Asphalt Driveway Resurfacing in Dalton, GA

What you'll notice before it gets bad

Most people call us after a season of putting up with it. The surface looks gray and dry. Cracks have spread from a single line into a web. Loose stone collects at the edges, and the tires pick up grit you can feel on the garage floor. Water sits in the same spots after every rain.

A few cracks don't always mean you need a new surface. If the pavement is mostly sound, sealing the cracks can buy time, and we'll tell you that when we see it. Once the cracking is everywhere, though, filling each one stops making sense. That's when resurfacing earns its cost.

What's going on in the pavement

Asphalt wears from the top down. Sun and traffic dry out the surface, and water gets into the cracks. Winter cold snaps expand that trapped water, opening those cracks wider than they would go on their own. Over the years the top layer breaks apart even though the drive underneath may be fine.

Resurfacing only works if that lower part is sound. We have to decide at the start whether you have a worn surface or a failing driveway. Those are different jobs at very different prices.

How we do the work

We mill below the distressed pavement, so the bad material comes out instead of getting buried. Then we sweep the milled surface, and we don't sweep it once. A mechanical broom takes the first pass and an air blower gets the dust and debris out of the low spots and edges. We repeat it until the surface is clean.

Tack coat is the sticky layer that helps new asphalt bond to what is below it, but it does not replace cleaning. Sprayed over dust, it bonds to the dust, not the pavement. A new overlay that peels or shoves a year later usually traces back to this step, so we do not rush it.

Once the surface is clean and tacked, the new asphalt goes down over it.

What it costs

Our range for driveway resurfacing is $3 to $7 per square foot. On a 1,000 square foot driveway, that works out to roughly $3,000 to $7,000. We can't give you a firm number from a phone call, because where you land in that range depends on what we find when we look.

The things that move the price are how much of the old surface has to come out, how much cleanup the milled area needs, and whether any soft spots need attention before the new layer goes on. A drive with sound ground and surface-only damage will sit toward the lower end. One with a lot of broken pavement to take off will cost more.

Permits and flood ground in Dalton

Most driveway resurfacing stays on your own lot, but some jobs reach into the public right-of-way. If the work involves excavation in a public street, sidewalk, or alley, you need a written permit application first. Driveway pavement in the street right-of-way also has to use graded aggregate base under plant-mix asphalt. We'll check that before we price a job that touches the apron or the street edge.

If you are near Prater's Mill on Coahulla Creek, part of the land there is mapped as a special flood-hazard area. Check your flood exposure before anyone changes grades or drainage on the property. A resurfacing that raises the surface or redirects runoff can change where water goes.