New Hampshire Chipseal Contractor
Customers understanding and use of terms vary by location Tar and Chip is synonymous with Chipseal
A Quality Chipseal Contractor
We are a contractor that services the State of New Hampshire with chip seal installations done by a company that specializes in chip seal driveways and walkways. The White Mountain State or the “Granite State” is not our home state. We are based in Massachusetts but love to travel to New Hampshire and work on driveways to match some of the great scenery of the state. The New Hampshire population is 1,377,529 people, and in 2019, the census says there are 541,396 households. The State of New Hampshire has the 8th highest income rank in the United States. The renewed focus on less travel and on making a home as comfortable as possible has generated a lot of interest in high-quality decorative surfaces for their driveways other than flat and black asphalt pavement. Chipseal driveways produce a distinguished country look for the entrance to a home. This is what we bring to New Hampshire homeowners the highest quality materials and process to construct distinctive chipseal driveways in the State of New Hampshire.
A scenic New Hampshire view
What We Do – Distinctive Driveways in NH
With the desire for lovely homes finished with a distinctively decorative driveway, we get several calls to work in the State of New Hampshire. We travel to other locations outside of the Boston area because we are a specialized contractor that focuses on just chipseal surfaces and only chipseal surfaces. The bulk of the work is driveways but we often also do paths and walkways.
To see more of our work please take some time to look through our chip seal portfolio to see our completed jobs along with the details of our construction process.
To save you time searching for driveway services in New Hampshire, it is essential to know what we do not do.
What We Do Not Do
Here is a list of what we do not do;
- We do not pave driveways
- We are not a paving contractor.
- We do not do commercial paving.
- We do not fill potholes.
- We do not do parking lot striping
- We do not do commercial paving.
- We do not do parking lot installations
- We do not do stamped decorative asphalt
- We do not do asphalt repair.
- We do not do drainage improvements.
- We do not do drainage improvements.
- We are not a paving contractor.
This list got sort of out of control but does make the point regarding what makes us different from the other paving contractors in New Hampshire do. We do work for and with other quality paving contractors as a subcontractor for their chipseal needs as well as homeowners.
This is what we do not do
A Road Crew doing overlay work
We DO specialize in chip seal driveways.
A laser focus on the best possible chip seal installation means we use better binder material because we have the right equipment to work with it. This one fact makes for a more durable end product. Since this is what we do it has makes sense that we are tooled for productivity doing this work. We have years of experience installing chip seal driveways. Over the years, we have learned what works and what does not. All of the details listed below add up to how we do chipseal driveways in New Hampshire better than others who do it part-time as fill-in work around there other projects.
The base
An excellent installation requires and solid foundation. We work with local paving contractors to ensure the based asphalt is sound and there is enough reveal for the stone layer to be installed and match the other surfaces on site. When the base is installed, we come and do the final coat. We do not build driveways or paths by mixing crushed stone and asphalt cement on a gravel-based to create a paved surface. This type of construction is used in other parts of the country for building farm-to-market roads, but we do not feel it is solid enough for New Hampshire driveways.
The Glue
The glue used to hold the stone in place is a custom formulation that we can apply based on the dedicated trucks we use. The capital investment was well worth it since it creates a better bond between the base asphalt and the decorative stone.
Application
Our asphalt cement is sprayed with a long insulated spray bar at a consistent depth. Adjustments are easy to make since this material is thick and does not easily run like the material others use. The driveway slope is not a problem for our method. Being a temperature-based system, the set time is very short, and an unexpected thundershower is not a problem or risk to local waterways and drainage.
The skill in the application is to spray enough material to capture the decorative stone but not cover it. Sort of like a diamond in a ring. The stone needs to be held in place but not covered by the setting. For the driveway, the “tar” can not bleed through and create the possibility of being spread by foot traffic into the garage or the house. The stone also has to be held in place for snow removal services that are all part of the New Hampshire winters.
