{"id":194,"date":"2006-04-19T21:37:43","date_gmt":"2006-04-20T02:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/archives\/2006\/04\/19\/i-heart-my-tar-and-chip-driveway\/"},"modified":"2019-02-15T20:54:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T01:54:54","slug":"i-heart-my-tar-and-chip-driveway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/i-heart-my-tar-and-chip-driveway\/","title":{"rendered":"I Heart My Tar & Chip Driveway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in September 2004, I had a tar and chip (bituminous surface treatment) driveway installed in place of the existing gravel drive that came with our old house. Because there wasn’t (and still isn’t) much web information on tar and chip driveways, I thought I’d briefly summarize my experience.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> With last week’s very heavy rains, our tar & chip driveway has developed a large hole.<\/div>\n
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We called the original contractor (Craig Hup) in, to take a look and let us know our options. Unfortunately, he said that it’s not really possible to patch the driveway; he would have to redo the entire job [but see readers’ comments below for discussion on whether this is actually true]. And, at current oil prices, the cost of the job would be something like $2\/square foot–about double<\/em> what we paid three years ago.<\/p>\n

Some context:<\/p>\n

The washout was caused by a flash rainstorm.<\/p>\n

The lawn next to the driveway (in the spot near the washout) slopes back towards the driveway–which means that water may not have enough room to run off the driveway, especially during an unusually heavy rain.<\/p>\n

After talking with some neighbors (and a couple of other local contractors), it’s apparent that we’re not alone. The recent rainstorm caused damage (potholes or washouts) to several local driveways: gravel, tar & chip, and asphalt alike.<\/p>\n

We’re still deciding how to handle it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What Does Tar & Chip Look Like?<\/h3>\n

(Photos: tar and chip driveway<\/a>, completed; installation<\/a>. More photos coming soon.)<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>If you’re a city boy, like me, you probably have no clue what a tar and chip road looks like. Well, our driveway looks more or less like a normal gravel drive, except that, in most spots, if you tried to sweep away the gravel, you’d reach a grey, pseudo-solid, conglomerated rock base. (If it were true gravel, you’d hit earth.)<\/p>\n

We put slightly too much stone on the drive after it was tarred, so there’s more gravel than we’d ideally like (making look very much like a regular gravel drive). Some people might prefer the way that looks, though.<\/p>\n

We also chose to go with grey stone, for a few reasons. For one, it fit better with our house (even though, in a vacuum, I might prefer red stone). More importantly, it was easier (cheaper) to get, and will make future maintenance much less of a headache. Grey is easy to match; I know I’ll be able to re-chip the driveway easily later on. Also, it’s not easy to find a contractor who does tar and chip (see below), so the fewer exceptions to their normal practices (e.g., grey stone), the better.<\/p>\n

Why Is It Better?<\/h3>\n

Advantages of tar and chip over blacktop (asphalt):<\/p>\n