@ Patrice, if you are looking to oil and chip your driveway, while I wouldn’t recommend it on top of a stone base, if you decide to do it you are going to want at least two layers of the application. If possible, have them use a 1/2″ stone on the first application and a 1/4″ application for the second. This will give you a somewhat smoother surface because the smaller stone will fit in between the larger ones. You also want to make sure they are using an emulsion oil called E3-M (PennDOT calls it CRS2-P). This is a polymer modified oil that is designed for oil and chip applications. Often disreputable contractors will just use an “tack coat” (also called AE-T), which is a thin oil that will not last. As far as bouncing a basketball, I would not be expecting to be able to do that until the after the stone has been “run in” by traffic. On a low traffic driveway, the application may never get tight enough to truly be able to play basketball on.

To sum up, oil and chip is designed to go on top of blacktop. In a pinch, it can be used to build a driveway, but I would be careful not to expect too much. As our host has shown, there can be problems with washouts, etc.

That being said, I did check out the BBB. I don’t know what the issues were. However, he also has some excellent reviews from another site…25 altogether and most of them good.

http://www.servicemagic.com/rfs/serviceprofessional/xmprofile/xmCustomerRatings.jsp?XM_SP_ID=11105470

When considering a contractor, the best gauge one can have is to go and see the work and get at least three references.

Tar and Chip is a good way to do, or re-do, a driveway. It’s more attractive than asphalt – and cheaper and affords better traction. It can also be applied on top of an asphalt driveway to improve the appearance. It’s basically stone chips or sm…

Also…Susan, I am wondering if you know that a company you have listed on your website as a T & C contractor has an “F” rating from the BBB? It’s Kerrigan.

Also…Virginia Remodeler…I read your entire review about your experience with Pat Gorman and really was astonished. I am looking for someone to do T & C in Stafford County VA and had considered Gorman because they have an “A” rating from BBB. How in the world could they manage to get that rating, I wonder, when they obviously got an “F” from you?

Thanks again to all who have contributed to this conversation.
P.S. Ron…Very interesting photos on your “comment policy” page!

What is different about NEPA in general when it comes to pizza is that you’ll find styles of pizza there that you cannot find anywhere else. These are grandma & grandpa’s recipes brought over from the old country & made with love. Old Forge bills itself as the pizza capital of the world because not only do they have more pizza restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the US, but the Old Forge/ Scranton area has proportionally speaking the highest population of sicilians anywhere in the US. The variety of pizza available in the area is nothing short of phenomenal.

You should do your homework beyond trying pizza from one place and dissing the region because of it. Revello’s just isn’t very good. I bake all types of pizza and have even managed to virtually perfect the area’s famous Victory Pig Style pizza. I bake with various levels of hydration, sauces, and blends of cheese, both neapolitan & sicilian styles and I can tell you, you’ve sold the area short by judging the area based up Revello’s.

My first child was brought into the world by a 100% All-American unneCaesarean, after the usual hospital routines (including forced withholding of food) gave me a migraine, which somehow led to the decision to give me an epidural, and the rest was pretty much typical of what happens with a cascade of interventions. And I had a nurse-midwife!

My second child was a hospital VBAC miserable enough that I perceived it as a rape. (We’d already picked out a direct entry midwife who had experience with the Amish, but severe gastroenteritis triggered premature labour, which I didn’t know about until the paramedics insisted on taking me to the maternity ward – the maternity ward! – where I was told that I was ten centimetres dilated and coming out of transition. Oops. the less said about what happened next, the better.)

My husband caught our third child in the bathtub five minutes before our midwife and doula arrived. That was easily my best birth.

We’re expecting another baby in August, and planning to birth the baby at home again. Of course.

10 reasons why not to use Hotmail

Peace!

[Note from Ron: Maria, if you email me a photo of your driveway I'll be happy to post it with your comment.]

We live in Central Texas in the hill country. The road is about 50 years old and well packed with 3 layers of DG on it right now: about 3″ thick. Under that is a combination of a modest layer of 1″ gravel and then natural caliche with lots of large rock (dense rock 6″ to multiple feet in diameter).

I had 8 contractors come out and bid on tar and chip. Two said that they would not install over DG. The rest had no problem with it.

1) Can we tar and chip over DG?

Also: The road navigates the side of a gentle hill. The road is sloped slightly but contiguously from the uphill side to the down hill side to promote rain run-off which works well with DG. But it does not have a crown (which would trap the water on the uphill side and start erosion).

