The Right Tools for the Job - Excavation, Grading, New Driveways...

Paving can be a DIY thing or a professional endeavor, but regardless of who's doing what, the right equipment for the job is a key factor in the outcome.

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As a paving company in North Texas, we know the challenges involved with driveway and road paving first hand. When considering what the biggest issue with driveway repair and constructing new driveways and country roads was, quality equipment was at the top of the list!

Having done most every paving job with the wrong equipment, using the right equipment has made even more of an impact on our opinion. The equipment used is really the key factor to creating long-lasting, beautiful driveways, roads and accomplishing the many interesting horse property, ranch, and country property dirt work and grading projects found here in Texas.

Things to consider...

First off, if you have equipment of your own, use it. Just be on the lookout for the benefits and drawbacks to the equipment your using. If nothing comes to mind, just know that there are some! For instance, a lot of folks out here in the country grade roads with a tractor. If that's what you have available that's great, but we've found grading to be better accomplished by a loader like we use (pic above). It allows for visibility of the bucket blade and has minute movement capabilities so we can cut or drag with precision.

If you're renting equipment, learn as much about the types of controls the equipment has, what attachments or capabilities, and see if anyone has used the same equipment for a similar job. The more you can find out, the better off you'll be.

When hiring a professional paving company, no two companies have the same history, financial capabilities, or experience. This means, just like in most industries, that some paving companies use better equipment than others.

Country Roads Paving uses newer, premium equipment and while that isn't the only reason we're worth getting a free estimate from, the machinery saves us time and money every single day. Yes, you can get a good job from other companies that use other equipment, but most often we find that people like how we get in and out quickly, the equipment making it possible to do things quicker and with more precision than they're used to. Here are a few of the items we use on a daily basis:

• LeeBoy 7000 Paving Machine
• Wacker Neuson ST-45 Loader
• Wacker Neuson RD-12 Roller
• Stratos Asphalt Distributor 

Using the wrong tool can be fine, but the consequences are more time on the job, a higher difficulty level, and the possibility of a lower quality job.

Commercial Vs. Box Store Supplies & Materials

When repairing an asphalt driveway, things like filling potholes, sealing cracks, seal coating, and repairing alligator cracks have various commercial products as well as products sold through big box stores or available on eBay and Amazon. 

We're not presumptuous enough to claim that commercial products are any better than the ones readily available on the market, but the possibility does exist that purchasing through a local store may not be as good.

For instance, we just used a bag of cold patch from a big box store at the same time as a bag from an asphalt supplier. In this case, we found the commercial product to be light years ahead of the consumer product. The commercial product in this case was remarkable, the consumer one lackluster. Researching the methods and products will be a great benefit as you embark on any DIY project.

So, if you choose to do any driveway repair yourself, check out our blog post on DIY Driveway Repair or our post about Seal Coating Your Own Driveway

Feel free to ask any question about if your own equipment is up to the task, renting equipment, or more about the equipment we or other paving companies are using. 
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