Asphalt Edges: How To Finish Asphalt Edges

[@laurabarnham4713]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Our home was just finished in November and we just have a stone driveway and parking area. We are having it paved and I was concerned about the edges and how they should be finished. It seems if you get it "shouldered" well- it doesn't matter so much about the edges. What I DON"T want it those side cracks from FedEx or UPS drivers going over the edge.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

You are so welcome! Glad we could help!

[@CarriUSA]

Glad I found your video on shoulders. Our driveway ( Wisconsin) winds up a hill ( 500 feet long) with steep edges to the driveway. We went with having the former asphalt milled for a base, compacted and just been asphalted. We prepped by adding ripwrap and aggregates all along the driveway. We thought we had it pretty high…. thought we did a great job. Well the milling base ended up 13” high and that much higher than the the ground and now asphalted even higher as they probably should have trucked out more of the milled asphalt? We are a bit perplexed on how we should properly backfill the shoulder and dirt will only erode and how long after asphalting ( done yesterday) should we wait to fill in the shoulder? Did not expect it to be that high! Thanks and for your video!

[@AllAboutDriveways]

If you email Patrick pictures, he'll be happy to help.

[@dc-wp8oc]

Love it. Down to earth and no BS and well presented.

[@BNM0826]

My driveway has curved and broken pieces off the edges- I'm thinking of just putting a straight piece of 2 x 4 and adding asphalt patching to it. Hopefully it makes everything straight again.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

You can buy the cold seam will crack and the edge will break off again particularly if you live in a cold snowy climate

[@brenyz5013]

I have paved meny meny driveways . it’s all about money when possible a driveway should be at least 14 foot wide. This way you don’t drive off the edges in the first place but every customer insist on 10 foot wide to save money and they insist on getting many many estimates, and finding the cheapest guy. so now the good companies have to lower their prices to be competitive to a guy that gave us satellite estimate and then of course he goes to the job and jacks up the price plus most of the time you get to a driveway and you don’t know how the base is until you put the paving machine on it and manipulate the ground grading it Now you’re in a position where it really needs to be reinforced with Stone or asphalt but you did not get enough money for the job in the first place so now you just have to do your best. When really it needs to be all dug out and 6 inches of stone put in and then left for a good month but then the job turns into two days and the paving contractor loses money. if you give the correct price to begin with you don’t get the job the cheap guy does.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Unless of course you're a member. Homeowners that use our website know that a good job is going to cost more. But very valid points.

[@jharmon1071]

Always tamp the edges before and after top surface is rolled and just after paved while hot unless its a highway. Raker should be on each side behind screed. Then push rock up to edge to hide edge after.

[@brianthommo7821]

My Roller has a " edge wheel "on it , i can lower up and down and it has a water jet on it , but it only works well on straight roads.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

I haven't seen one in action.

[@brianthommo7821]

@@AllAboutDriveways this is the roller i use every day cc2200 dynapac , you can see the wheel on front right of drum .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4e4f3mJa6ajaKM .. could not find a video of someone using a dynapac wheel , but i found a hamm roller video with someone using it, kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX_aeXmnppmCoKc we have both at my work .. prefer the dynapac to be honest , any main road if we leave an ope edge over night or few days we run the wheel down it to compact it makes strong and a nice join

[@josefrusch5455]

Very helpful, thank you.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Thank you. Glad it was helpful!

[@mikecozzi1040]

😲 What about sealing the driveway edges with crack fill and using sand instead of dirt, to keep weeds from growing in to the edges?

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Sounds logical. However, I would also say that, as with anything below the surface, it would likely only last a few years. Also, a properly installed asphalt driveway rarely has weeds growing into the edges.

[@mikecozzi1040]

@@AllAboutDriveways 😲Bet you never seen the kind of weeds that grow through driveways growing on a beach! Give sand a second thought! 😲 Thanks for your feedback and have a Wonderful Day! 🇺🇲

[@steevesevan]

So can u put top soil on the edges. Right away. Or should wait

[@bonniewood6052]

Are cement edges better to then hold the asphalt in place? What are these edges called when contracting this?

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Cement edges, or Concrete/cement borders are awesome. 👍

[@simd510]

Whats best for edges- gravel, dirt or recycled asphalt

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Nothing aside from a concrete or paver border.

[@simd510]

@@AllAboutDriveways i meant to say shoulder. So are you saying gravel, dirt or recycled asphalt won't do anything to protect the edges from cracking when vehicles go off? It'll provide some protection won't it? I can't do concrete or pavers. My driveway is to long.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

Yes. Either of those are fine for shouldering. I'm not a fan of recycled asphalt at all but I suppose that's a personal choice.

[@mariannefarrell5538]

What can you deal crumbling shoulder?

[@AllAboutDriveways]

We would need to see pictures of it to tell you. Go to our website and send us an email and we'll reply with an email address to send the picture.

[@9983sp]

A rake man isnt doing much anyway, and it doesn't nend the rake.

[@AllAboutDriveways]

LOL. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. The rakes get bent constantly. Come back here after you have a bit of experience and then let us know how many rakes you've gone through in an entire season.

[@vitalitymbs]

I can promise who ever your working a rake for, hates you. Quit before your fired, or come back down to earth. It's probably the hardest job on a dang paving site