Sabby Ann

After looking at our crumbling driveway for four years, we’re just about ready to have it replaced. We’ve been holding off doing vinyl siding on the garage, for fear that it would get damaged when we remove the driveway, but new siding and a new driveway would go a long way towards improving the appearance of our house. Plus, the driveway would be a huge detriment when we eventually try to sell the house.

We’ve been thinking of attempting the driveway as a DIY project. Remove the old pavement (there’s so much alligator-cracking that the driveway peels up in softball-sized chunks), dig down to put a gravel base, form it, and then pour the new concrete.

If we did the driveway ourselves, we would rent a skid steer (”bobcat”) for $300/day. It would probably take us 2 days to remove the pavement, excavating down to a depth of 11″ below finish grade (5.5″ gravel + 5.5″ concrete). The tricky part would be figuring out how to dispose of the concrete, asphalt, and dirt. Most places prefer the concrete & asphalt to be separated. Concrete is easy to get rid of, and there’s usually just a flat fee per truckload. For asphalt, the truck is usually weighed and then you pay by the ton. I would guess that we have around 40 tons of asphalt to get rid of.  I haven’t called for current pricing, but at the absolute low end it would be at least $5/ton to get rid of it (so $200, but it could be much more). We would also need to hire a dump truck & driver (since neither of us has a CDL to drive a dump truck), and that would be at least a few hundred dollars per day. For a 1-day job, it would cost us at least $800, but most likely around $1000. If it took 2 days, we’d be looking at $1300-1500, to cover the second day of equipment/truck rental.

Once we get the old pavement removed, we would set up some string lines and start placing gravel (likely 21AA crushed concrete) for a base under the driveway. The absolute minimum that I’d place would be 3″, but ideally I’d like it to be 5.5″ thick. 21AA weighs approximately 2600 lbs/cyd, so we would need  almost 40 tons of gravel. The cost through the local landscape supply place is $12/ton (plus delivery/tax). The stone base would be $500 in materials, and I think I could negotiate a delivery charge of $100-150. However, I suspect I could get it from the local concrete crushing company for much cheaper, perhaps half? They don’t usually deliver to residential, but at 40 tons that would be a full load or two (depending on their truck capacity), so they might.

We would again have to rent a skid steer to spread the gravel ($300), and then a vibratory compactor to thoroughly compact it. We could do it with a plate compactor ($70/day), but a roller ($200) would be so much easier & quicker. Including the cost of the stone, it would be around $1000 to place the base.

Once that’s complete, we would need to buy some 2×6’s($50) to form the new driveway. Then we’d be ready for concrete. At 4″ thick (which is the standard thickness for a residential driveway), it would require 20 cyds of concrete ($2000). If we go to 5.5″ or 6″ thick (desirable for heavy campers & trucks), it would be $3000 for the concrete.  There would be an additional $100 in rentals (for bull floats, vibrating screed, etc.) for finishing the concrete. I would consider paying a couple of experienced laborers to come and help finish the concrete. $500 would be enough to cover the labor for two guys (and I might be able to eliminate the equipment rental, if they have their own tools), and that would probably be well worth it. So the concrete portion would cost $2600-3700, depending on thickness.

Estimated total cost, for our driveway (DIY):
$1500, Removal
+ $1000, 21AA Base
+ $2600, 4″ Concrete  OR $3700, 6″ Concrete
= $ 5100 - $6200

So far I’ve only received one estimate, but I plan to post another entry once I’ve had a few contractors out to bid the job. I’m leaning towards having a contractor come in to handle the removal, and then doing the prep work and concrete finishing ourselves (with the help of a few hired hands). It’ll be slightly more to hire out the removal, but it’ll make it so much easier!

We have had a large maple tree about 10′ behind our garage. Over the years it has obviously had some decay/damage, and if it were ever to come down it would damage either our house, garage, or the neighborhood power lines (that run through the back yard).

I suppose that should be reason enough to have the tree removed, but my biggest motivation for taking it down was to get rid of those darn whirly-birds (officially called samaras or maple keys, but also known as helicopters)… and allow my garden to be in full sunlight for most of the day!

I called around for estimates, and was shocked at the cost! Because of the tree’s location relative to the garage, house, and power lines, we wanted to hire licensed (and insured!) professionals. The first company that came out wanted $1875 (or $1750 cash), and offered an additional $300 discount if they left all the wood. The second company came in with an estimate of $1250. I put out a referral request on Facebook, and got a few recommendations - including a company that came in at $675.

Since the third company (Stewarts Tree Service) came highly recommended by a coworker, and they were (by far!) the cheapest, we went with them. I verified their insurance coverage, and about a week and a half later they came to cut down the tree. They decided to do it by climbing, which was fun to watch.

Eric took the day off work, and set up his camera to take pictures at regular intervals while they were working. Here’s the footage (uploaded to YouTube):

Tree Removal Time-Lapse