Having your driveway done

[sauerkraut]

Steel roofs are good for about 20 years.  Then they rust.  Galvanized or prepainted, doesn't matter.

Some old barns have metal roofs that are over 100 years old. As for the asphalt comment, yes it crumbles and chips but it's a cheaper way to go- plus, if your selling a house it looks better than a cracked cement driveway when people look at the house.

[Red Arrow]

Some old barns have metal roofs that are over 100 years old.

I talked with a contractor that was replacing a roof on a friend's hangar at Jones/Riverside Airport about that. He claimed the expected or perhaps design life of a prepainted steel roof was about 20 years.  There may be better quality available but that was the average.  There are enough old steel hangar roofs at the airport to make me doubt they could survive anywhere close to 100 years in the Oklahoma summer sun and still be considered servicable.  Just an observation.

[waterboy]

As for the asphalt comment, yes it crumbles and chips but it's a cheaper way to go- plus, if your selling a house it looks better than a cracked cement driveway when people look at the house.

Cheaper? Maybe up front. Maybe. But you will long regret the decision. It has to be resealed to keep it looking good and it also will crack, crumble and wash away. The underlying concrete driveway has to be in good condition as well. Man, when you're wrong, you're way wrong. It is smooth and perhaps economical for long curving driveways where maintenance is not an issue.

V2025, I wish I had your advice when I did mine 25 years ago. Good advice.

[Vision 2025]

A friend (really, a friend, not me) had some concrete work done years ago that had something that I believe is called chat in it.  It floats to the surface when the concrete is curing and then eventually chips out and leaves holes in the surface.  How does one specify concrete to not get that?

Usually that occurs from low strength aggregate or shale contamination in the mix, used to be a regular problem here but the quarry that had that problem shut down about 15 years ago.  Can be easily accelerated by using chemical de-icers which attack the low strength aggregate... 

[HoneySuckle]

I had another contractor come over and he said I didn't need to replace my driveway, but I could have it repaired instead.

That is very confusing because the other one said to replace it.