2) Do you think we can tar and chip with the current grading or do we need to build up a crown and install draining on the uphill side?

3) Some contractors have a big rig that sprays down the tar. Other guys spray by hand. Which one should we go with?

thx so much for sharing here.
dk

-but- i will give you this. anything other than mozzerella on a pizza is just wrong.

You could contact some excavators or landscape contractors and check on the cost of removal. If they can do it in a day, the cost might be worth it.

Susan

Thanks

Clear and just what I was looking for.

Thanks

It’s unfortunate that a patch has been available for so long (and there are several patches floating around, some in the bugs database) but nothing fixed yet.

I find it irritating that I should have to use some external library, but maybe in future projects that’s the way to go. PyXML appears to be unmaintained(?) so maybe lxml is best. Honestly, having just completed another project with MSXML – which works wonderfully – I was very tempted to just use pythoncom and MSXML.

First, please note that this review is intended to convey only the facts about our experiences with Pat Gorman/Gorman Paving. You, as the reader, must draw your own conclusions and determine for yourself whether you should hire this company, should you be in the market. We make no attempt to advise or persuade you regarding that decision, which should be made pursuant to your own judgment based on a totality of the circumstances.

This is the worst experience we have had with a contractor, and we have worked with many contractors while renovating four houses during the past ten years. I would not agree to work with Pat Gorman again, even if he offered to pay me for the opportunity.

Here are the primary points: 1) Pat Gorman talked a good game, saying things to us like, “Don’t worry, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy”, and “I stand behind my work”, but as soon as we had a problem with the work, he became irate and refused to correct the problem. 2) He represented himself as expert in areas where he appears to have little, if any, expertise. 3) He took on work that he and his crew could not perform, and then, when his efforts were unacceptable, he claimed that he does not do that sort of work. 4) He personally observed that his crew’s work was sub-standard and tried to get us to accept it anyway. 5) When we pointed out an obvious and serious problem with his work, he became personally insulting and then lost control of himself to the extent that his own crew physically removed him from the premises. 6) He ignored known industry standards for performing work. We did not know to ask specifically for every step that should be performed, and he did not advise us of those steps so that we could elect to follow them. Thus, they were not performed. 7) He stated that he would perform specific tasks that he did not, in fact, perform. 8) He used irrelevant clauses in his contract to threaten us when we did not accept the poor quality of his work. 9) He severed our electric dog fence, even after being advised of its existence, location, and importance and has not compensated us for the loss.

Good luck to any who hire Pat Gorman/Gorman Paving.

@Gearhead:

Rs- 3k ? r s , stands for rapid set, the three k I have no idea ! What part of the country do you live in ? That has a lot to do with the type of oil used. As to the type of roller used, a rubber tired roller is generaly prefered….. BUT NOT REQUIRED ! As regular tire traffic will roll out irregular spots And in my opnion Let your contractor use his judgement ! He is the proffesional ! And he is responsible for quality and out come. I like most contractors I know hate to be second guessed ! So if you are satsified with his refferences and price….. Get out of his way! Let him do the job he is contracting. Have you ever seen the sign in a lot of shops…..I charge this price for services rendered, If you help price is tripple ! Hope it didnt hurt your feelings, but most contractors hate to be micro managed ! jimmy dougherty….jbs construction.

@Jack:

NO jack , that is a little strange. But give your contractor a chance to remedy it. Normaly they can bring a plate compacter over and run it for a few minuets, that should repack it. jimmy.

As far as tree roots go, for the health of the trees, you should not change the grade of any area under the tree canopies. This means that the driveway grade should remain the same if the canopy of any surrounding trees extends over the driveway. If the grade is to remain the same on your project, then hopefully upon any excavation, tree roots will not be disturbed.

I would be concerned about placing a grass strip running down the center of the driveway. Even though many applications are done without any type of curbing, it seems the center area might be more subject to problems over time. Just my opinion. Also, this narrow lawn area will need lots of irrigation to keep it nice looking with the paving on either side.

An interesting idea might be to use the Belgian Block as pavers. This is a very old fashioned look and was done years ago. I like it a lot. You could also consider turf pavers. These are pavers with openings for lawn in the middle. Here’s a pic: (Imagine center of drive only.)
http://www.ephenry.com/Files/ProductFiles/98/Images/LargeImage.jpg

I like your ideas of the wide soldier course of pavers in the rear parking area along the perimeters. Perhaps you could use one that closely resembles the granite block. Or use the granite block. You can also add a paved area in the center…a large square or circle of either paving material…depending on your budget.

Susan