How to Resurface a Driveway

I've been noticing that my driveway is in pretty rough shape there are spots like this that are badly eroded cracks pretty much everywhere and you know with winter coming on it's just going to get worse water will enter places like this freeze and expand and by next spring I'm going to have a real mess here so I want to do something about it now sealing a driveway is a job that at first I thought I'd have a professional come in and do but then I came across a relatively new product from DuPont that I think is going to be easy enough to apply that I believe I'll do it myself before anything can go on my driveway some things have to come off dirt and debris algae and weeds I'll start with the weeds I'm always amazed at how well these guys can do in a pavement crack next I loosen the debris that's collected in the wider cracks using a wire brush then it's time for the big sweep now I could use a broom but my leaf blower will do a great job of cleaning out the cracks then clearing everything off the surface quickly to get rid of the algae I pour a gallon of household bleach into four gallons of water dip a scrub brush in the solution and apply the bleach in water mixture a heavy scrubbing is really not necessary here I'd rather let the chemicals do the work I let the solution set for about 10 minutes then rinse with fresh water while I've got the hose out I use the nozzle to flush out any material in the cracks that the blower left behind the final cleaning I do with a pressure washer now you might consider this step optional but this machine does a terrific job of removing dirt and the way I see it the cleaner the surface the better anything I put on top will stick while the surface is clean and the algae is gone but before I can put any kind of see you around this driveway I'm going to have to deal with these damaged areas the erosion right here and all of those cracks narrower cracks up to a half inch wide or so can be most easily filled using a liquid elastomeric filler like this one I like to cut the tapered nozzle about a quarter inch wide the idea here is to move backward away from the tip slightly over filling the crack you may have to speed up or slow down depending on how deep or wide the crack becomes once the filler is in place I like to take a two inch putty knife and flatten the bead spreading the material over the adjacent surface the eroded areas need to be filled using a paste-like trowel grade filler I find that it's easier and less messy to use a wide putty knife to remove the material from the bucket and distribute it on the surface then I switched to a trowel to smooth the filler and blend it at the edges the trowel grade filler also works well on sunken areas like this and on larger cracks up to one inch wide no I'm not trying to emulate a Jackson Pollock painting I'm applying a bonding agent and sealer on top of what had been an oil stain I washed the surface area first with a degreaser now I'm spreading the sealer evenly over the surface it'll dry clear now this is the sealer or resurfacer that I'm going to be using today it's by DuPont and it's asphalt with polymers added now that combination will ensure that it sticks well to the old surface it remains flexible reducing the likelihood of cracking resistant to the ultraviolet sunrays and it will also be highly resistant to gas and oil spills on top of that it has sand added to it that will give me better traction here in the driveway the resurfacer needs to be mixed thoroughly before using I could do this by hand but a paddle mixer in a cordless electric drill is much faster easier and less messy my first application tool will be a four inch wide paint brush with this I'll apply the material around the edge of the driveway being careful to keep it off the cobblestone border now here is where a second person helps a lot Tila Keller a friend of mine has agreed to lend me a hand on this next phase she's pouring the resurfacer on the driveway ahead of me while I follow behind with a wide squeegee spreading it out evenly now there is definitely a technique here the idea is to move in a continuous back and forth pattern always working with a wet edge all the while Tila keeps a fresh stream of flowing ahead of me we started at the head of the driveway and we'll work our way to the street at the end of each pass I make a turn stop reposition the squeegee and start back the other way if you've ever watched professional window washers this is very similar to the technique they use well I might have had my doubts whether or not this was really a do-it-yourself project but I have to say now I'm a believer

Channel: Ron Hazelton

Views: 2,519,875

Rating: 4.762228 out of 5

Keywords: Ron Hazelton, do it yourself, driveway resurfacing, home improvement, how to, how to resurface a driveway

Id: 4n6G5QQL-tk

Length: 6min 54sec (414 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 19 2014