Expert: Sarah Leech - 8/12/2007

Question
We live in a suburb of Chicago and have a very steep u-shape asphalt driveway.  Both the entrance and exit become impossible for my Kia Sedona to go up when we have a certain amount of snow and/or ice.  I have tried applying buckets of salt after using the snow blower but my car still slides down and I can not get traction.  Now that my children are entering school, I am afraid they will miss days due to my inability to get out of our driveway.  Is there any solution you know of?  I was thinking about radiant heat on the exit side (that is the short run) but I am now familir with it and/or how to do it and the expense??  We can not re-grade as it conforms to our property and matches to the higher street level.  Our home is very very much down hill compared to the street.
Please give any advise you can.. I will try it all!
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Debra!

Unfortunately, this is a problem that lots of people with steep driveways have!  Here are a few suggestions:

1. The only way to do radiant heat would be to remove the old asphalt and install concrete, as the radiant heat coils will melt if hot asphalt is installed over them.  Have a contractor give you a price on that, as I do not have any idea what that would cost.  

2. 'Rough Up' the ends of the driveway.  This can be done a couple different ways:
    a.  An asphalt milling machine just to scratch the surface.
    b.  An asphalt saw with an asphalt blade to make cuts in the asphalt. (not recommended)

3. Have your driveway asphalt sealcoated with a very heavy amount of sand, for traction.  I would not recommend doing this yourself, since using a lot of sand in the sealcoat can be tricky.  Contact some qualified asphalt sealcoaters in your area and have them give you a price.

I hope this at least gives you some options and anyone that comes to visit with you will probably have a few other suggestions.  I can tell you that your least expensive option will probably be the sealcoating but since I don't live in your area, don't hold me to that!

Good Luck and I would definitely get this taken care of now so that you are not fighting it again this winter!

Sarah Leech
ASAP Asphalt Sealing And Paving Co.