A greener blacktop in Delaware

When it came time to redo the driveway outside their family home north of Wilmington, Joe and Terry Mullan picked a method that recycled the existing asphalt.

The couple, both vegans, liked the idea of not sending the old driveway off to a landfill. Earlier this week, they got their wish.

A skid-steer loader rigged with an attachment on the front chewed through the driveway like a rototiller slices through a garden plot. A sprinkle of calcium chloride (otherwise known as rock salt) was churned into it. The next day, it would be compacted, pressed and transformed into a smooth base for a new blacktop driveway.

Marketed as a greener alternative to conventional paving, this method is something Richard Piendak, owner of New Castle-based Richards Paving Inc., has offered for several years. It’s a cost-saver, because it allows reuse of materials rather than hauling away old asphalt.

“We can do this in a one-step process,” Piendak said.

Reusing the existing asphalt for a stone base allows Piendak to charge less for the paving. The new driveway at the Mullan home, which included a turn-around and widening, was about $3,000.

The paving industry, which closely watches the ups and downs of oil commodities, must find cost-efficiencies and new products and offerings to lure consumers.

Richards Paving recently was named as a top paving contractor by “Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction” magazine.

Most of his business is commercial jobs, but about a quarter is residential work.

After more than 40 years in the paving business, Piendak said, he’s still innovating. For Richards Paving, which uses trucks emblazoned with the 1-800-ASPHALT logo, that means going to industry conventions. There, he finds new methods.

Even something as seemingly low-tech as a slice of driveway is not as simple as it seems.

Before two men working for Piendak got started with the heavy equipment, they pulled out iPhones. The devices are used for a “before” photo on every job. Also, their GPS helps Piendak know where all his trucks are throughout the workday.

“I have always been trendy, and kept on it,” Piendak said.

For instance, a style of pavement allows for the look of individual blocks of stone, but it’s really one big pavement that’s been stamped with the outline of blocks. Another option places fabric down before the new asphalt.

And for the recycled asphalt system, that attachment on the loader has 350 carbide tips, which can dig about a foot deep to grind up the old materials. At the Mullans’ home, the crews smoothly pushed through the driveway. It wasn’t as dusty or noisy as you might expect.

The family picked Richards Paving because they bumped into him at a home show earlier this year. He was a familiar face – they knew each other from the local YMCA. It would be another milestone in the home-improvement process for the Mullan family. They bought their home in 2001.

“We’ve been slowly putting it back together,” Joe Mullen said. “It’s one of our last steps.”

Contact Nichole Dobo at (302) 324-2281 or ndobo@delawareonline.com. On Twitter

@NicholeDobo.