Hi again guys,

So still trying to find a good option for our driveway, I really wish we could afford to just get it properly paved but that's way out of the budget.

I think our best option right now might be recycled asphalt but I want to figure out how to do it right the first time.

Some people say adding diesel fuel helps it stick together but then I've seen others say that it does the opposite. Some people say adding tac oil is the trick.

Does anyone know what should be added to the recycle asphalt to help it stick when you roll it?

Also, I've read a lot of people say that getting it wet and sunshine will help it mold together nicely but there is a large tree over our driveway and it gets no sun at all so that's not really going to happen, is there any other way I could apply heat to it?

 

You don't want it to "stick" when being rolled, but rather be compacted in place to form a dense riding surface. If the millings stick to a roller, it pulls them up and out of place from where you want them to be. I'm not sure there are hard and fast rules for getting the best compaction of asphalt millings, because there is a lot of variation in the millings themselves. My DOT District usually just used a water truck in between rolling passes, treating the millings as if they were crushed gravel. For heavily-traveled areas, we sometimes used an asphalt emulsion to sweeten the mix and increase its compacted density.

The last thing I would ever use is diesel oil, is it can contaminate your (or your municipality's) well water under certain runoff and ground conditions.

 

Thanks BridgeMan, I appreciate the info. so I should just spray it with the garden hose between roller passes then? The asphalt emulsion you mentioned, is there a commercially available product that I could use? Anything from the Home Depot that can just be purchased in 5 gal buckets? If so, how much do you generally mix in? and would I do it as I'm raking out the asphal millings?

I'll be grading it all myself to save a few bucks, they will just drop off the millings then come back in a day or two to roll it out for me.

 

I'm not an asphalt expert, and only have had minor amount of experience walking behind a laydown machine. So bear with me.

Minimal watering between compaction passes is what should work--you don't want excess water carrying the fines away. Our District had good results just using water during compaction, and some of the placements were subject to fairly heavy wheel loads from trucks.

You'll have to do the research to find a locally available asphalt emulsion. I doubt any big box store carries the stuff. Start by contacting the nearest asphalt plant, and ask them where they get their emulsions from, and if it's available in small quantities for the layman. If I remember correctly (and keep in mind I've been retired from DOT work almost 15 years now, and have trouble remembering what I walked to the refrigerator for), the usual application rate is between 3% and 6% by weight. The more fines (sand) in the millings, the higher the percentage of emulsion required. When you find a product you want to use, it should come with application instructions from the manufacturer.

 

Well, I'm having a heck of a time trying to find some emulsion. Any idea if any of the commercially available stuff would work the same? There's a bunch of different asphal sealers and levelers, not sure if one of those could be used to achieve similar results?

 

You should be looking for an asphalt emulsion binder, not a sealer or leveler. Such might be known by another term on your side of the border, and keep in mind I'm a steel and concrete guy, so any asphalt professionals out there should feel free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

There's no reason a professional-grade product wouldn't work for you. You wouldn't hesitate to use a brand or grade of paint used by professional painters, would you?