There are many common paving mistakes that qualified professionals know to avoid but Do-It-Yourselfers do not.

There are many business owners and homeowners who have balked at the cost of having pavement installed, maintained, or fixed and think “I’ll just do it myself.” While many installs and updates associated with a home or business can be done adequately by a novice, most paving jobs require a level of expertise that most outside of the paving industry do not possess. With almost 30 years in the concrete and asphalt paving construction industry, the crew at Tucker Paving has had our share of jobs where we are having to fix a novice’s mistakes. At the end of the day, there are many reasons why hiring an experienced professional is the smart choice when it comes to paving.

Common Paving Mistakes
There are many reasons why completing paving jobs to even a “good enough” level is difficult for novices or DIYers. The paving process is one that requires a good deal of planning, expertise when it comes to execution, a strong attention to detail, and usually a lot of expensive machinery to help. It is also usually strenuous in terms of physical labor. Lastly, most kinds of paving are dirty and messy!

On top of all that, there are many common mistakes that beginners or DIYers just don’t have the expertise to avoid. These include:

  • Poor Base Prep. The base of any pavement is one of the most important parts as it is the foundation that the pavement rests upon. If there is a problem with the base, then the pavement will not last long. A base must be properly graded, solid, and stable. Many novices are not prepared to adequately prepare a base.
  • Ignorance of Thickness Guidelines. Different pavements will have different thickness requirements based on their location and the weight and volume of traffic; for instance, a driveway does not generally need to be as thick as a highway road because it will not have a high volume of heavy traffic on it every day. Thickness is generally determined using a series of calculations and Best Practices guidelines. Problems can occur if a DIY pavement is too thin or too thick.
  • Poor Compaction. Asphalt pavement requires adequate compaction, and DIYers are unable to achieve the proper amount of compaction with the usual tools found in the garage. Those in the asphalt paving industry generally utilize a roller machine that weighs anywhere from 1.5 to 10 tons and costs in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.
  • Ignorance of Cure Times. Whether installing asphalt or concrete pavement, there are precise cure and drying times that must be followed for a lasting end product. Concrete must be kept moist for a certain amount of time, and asphalt must be allowed to cure before going on to the next step. Again, there are precise guidelines that rely on key measurements that are followed to properly cure any type of pavement, and most DIYers don’t have the knowledge required to create a long-lasting pavement.

Tucker Paving has the skill, expertise, and know-how to deliver projects with top efficiency and quality, no matter the size! We have nearly three decades in the asphalt and concrete paving industry. Contact us by calling (863) 299-2262, or fill out our contact form online, to let us help you with your next concrete or asphalt paving project!