Asphalt Paving and Replacement in Lansing, MI

Paving builds a driveway from the ground up, whether it is new or replaces a failed one: the crew excavates, lays and compacts a gravel base, then places and rolls hot-mix asphalt over it. It becomes the right call when a drive is past sealing and patching, and around Lansing the decision turns on what lies underneath. The county's soil survey maps most of the ground in loamy till associations built around Capac and Marlette soils, and Capac's seasonal water table can rise to within 6 to 18 inches of the surface. Pavement Interactive lists the three ingredients of frost heave as fine-grained soil, freezing temperatures and available water, and a Lansing lawn often supplies all three. That is why base depth and drainage matter more to a new drive's life than the surface layer, and why an existing drive with a sound base may only need an overlay. Once a new drive has cured, driveway sealing protects it.

Asphalt driveway installation starts with the base. For a home drive, HomeGuide calls for 2 to 3 inches of compacted asphalt laid on 6 to 8 inches of compacted gravel; where trucks or other heavy vehicles use it, the gravel goes to 8 to 10 inches and the asphalt to 3 to 4. On the wetter local soils a crew should also address where water goes: grading the drive to shed rain, keeping the edges above the lawn, and routing downspouts away. Low lots need a closer look, because Houghton muck, the organic soil whose reference profile was described near Bath in Clinton County, is more than 51 inches deep and holds a water table at or near the surface for much of the year. Holt is the contrast: it sits on the longest esker in Michigan, a ridge of stratified sand and gravel.

Permits depend on which road the drive meets. Michigan's Act 200 of 1969 makes a driveway onto a state trunkline or county road lawful only under a permit issued by that road agency, so a new or widened approach in Okemos or Holt goes through the Ingham County Road Department, or MDOT on Grand River Avenue and Saginaw Street. Cities regulate their own streets: East Lansing requires its Occupation and Use of Street and Alley Rights-of-Way application for work in the right-of-way, and DeWitt's right-of-way application requires 24 hours' notice, allows no work after noon on Fridays, and calls for disturbed lawn to be restored with sod. Delhi Township's building permit page lists driveways among the items that need no township building permit.

Hot mix wants warm weather. Angi's curing guide puts the favorable range for new asphalt to dry and cure at 50 to 85 degrees, and at the Capital Region airport station normal daily highs sit in that band from May, at 68.8 degrees, through September, at 72.7. April and October, with normal highs of 57.8 and 59.9, are shoulder months when paving is possible on good days. A drive paved in June can usually be sealed the same summer, since SealMaster puts the minimum cure at 30 to 60 days; one paved after mid-August is better left unsealed until the next June.

Overlay or replace comes down to the base. HomeGuide suggests resurfacing when the drive is less than about 15 to 20 years old, damage covers under 30 percent and the foundation is stable, laying a new 1.5- to 2-inch layer on top of the old one; it points to replacement once 60 percent or more is damaged or the pavement has passed 20 to 30 years. A good paving contractor will core or probe the old drive before recommending either. The cost page lists overlay and replacement prices side by side.