An asphalt driveway is a great addition to any home. It adds great aesthetics to your landscaped garden, increases the value of your property, and makes it much easier for you to get in and out of your compound. If you are seriously considering an asphalt driveway, you should also start to think about the different edging options available. Edging is the demarcation installed along the edges of the asphalt path. There are several common edging options available as seen below:
Brick
Brick is easily the most common asphalt edging solution in the country. With this alternative, bricks are lined up along the edge of the driveway and bonded together using a concrete mix. Concrete is a great edging option for several options. One, bricks are not expensive. And two, bricks provide a great colour contrast to the dark asphalt surface. Note that the bricks can also be painted to white or other colours for more design variety.
Concrete
Concrete is another fairly common edging option. Concrete edging can be installed in two main ways. One, concrete can be poured along the edges and then shaped into position. Two, pre-cast concrete blocks can be used instead. The latter makes installation easier and quicker because no curing is required. However, both options provide a highly durable and resilient surface that lasts even longer than the asphalt.
Stone
Stone is yet another edging option for asphalt driveways. Different types of stone can be used here. There is quarry rock and there's machine-cut building stone. The latter provides a clean, neat finish, and is ideal for landscaped grounds. The former is favoured around un-landscaped gardens because it requires less installation. Both are installed using concrete and provide a highly durable edging finish.
No edging
You can also choose not to have any edging installed on your asphalt driveway. Of course, this may reduce the aesthetic value of the finished product. Clients that choose not to have any edging installed may do so because of costs. Mostly, however, edging is not installed in some cases because the driveway design may not favour it, e.g. raised driveways where edging will greatly constrain the paving surface.
Painted asphalt
Another edging option when it comes to asphalt driveways is painting. Now painting is not really a bonafide edging solution but it does get the job done sometimes. Here, instead of installing brick, stone, concrete or any of the usual edging alternatives, the edges of the driveway are simply painted, usually in white. This creates an edging impression. And although such a driveway will miss out on all the functional benefits of 'real edging', you will still enjoy the aesthetics created.
Edging not only helps to highlight your asphalt driveway and create a pleasing colour contrast, it also helps to protect the driveway from chipping and spalling damage at the edges. Talk to your driveway contractor about the ideal edging solution for you before installation begins.
