Are you looking at a crumbling, pothole-ridden stretch of pavement every time you pull up to your house in Lansing, MI? Dealing with driveways around here means battling heavy clay soils and brutal freeze-thaw cycles that can wreck a poor Asphalt Paving installation in just a couple of seasons. Whether you are eyeing a complete Asphalt Replacement or a fresh layout, figuring out what you can handle yourself versus when to hire a professional crew makes all the difference.
Before any heavy equipment rolls onto your property, you have some homework to do. You can save some cash by handling the initial site cleanup and clearing away brush, edging overgrown grass, or pulling up old landscape timbers bordering the pavement. But leave the utility locating and grading layout to the pros. In neighborhoods across Lansing, getting local permits for a driveway tie-in to the road is required, and missing that step brings headaches you do not want.
When the project is underway, the line between DIY and contractor work becomes clear. Laying hot-mix Asphalt Paving requires commercial dump trucks, heavy steel-wheel rollers, and a crew that knows how to rake and compact the material before it cools down. Valley Asphalt Inc brings specialized machinery that you cannot rent at the local hardware store. Trying to wheelbarrow hot asphalt into place on a Saturday afternoon is a recipe for a lumpy, failing surface that will not survive a single Michigan winter.
After the paving crew packs up, your job as a homeowner starts up again. Curing takes time, and you need to keep vehicles off the fresh Asphalt Surface for at least 3 to 5 days, or longer if it is the middle of a hot July. Parking a heavy truck or SUV on warm asphalt too soon will leave deep ruts that never quite smooth out. Once it fully cures, keeping up with routine maintenance like filling cracks and scheduling Asphalt Sealcoating every couple of years will protect your pavement. Handle the light prep and aftercare yourself, but let Valley Asphalt Inc handle the heavy rolling for your home in Lansing, MI.