The new driveway!

It had to be done. The 100 m driveway has shifted, cracked, and heaved, especially since the long drought we had in 2016. [June weather conditions] It is very shallow soil, here in Lanark County. I've tripped on the reverse potholes and fallen on my bad knee taking out garbage. 

It's difficult using the snowblower, as it hits the cracks. Coming and going it's quite a mess. The house was built around the mid-80s, when they had different standards for driveways, or they did it on the cheap. 

What a storm and a story!
Snowmaggedon 2016

Before!

We signed the contract last month. Tuesday we phoned, they said they'd be here between 7:30 and 7:45 on Wednesday. They had done a large driveway up the road, so we figured they'd be good. You hear about these things in small towns! 

6:30 – Wednesday morning,  I cleared the planter off the corner. We kept the cats in, seeing as there would be big trucks. 

6:45 – JB arranged with a neighbour to park our car on their land. It could be 5 days until it cures. It all depends upon moderate vs. high temperatures. It's a five-minute walk to the car.

The trucks arrived, and Cinnamon was wary. He decided the best course was to hunker down and have a nap. Nutmeg, on the other hand, after the initial noise decided she wanted out. You can imagine the noise. 

Nutmeg lobbied to go out
– all day long! 

7:35 – They arrived. The removal went very well. I just stood, and watched, as it was amazing how efficient they were.

I had the trailcam up, and captured some of the action. Luckily, I didn't capture all the action. (Nudge-nudge, wink-wink.) These are men, drinking water, and we put out a coffee tray for them. 

 

out with the old from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Once the old stuff was off, we realized that there was only sand underneath the old asphalt. No gravel at all. We think the house was built around 1986. 

A cast of, well, I think I counted 11 men at the peak of the laying of the asphalt. They put pylons down on the road as they were all lined up. There were trucks coming and going, a couple of tractors, a uHaul, a couple of roller thingies, etc.

During:

 the gravel, at 11 a.m.

gravel base from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

driveway 3 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

2:19 – the asphalt.

After!

They were done around 5:30, a very long day.

There was an inspection the next morning!

Before and after... 

Thursday dawned, and we inspected it all. Nice and hard walking, but no vehicles until Sunday. The hotter it is, the longer it will take to fully harden. We've had a cool front move in, which is a good thing.

Poor JB has a 5-minute walk to where we've parked. I saw this figure emerge from our front yard!

He brought home some library books, parked across the street, and I went with him to the driveway, bringing in the second load.

This will be so easy to care for in winter! With each crack, each stem of weeds grew, I shuddered. 

It was a lot of work, by many men, lots of big machines, and a noisy day. Don't ask how much it cost. I don't want to talk about it!!! It just had to be done.