Tar and Chip Videos
A video view of how these driveways are installed by others
About this Project
A video view of how these driveways are installed
Tim Carter from Ask The Builder.com has two videos that talk about chip sealing or as he says Tar and Chip. The two terms are both talking about the same process it is just based on local vernacular.
Distinctive Driveways
Tar and chip pavement surfaces are not a new concept at all. it is very likely that you have driven across hundreds of tar and chip roads and some driveways built the same way. Many counties use this surface on secondary and rural roads. Homeowners use this process to create a “look” for their home, estate or cottage. It is a cost-efficient method of repaving and sealing a driveway.
Tim explains the construction process to build a tar and chip driveway. As the contractor, we apply a layer of liquid asphalt on the driveway base. This is sprayed on the driveway from our heated truck at a thickness of about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Into that hot tar, the selected stone chips are spread on top but not mixed into the tar binder. They can be brown, gray or any other gravel color that is available. We take care not to apply too much tar or the chips will be covered by the tar preventing the stone finish desired. The tops of the stone chips stick out of the tar, the lower two-thirds of gravel is firmly embedded in the tar. The tar and chip driveway performs like a standard blacktop driveway. It looks like the stone mix selected creating a stone driveway. This type of drive provides excellent traction in the winter time. If you want to plow the snow off the driveway, just keep that snowplow blade about an inch off the ground.
Tar and Chip on Town Roads
A tar and chip driveway is very similar to standard blacktop in composition. Both types of driveway use asphalt cement as the ingredient which creates adhesion to the aggregate. Blacktop is mixed at a central plant. The asphalt cement completely coats the large, small, and fine pieces of aggregate. Tar and chip surfaces combine either a special cutback liquid asphalt cement or an emulsified asphalt cement and small similar sized pieces of clean, angular, washed gravel. These ingredients are mixed together at your house.
Tar and chip surfaces were standard fare on virtually every highway in the USA prior to 1935. Central mixed blacktop technology was just beginning at this time. Tar and chip surfaces are a wonderful alternative that is, unfortunately, being left by the side of the road.
Interested in a Tar and Chip Driveway?
We are based here in Massachusetts and have done hundreds of Tar and Chip Driveways. Our service area includes the State of Rhode Island, the state of New Hampshire and the State of Maine. For more information and or a quote call us at 1-781-254-2773.