The Stone
We have dedicated stone sources, so we know the formula adjustments to match the stone source. In addition, the stone must be hard and not easily fractured. When another stone is used, the failure rate goes way up. The stone is washed multiple times of sand and silt. Without this step, the dirty stone prevents complete contact between the rock, the asphalt cement, and the base pavement.
We have the equipment and facilities to handle the flushing of the stone piles so they are clean. Washing with ample amounts of water and draining out as much as possible, the undersized particles help keep the uniform texture of the completed chip sealed surface.
Stone Spreading
Our crew has years of experience in the feel of spreading the rock to the proper depth over the hot cement. There are a number of factors in getting the stone to the project site and then efficiently applying tons of material to the surface at the correct depth.
Our haul truck is a dedicated truck built to discharge out the back tailgate without having to raise the body, and the flow out the back is controlled hydraulically. The discharge is controlled remotely so there is no spilling that needs to be picked up. The belt discharge, this means we do not have to worry about overhead wires and trees. It will not tip over on the job. This allows us to get the truck close to the work and be efficient by discharging close to the work. Putting the stone in wheelbarrows and our custom chip spreader is very efficient because of the truck’s hydraulic belt-driven feed system. Many other contractors in New Hampshire do not have this type of truck and no one has our custom-built spreader.
Rear Belt Discharge Flow Boy
A view of chip stone at the back of our truck that safely unloads without dumping
Rubber tired roller
Immediately after spreading the stone, a rubber-tired roller is used to press the chip stone into the hot asphalt cement. The chipped stone has been crushed and screened to have a specific size, so it creates a consistent depth of the surface coat being applied. The rubber-tired roller kneads the stone into place by shuffling and pushing the chip stone so that the chips interlock as much as possible. The rubber wheel is staggered so the stone is pushed and rolled into place, not cracked or chipped.
The use of the typical metal drum roller that most paving contractors have does not work as well. The pressure of the steel roller is all the weight focused on a single point, the tangent of the circle with too much single point contact splitting the rock and leaving it too small and sinking into the asphalt binder. The result is a lower-quality chip seal driveway installation.
If you ever get a chance to ride on a steel drum roller on a paved surface it is surprising how it reacts to and breaks pebbles if there are on the road. In hot asphalt, the steel drum is designed to compact the hot asphalt.
Chipseal cost
One thing to consider is the size of the driveway. Since there is travel expense to New Hampshire, a small driveway may not make a lot of sense. We work with customers who want a driveway done and combine it with another project, so the travel cost is not too high. We are fully aware of this situation. Naturally, this requires flexibility in the schedule. For a quote on your project needs please contact Paul at the phone number below.
Tar and Chip seal benefits
Some of the reasons our customers look to create a unique look for the entrance to the property
- Virtually Maintenance-free
- Beautiful Appearance
- Very Cost Effective
- Extremely Durable
- Superior Traction
- Seals Small Cracks and Imperfections
- Excellent Weather Proofing
- Gives New Life to Weathered Surfaces
- Protects Underlying Pavement from Oxidation, Aging and Traffic Wear
New Hampshire Chipseal Driveway installation
One thing to consider is the size of the driveway. Since there is travel expense to New Hampshire a small driveway may not make a lot of sense. We do work with customers that want a driveway done and combine it with another project, so the travel cost is not too high. We are fully aware of this situation. Naturally, this requires flexibility in the schedule.
New Hampshire locations we have worked in
The southeastern section of New Hampshire along the I 95 corridor is where most projects have been. Part of the reason for this is we have done so much in the Boston area when people move up to New Hampshire or buy a second home; they have us work for them there. Towns we have worked in are,
- New Castle, New Hampshire 03854
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03801
- Hampton, New Hampshire 03842
If you are thinking about more than a flat and black asphalt driveway or pathway we can provide an option to seriously look at. As a contractor dedicated to chipseal installations we have a picture portfolio of completed projects that we would happy to review with you. If you look at a different vendor ask them for what they have done in New Hampshire or Massachusetts.
Call
So for a chipseal driveway in New Hampshire, you should contact us for a review of the job conditions and a price for chipsealing you’re walkways and driving surfaces. Call us at 1-781-254-2773