Asphalt driveways laid new, resurfaced, widened or rebuilt from the stone up, in Richmond and across Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover. When a drive is too far gone for sealer, the decision is not just new blacktop or not. It is how much of what is underneath has to change, and that is what this page walks through.
Is it firm? Stand where the tyres run and look for sagging, rutting, or cracks that have linked into a mesh of little squares. Any of those means the stone and soil below the surface have given way, and whatever goes on top will copy the failure.
Where does the rain go? Central Virginia gets its rain in bursts, summer thunderstorms and the tail ends of tropical systems that drop inches in an afternoon. A drive that holds a puddle, or pours its runoff against the garage door, is losing its base slowly whether it looks tired or not.
What does it carry? Two cars, or a boat trailer, a work van and the occasional moving truck. Heavier use needs a thicker section, particularly where vehicles turn.
Those answers point to one of four jobs. If the surface is only faded and dry, sealer is enough. If it is sound apart from a few failed spots, those get cut out and repaired. If it is firm but cracked and worn all over, a resurfacing layer of new hot mix can go over it. And if it is sinking, rutted or broken into a mesh, it comes out and gets rebuilt from the base up.
Richmond grew up at the fall line, where the Piedmont, sitting on hard and resistant bedrock, drops to the Coastal Plain, which is built of softer layers of sand, gravel and clay that rivers carried down and left behind. The James tumbles over that step in the middle of town. It also means the ground under two drives a few miles apart can behave very differently.
That is why nobody should quote a replacement off a photo. We dig at the edge and look. Where the soil under a drive is clay, it holds water, softens when it stays wet and needs more crushed stone and careful grading so water leaves the drive instead of soaking in beside it. Where it is sandy, it drains well but shifts and washes out at an unsupported edge, so firm edges and thorough compaction matter most. Either way, a replacement quote that says nothing about base thickness or drainage is leaving out the part that decides how long the new drive lasts.
Fresh asphalt stays soft longer in hot, humid weather. For the first several weeks after paving in July or August, a car turning its wheels while parked can scuff it, and a trailer jack, a motorcycle kickstand or a ladder foot can press a dent into it. Put a board under anything with a small foot, and pull in and out straight until it has hardened.
Shade works the other way. Plenty of drives here sit under tall oaks and pines, and a shaded drive stays damp longer after rain, grows moss along the edges and collects leaf litter that holds moisture against the surface. Keeping it swept and making sure it drains does more for it than any particular mix.
The piece of drive between your lot and the road, the entrance or apron, generally sits in public right-of-way, and replacing it or changing it usually needs permission from whoever maintains that road. Around Richmond that varies more than most places. The city looks after its own streets, Henrico County looks after its own roads, and across most of Chesterfield and Hanover the state roads belong to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The locality pages set out what we have confirmed for each.
Your quote states whether the entrance is in the right-of-way, who applies for any permit, and whether a fee is included. If a contractor offers to redo your entrance and never mentions a permit, ask about it before you agree.
Paving is priced per job, after the drive has been measured and the base looked at. These are the things that move it:
You get one written price and a scope that says what comes out, what goes in, how thick, and what happens at the street.
Hot mix has to be placed and rolled hot, on ground that is not frozen or saturated. Central Virginia's milder winters give a longer paving year than places further north, but cold snaps and wet spells still pause it, and the fall weeks fill up quickly.
New asphalt is not sealed straight away. It needs time for the oils in the mix to come out and the surface to cure, and sealer makers generally call for six to twelve months. A new drive gets paved this year and sealed for the first time the next.
Rear parking pads off an alley, townhouse courts and business lots raise the same question on a larger scale: which parts need rebuilding, which can be resurfaced, and which only need patching and a seal coat. Doing the worst sections properly and sealing and restriping the whole area together is usually the best value. See parking lot sealcoating and striping and HOAs and property managers.
Use the form and mention paving. The drive is measured and looked over, and you are told straight whether it truly needs paving or whether repairs and a seal coat will see it through a few more years. If it needs paving, you get a written scope and one price. The paving is carried out by a local independent paving contractor.
