Premier Calgary Landscaping Services

You are in the planning stages of having a new driveway installed. In pondering the different types of materials that contractors use, trying to decide on which kind is best for your own unique situation and needs, you wonder why so many homeowners have asphalt as a driveway surface. What are its good points? What are the disadvantages in having this type of surface?

All driveway materials have their pros and cons. Asphalt paving is no different as a surface, in this respect, from any other kind of driveway. There are, however, more good points than bad points in having an asphalt driveway. In fact, there is only one major drawback to report, so let's get that out of the way right away: Asphalt driveways are relatively high in maintenance. If you have been around a fair amount of asphalt surfaces over the years, observing what happens to them over time, you no doubt know that asphalt has a tendency to crack, unless sealed faithfully (see below). 

Sealing costs money, especially if you have somebody else do the job for you. And as much as it costs to have an asphalt driveway sealed, not sealing it will eventually prove even more costly, because then you will have to repair (or hire somebody else to repair) the cracking that results from not sealing your driveway on time.

Luckily, there are more good points to report concerning asphalt driveways than there are bad points. To highlight some of these good points, let's do a comparison between asphalt paving as a driveway surface versus concrete. Here are the pros of asphalt paving:

• It is less prone to frost heaves than concrete.
• It offers superior ease of snow removal.
• Both asphalt and concrete do offer decorative options, although the latter offers more.
• Unlike concrete, it can be re-layered.
• Asphalt paving is cheaper to install than concrete.
• While asphalt is high-maintenance, repair work on it is at least easier for the DIY'er to perform than is the case with repairs to concrete.

Heated driveways, also called "snow-melting systems," are a technological alternative to shoveling, salting, snow plowing, snow blowing, and other snow-removal methods. With most snow-melting systems, tubing is run under the driveway (and walkways, patios, and porch steps, too, if you like). Heated water is pumped through the tubing.

The water in heated driveway systems is mixed with an anti-freeze (glycol). Heat radiates up from the tubing to the surface of your driveway, melting away snow and ice. Drains catch the liquid run-off thereby produced, channeling the water away from your driveway.