I was intrigued by your question and found this document mentioning SMA.
https://www.njapa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NJAPA-Design-Guide-2013-64E-Rev-11-4-13.pdf
I’d contact them and see if the association can refer you to a contractor who uses this material for driveways.
My guess is that it is considered overkill in a residential driveway application.
When we needed our driveway redone (an ugly job including a crater due to fallen trees), we used Michael Giordano, who came highly recommended, and did a great job. It was time to redo it entirely, rather than just slap on another layer.
susan1014 said:
When we needed our driveway redone (an ugly job including a crater due to fallen trees), we used Michael Giordano, who came highly recommended, and did a great job. It was time to redo it entirely, rather than just slap on another layer.
I’ve heard other good references about Giordano.
Maybe goes without saying, Taylor, but is you can save the underlying concrete subgrade, that’d be the way to go!
Thanks, I agree about keeping the concrete sublayer, but we are up to basement windows, I may have no option but to tear it all out. I've been told that disposal of asphalt is a big part of the cost of a tear-out. I was hoping that SMA would allow a thinner layer if resurfacing, but probably not. Maybe I should consider concrete, but it's a long driveway.
Taylor said:
Thanks, I agree about keeping the concrete sublayer, but we are up to basement windows, I may have no option but to tear it all out. I've been told that disposal of asphalt is a big part of the cost of a tear-out. I was hoping that SMA would allow a thinner layer if resurfacing, but probably not. Maybe I should consider concrete, but it's a long driveway.
Asphalt is actually 100% recyclable. If they scrape it off of the concrete you can put a new layer on.
We used Mike Giordano and he did a wonderful job. Driveway still looking good 10 years later.
I used Carmines and they did an excellent job. I had one contractor say if they found concrete under the asphalt, it would be extra to remove it. Note: after the asphalt is removed, if the driveway is taken down to the dirt and re-leveled, it has to sit for 2-3 weeks to harden before it can be paved.
From past MOL post's and recommendations:
Regards,
RCH
Essex Morris - a longtime sponsor on MOL is really good as well:
I need my driveway either resurfaced or completely redone. It still has the original concrete driveway under it, which I guess has given the asphalt a long life (25+ years, I'm told expect 15 years for asphalt).
So who does driveways? One guy told me that they use SMA (stone-matrix asphalt) for parking lots and it's a quality job. That guy now appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Anybody else either doesn't return calls or stops returning calls when I mention SMA. The conversations I've had have come down to "We use asphalt."