Asphalt Driveways & Stamped Concrete
Titan landscape design services offer new asphalt driveways and stamped concrete for walkways and patios for residential and commercial properties
Permanent hardscapes, like Asphalt and Concrete, create a durable surface for patios, driveways, storage areas and walkways. Hot asphalt is poured and rolled continuous to make a mostly impermeable surface that allows for control of water runoff, while providing a clean area to park or lounge. Concrete is as creative as your formwork, aggregate, and finish allows it. It's versatility allows us to create elegant curves, custom driveways, custom patios, stamped designs, and include the addition of color. A hardscape is only as good as the foundation it is built upon in our heavy frost heave climate.
Asphalt Driveways
How common are asphalt driveways? The further north we travel in the United States, the more likely we see asphalt driveways. The further south we travel in the United States, the more likely we see concrete and/or permeable/interlocking paver driveways. This is due to the amount of freeze and thaw cycles that occur in colder regions. Asphalt is pliable, making it much more forgiving than concrete when it comes to heaving from freeze and thaw cycles. Asphalt driveways are also very beneficial if you happen to live in a snowy region as the black color of the asphalt can soak in the heat from the sun and melt snow much faster than any other type of driveway surface.
A new asphalt driveway can be installed in a relatively short amount of time, usually a day or two after the sub-grade preparation, which can take anywhere from less than a day to a few days. Anchorage and Eagle River have widely varying soil types. If your asphalt driveway continues to heave, bubble, and crack year after year, you may be in an area with poor soils that are severely impacted by frost heaving. In that case, you may choose to dig deeper into your foundation than normal, below the typical frost-heave depth (24-36”), in order to build the sub-base back up with structural fill that can be compacted to 90-95 percent and doesn't heave.
A new asphalt driveway can be installed in a relatively short amount of time, usually a day or two after the sub-grade preparation, which can take anywhere from less than a day to a few days. Anchorage and Eagle River have widely varying soil types. If your asphalt driveway continues to heave, bubble, and crack year after year, you may be in an area with poor soils that are severely impacted by frost heaving. In that case, you may choose to dig deeper into your foundation than normal, below the typical frost-heave depth (24-36”), in order to build the sub-base back up with structural fill that can be compacted to 90-95 percent and doesn't heave.
Stamped Concrete
Stamped concrete is one of those landscaping trends that seems to be showing up more and more around Anchorage lately, and for good reason. Stamped concrete involves pouring slab concrete for driveways, walkways, patios, etc., and then impressing both patterns, textures, and colors onto the concrete before it is fully dry. For many years, a lesser form of stamped concrete was often seen that merely duplicated patterns. The newer types of stamped concrete imports textures that duplicate many different surfaces such as cobblestones, granite, slate, brick, pavers, wood, seashells, and more. Afterwards, pigment and colors are usually added to stamped concrete to further duplicate the look of such patterns.
Brick, pavers, and cobbles look great, but since they form a surface of many interlocking pieces, they are susceptible to movement due to changes in the underlying surface. Sometimes this can be good, if you're trying to cover an uneven surface--the brick, pavers, stone, or pavers will conform to the surface. But if you have a good, flat, and level undersurface, you'll want your concrete to be laid the same way. Reinforcing steel within the stamped concrete help to tie the pavement together, strengthen it and resist breakage along areas other than those intended.
Brick, pavers, and cobbles look great, but since they form a surface of many interlocking pieces, they are susceptible to movement due to changes in the underlying surface. Sometimes this can be good, if you're trying to cover an uneven surface--the brick, pavers, stone, or pavers will conform to the surface. But if you have a good, flat, and level undersurface, you'll want your concrete to be laid the same way. Reinforcing steel within the stamped concrete help to tie the pavement together, strengthen it and resist breakage along areas other than those intended.
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