Concrete vs Tarmac of farm road

[humblefarmer]

Existing farm road seems to be 6 inch. All cracked up, looks like it will have to come up and start over.

Some bits are ok but trying to force myself to ditch the inbuilt farmer setting of saving a bit by not doing it all in one go.

350 m x 4 m. Tarmac or concrete? Had quotes for both, concrete slightly more but think it will work better. Tarmac these days just doesn't seem to last very long and I hate repairing things whilst I can still remember building it!

as the farm has commercial and farmng operations artic lorries will be seen often. I am coming to terms with needing 8 inch with re bar in else I will regret it. Drainage is tricky but that's another story.

Anyone any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Clive]

tarmac our drive about 10 years ago -proper job done, I suspect I will be doing it again in another 5-10 years time, doesn't last like concrete but looks a lot better IMO

 

[chaffcutter]

Is the old road concrete? Would it not be better to leave it down as the base for the new surface, it's been heavily compacted by the traffic, if you pull it up and then need to stone a base it will be difficult to get it as solid as it is now?
I would go for a decent thickness of base coat Tarmac, seal it then after a year or so top t with a wearing course, also spreads the cost a bit but should last a long time then.

 

[humblefarmer]

Thanks.

@Clive can you recall how thick it was and what course you used? Agree ref smart but there are no public roads in the UK that I know of that are concrete. Pikies et al love using the excuse of 'thought it was public mate, and no I can't read all the signs saying it's not!'

Council just dig up part of access road and re surfaced with probably 100+ mm of 20 mm tarmac. It's already showing shocking signs of wear and cracking. Nothing seems to last these days - don't get me started on building timber or paint, or timber fences either!

@chaffcutter we could leave it down but a) I need to run services under in several places but b) it's alread raised well above fields either side causing motes, some of the big bits wobble terrible, plan to break it up then top what ever is under with more crush and start over. Knowing farm how is it ancestors will either have used pure quality home produced clay and crap or a massive over kill of stone down to a huge depth.

It's odd, either rolls Royce or total bodge in the past!

 

[Tarw Coch]

Thanks.

@Clive Agree ref smart but there are no public roads in the UK that I know of that are concrete.

Part of the M54 around Telford is concrete, a truly shocking ride with expansion joints every few yards

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

Part of the M54 around Telford is concrete, a truly shocking ride with expansion joints every few yards

Some of the A11 near Wymondham is concreted. The noise...............

 

[Daniel]

Yes but you aren't going to be doing 80mph down a farm track?!

 

[humblefarmer]

Yes yes ok!

Should have said 'small back country Lanes are not concrete' which would be the case here!

Thank you @Daniel - we limit our tractor drivers to 60 on that 300m stretch!

 

[Morph]

Is the existing 4m width laid on an old track? Is it failing along the edges or across the road?

 

[humblefarmer]

its 3.5m wide but yes. it has to come up, its probably 300mm above the fields already

 

[Morph]

If it has to come up at least you can crush it for base material. Will you pour in sections or get a paver in?

 

[humblefarmer]

a Paver?

was planning to pour in sections. on that stretch every 6 metres should be ok - 50 sections?

 

[Morph]

Concrete laying machine . Low slump mix vibrated in and laid in continuous strip. Either put breaker strips in at pour or cut with a disc saw after to get expansion joints.
Depending on moulds available you can crown the surface. Some can cut the surface of the base as they go to get precise depth control saving concrete. Oh and the lane will have less undulations .
You see them laying either valleys with drains in the middle of dual carriage ways or the other extreme the concrete barrier walls in the middle, and roadways in between.

 

[llamedos]

A local road was recently repaired by this method of re grading http://www.roadreclamation.co.uk/road.htm it is a road which used to continually creep & split then heave after winter, certainly seemed the buis' when they were doing it.
Cost may be prohibitive though

 

[renewablejohn]

Part of the M54 around Telford is concrete, a truly shocking ride with expansion joints every few yards

That will be floating raft sections normally over river beds.

 

[Teejay]

The M20 from Maidstone to Folkestone is concrete, the road noise is awfull.

 

[vinnie123]

Can you lay concrete over existing Tarmac? Does it bind together or leave a route for water/ice to get in and knacker it in the first year?