Driveway repair
Catch it early and it stays a repair
Asphalt gives you plenty of warning before it fails. A crack opens, water gets in, the winter works on it, and a year or two later that crack is a pothole with soft ground underneath. Deal with it while it is still a crack and the job is small. Wait until the base has washed out and it is a rebuild.
We repair home driveways all over the Eastern Shore, from short town drives to quarter mile farm lanes. Robert and Son Paving is in its third generation, working out of Federalsburg, residential and commercial both.
The honest part of this job is telling people when a repair is not worth doing. We do that on every drive we look at, including the ones up around Denton.
How do you repair a failed section of driveway?
We cut the bad area out square, back to asphalt that is still solid, and then dig down through whatever is under it until we hit ground that does not move. Skipping that step is why so many patches sink within a year. If the material coming out is wet and soft, it all has to come out.
Then clean stone goes back in and gets compacted in layers, hot mix goes on top, and we roll it in and seal the joint so water cannot track in around the edge. It is the same base and drainage thinking behind every driveway we build in Federalsburg, only in a patch sized piece.
What do the cracks in my driveway actually mean?
The pattern tells you a lot. Long straight cracks running with the drive are usually shrinkage and age, and they seal up fine. Cracks in a web that looks like alligator hide mean the base underneath has lost its strength and is flexing under the wheels. Those never seal, because the problem is not on the surface.
Low areas that hold a puddle after rain are the ones to worry about most, because standing water is what turns a small crack into a hole over one winter. Where the cracks are still tight and straight, sealing them early is the cheapest thing you will ever do to a driveway. The engineering reference at Pavement Interactive makes the same point about treating a surface before it fails.
Free estimate on your driveway repair
Third generation Eastern Shore pavers. Every repair backed by a two year warranty.
Call (410) 924-4174When is a repair no longer the right answer?
When the failures stop being spots and start being the whole drive. If you are patching in four or five places, the surface is grey and raveling everywhere, and water stands in more than one low area, you are spending good money on a surface that is finished.
At that point there are two better options. Where the base is still sound, a new layer over the top gives you a new driveway for a lot less than starting again. Where the base has gone, it has to come out. If the ground itself needs building up and reshaping before anything else happens, that starts with bringing in fill dirt and topsoil to get the levels right.
Why choose Robert and Son Paving for driveway repair?
Small jobs are where a lot of contractors stop returning calls. We do not, because repairs are how most of our customers meet us, and a driveway we patch this year is often a driveway we pave in five. Three generations of the same family has taught us that much.
We hold MHIC #74385, we have been BBB accredited A+ since 2018, and all our work carries a two year warranty. Estimates are free, we come out and look, and we give you one honest number. If the drive is sound but simply tired looking, a coat of sealer over the whole surface often does more for it than another patch.
Ask a paving contractor
Straight answers about asphalt paving on the Eastern Shore
Is it worth repairing an old asphalt driveway?
It is, as long as the base underneath is still solid and the failures are in a few areas rather than everywhere. We dig one of the bad spots and look before we quote, so you are deciding on what is actually under there.
How long does a driveway repair take?
Most are done in a day. Cutting out, digging down, rebuilding the base and laying the patch all happen in one visit on a normal home drive. Bigger areas or heavy drainage work can push it into a second day.
Can you fix potholes in a gravel or stone driveway?
Yes. Stone drives get the soft material dug out, fresh stone added and the whole area regraded so water runs off instead of sitting in the rut. Done right it lasts, done as a shovel of stone it does not.
Why did my last patch sink?
Almost always because nobody fixed the ground under it. If soft or wet material was left in place and asphalt went straight on top, the patch carries no support and settles under the first few loads that cross it.
Do you seal cracks as well as patch holes?
We do, and on a lot of drives that is the better spend. Tight straight cracks get routed out and filled with hot rubberised sealant, which keeps water out of the base and buys the surface years.
Do you repair driveways outside Federalsburg?
Yes. Denton, Preston, Hurlock, Trappe, Easton, Cambridge, Salisbury, Sudlersville, Stevensville and Chester are all regular stops, along with the rest of Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Queen Anne's counties.