I just had a new asphalt driveway installed yesterday. How lond do I need to wait before I should drive on it? Thanks

I worked for a state highway construction division for 35 years and I am always amazed at how long people stay off their driveways after paving. My neighbor just redid his driveway and he parked in the ditch for over two weeks.
The fact is that after the roller is finished compacting the blacktop and it has cooled down completely, say 4 hours in summer temps, I don't know how a car could damage a good mixthat has been rolled with the proper sized roller.
On road projects it is necessary sometimes (say in the middle of an intersection) to put traffic onto fresh blacktop within an hour or less and I have never seen any damage from semis or anything else. Rollers compact the blacktop to 95% density or more.
My answer would be if it is a good mix, rolled properly and cooled, use it. But if you want to err on the safe side, let it sit overnight so you are certain it is cooled. I think it is also good to try to avoid leaving the car parked in the same spot all the time, but a rut is as likely to be caused by bad soil conditions under the driveway, as it is from bad paving material or poor paving construction.
My neighbor did make one good move, I think, he hired the contractor that does all the road and interstate paving in this area. They prob use mixes very similar to the state mixes that are closely scrutinized, sampled and tested. And some of those contractors aren't real busy during the day because most paving on heavily traveled roads have to be done at night.

Thanks Smearcase. I have one more question. Should I put a sealer on it now or wait until next year? Thanks. Fmm06418

No sealer needed this year. Sealer will not prevent cracks, it just seals them and you should not have any this year. If you do get cracks I'd call your paver back.

This is actually a question in follow up to your answer to fmm06418 dated 6/7/08, as follows:

"No sealer needed this year. Sealer will not prevent cracks, it just seals them and you should not have any this year. If you do get cracks I'd call your paver back."

My new drive cracked badly within 2 months of installation in April. It was laid right after a rain while the base was still wet. Some of the cracks are probably 3/4" wide while others are just barely visible. The worst problems are where new base was laid, but there are small but long cracks where the new pavement is laid over old, deteriorated asphalt.

What are the likely causes and what should I expect the contractor to do (he apparently painted some asphaltic material on the cracks while I was gone this week instead of replacing the badly fractured parts and over-laying the rest with an inch of material as I thought we had agreed).

Thanks.

He is trying to avoid doing the correct fix which is a clostly (to him) tear out. If 4" of material was laid and compressed to about 3 1/2" there should be no cracks. Either he did you base wrong or you 4" wrong. Keep after him and di he give you any written warranty?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ballengerb1

...If 4" of material was laid and compressed to about 3 1/2" there should be no cracks. Either he did you base wrong or you 4" wrong. Keep after him and di he give you any written warranty?

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The asphalt was 2.5" compressed to 1.75" for a driveway. There was also 4" of new base on the hillside portion, which is the part now having the worst cracks.

Frankly, I don't recall what is in the agreement.