Anyway, I created a new curb cut to access my "shop" on my property. In the fall we laid stone, evenrually I want to pave the whole things but for now I just want to put down an apron where it meets the road in about 6 feet where it starts to narrow to a single lane. So it will be about 24x6 or 144 sq. ft. Will a ton be enough? I will of course regrade and recompact the base again and then just use my compactor and handroller for now.

Again hoping to pave the whole drive in the fall and will hire a paving company to do the whole thing including the apron again. Just looking to keep the street neat so I don't get complaints.

What depth or thickness?

2" I did not pave it originally because I wanted to allow for settling etc. Its been driven on all winter now so I think its pretty stable. As said just a temporary application. My paving experience is curbing repairs and patches where excavation was done. We can do this, just need help with how much material.

You need a 1.75 tons.

Just go pick up a slide rule at the asphault plant were you plan to buy from. They are real easy to use and are free. Also the plant will tell you how much you will need just based on the dimentions and thicknesses.

Check your plants minimum load. Ours is close to two tons.

wilddanz71 said:

Just go pick up a slide rule at the asphault plant were you plan to buy from. They are real easy to use and are free. Also the plant will tell you how much you will need just based on the dimentions and thicknesses.

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Exactly--matter of fact I just happen to always have my bituminous concrete estimator handy on top of my desk and Cretebaby is correct with 1.75ton,so 2 ton is what you'll need to buy.

OK, I think I will stop by at O&G in New Milford today. I doubt they are making asphalt yet but I can get a slide rule. I can always make the apron a bit bigger.

Thanks.

you should consider a binder course then a top coat. if your gonna top the rest of the driveway later, just lay binder for now. plus you may have to lay it thicker until you get out of the town r.o.w.
take your square footage multiply by thickness in inces & divide by 160
ex: 10,000sf x 3" = 30,000, div by 160 = 187.5 ton
the 160 represents the fact that 1 ton of asphalt will cover 160 sf at 1" thick.
if your used to cubic yards, then double it for tons. 1 cy of asphalt is 4000#

i have always used length x width divided by 27 to get square yards
mutiply by .056 or 110 pounds per square inch times the thickness and it works out pretty well

Dividing by 27 is the proper way to get cubic yards. Square Feet divided by 9 will give you your square yards. To figure asphalt I use square yards/18x thickness this gets us very close in the office and in the field. Also like mentioned above tack should be applied to the stone before you lay down any type of asphalt.

In a pinch you can also figure by using the cubic yard formula--L xW xD,keep it all in feet,divide total by 27. Get your cubic yards.A cubic yard of blacktop weighs app.4,000 lbs. Then just convert to tons-simple.

So we finally got this done. I was able to get just one ton from them by coming at the end of the day. I don't know why specifically but whatever.

I did go with a base, told them what I was doing and they set me up with the right materials, we compacted the processed base again though it didn't move much, brought the load in, raked it and push a water weighted roller over it. It actually looks pretty good and if it holds up till the fall I will be happy.

So I get the 550 all cleaned out so there is no dirt or anything in it and drive up there all worried because I see paving trucks with asphalt all over them. Sitting in line and the guy in front of me has a F350 diesel with a Reading steel flat bed with a WOOD DECK. It has a steel headboard and stake sides with plywood on them. They load him with more then I got and off he drives. I asked them and they said he gets asphalt quite often for curb repairs etc. This was a hot load not cold patch. I should have asked what the temp was but it did not pop into my mind. I turned the scanner on but never heard a tone go out for a truck fire.

I was happy that almost all the load came out and there was just a little residue that cleaned up without a lot of work.

asphalt is like low 300*f just out of the plant if its a batch plant, i want to say 365 but i dont remember exactly..........the wood would be fine

All of the gravel trucks that haul asphalt around our area have plywood liners on the sides of the box. There isn't nearly enough heat to start a fire out of hotmix.

Good to know. I don't have much experience with it. I always figured it was closer to 500. Still not necessarly enough to light it up but would char it.

First time I have seen it. Does it stick to the wood?