Cutting A Curve In Asphalt On The Cheap....

UPDATE: New photo at the bottom.

There is an area near the southeast corner of our garage where the driveway asphalt had been driven on by something so heavy it dented, cracked and sunk the asphalt near the edge. This is a square corner of the driveway near a drainage grate. The drainage grate was sunk and tipped also by the heavy machinery.

This asphalt area has always bothered my sense of aesthetics. Today I took on that area, as part of my ongoing landscaping efforts. My goal has been to remove the eye sores and slowly bring our new house and yard back around.

Knowing I would some day take on cutting the asphalt I bought a tool that I thought might do the job even though it is not made for this job. The classic tool to use is an asphalt cutter. An asphalt cutter is a large bit ($40 or more) that goes onto a demolition hammer (hundreds of dollars or more). A demolition hammer is a pretty expensive tool and a very large and heavy tool. The other classic tool is a concrete saw but those are best for straight cuts. Using a demo hammer is loud and kind of a hassle and cutting concrete is really loud and dusty.

"The job was easy if you're patient, and the hand protector (red) made this the tool of choice"

Instead I chose to use a Harbor Freight Brick Cutter. This $6 tool (and a hammer) was the perfect tool for the job. I did not have the right size of mallet so I used my finish hammer for soft strikes and the back of a hatchet for hard strikes. Eye protection and hearing protection is essential as always.

I was able to cut some nice curves in the asphalt. Asphalt is often made up of layers And I felt to leave the lower levels for added strength. The images show the job part way done. You can see in the photos that one sunk down area was removed and the asphalt cut along a curve. You can also see the bigger sunk down area remains with my chalk line guide. If you click the images they get much larger.

The job was easy if you're patient, and the hand protector (red) made this the tool of choice. I also had a similar tool with a point (yellow handle) rather than a blade for breaking up the bigger chunks, but I could have gotten by without it.

One thing I learned, is that the less you are cutting off, the easier asphalt is to cut. If you are cutting over 2" off, then it helped to add cuts to the bigger chucks so they would break up more easily. Otherwise I hugged the cracks to make cutting easier.

A chalk line drawn with children's sidewalk chalk was used to help with visualizing where the cut should be. Ultimately the blade width plays a part on the how much of a curve you can get and this is especially true on any inside corners. Using this tool is mellow.

Still a work in process as shown below, curved asphalt, freshly planted irish moss (for erosion control), strawberry and succulent, has transformed this area. We also gained a new bed to grown edible plants that is waiting to be planted. I was able to straighten the drainage grate to a degree although the it is hard to tell in the photos and the channel that holds the grate is bowed down in the middle to some degree. After studying where the water drains off the asphalt I made little gravel washes. At some point I will remove the wood board as it was just a temporary dam for the compost.