I am buying a house with an asphalt patio. I am on a tight budget. I would like to "score' the asphalt into 24 inch squares to make it look like individual slabs, and then remove some where I want to plant. Can this be done? What do I use to score with? How deep to score... 1/8'?

Cathy

You can cut the asphalt with a circular saw and a concrete cutting blade. You'll likely burn up a few baldes but it can be done. Asphalt is about 3" thick.

1/8 would be good enough for the aesthetics, but you will need to cut at least half-way through the asphalt (all the way would be better) around those sections you want to remove. Otherwise the break will be ragged. You will have to break up the sections you want to remove.

Cutting the asphalt, as Ballenget suggests, would also be considered "scoring" it.