tarmac road with yellow strip in the centre

How Much Tarmac & Asphalt Do I Need For a Road Surface?

No matter, if it’s on a tarmac airport runway or your driveway, paved surfaces made from tar, are both useful and durable. Tarmac company installation can also be quick; placed directly over existing surfaces. 

Tarmac road lay provides a smooth & level surface that is perfect for cars, bicycles, pedestrians, and other uses. Tar surfaces are also easy to maintain and can last for years with minimal upkeep. They can also be customised to fit any area, making them a great choice for a variety of applications.

Tarmac can be misunderstood. To provide clarity, this article will explore everything there is to know about tarmac.

How to Calculate

Tarmac & asphalt is widely used as a road surface, including highways, inner city roads, car parks, pavements, driveways, etc. Asphalt’s main properties are durability, high traction, and low light reflectivity, as well as being waterproof, making it suitable for cable and pipe coating applications. Although there are various kinds of asphalt available today, the most commonly used type is a dense-graded mix, which suits all traffic conditions and carries heavy loads without cracking under pressure; furthermore, it is long-lasting with proper application and maintenance over time.

With a measuring tape in hand, take measurements of the area you wish to cover with asphalt and ensure all measurements are accurate. Once your measurements have been collected, convert them to feet (12 inches per foot). Use our asphalt calculator to calculate volume and weight requirements before multiplying this figure by density to find out how much tarmac company material is necessary.

Size of the Driveway

Considerations should include how many cars you currently own and plan to acquire in the near future, as well as where and how your family uses their vehicles, including where you park them, when determining how large a driveway and amount of tarmac are required.

Your driveway’s turnaround area should be at least 10 feet wide to give ample room for turning around and heading back out onto the street, or double as extra parking spots if necessary. If your driveway sits alongside a busy roadway, additional width may be necessary to accommodate fire truck access.

Tarmac & asphalt thickness should also be taken into consideration, with most safe home driveways using 4 inches as their standard depth; however, more can be added up to 8 inches if desired for greater stability and longevity. A driveway that will be used by heavy vehicles must be at least 6 inches thick to reduce damage from vehicle tyres striking the edges of the asphalt, which may otherwise lead to cracking over time.

Size of the Parking Area

As car sizes continue to increase, it’s crucial that your parking area can accommodate these larger cars. A good rule of thumb would be to provide space for cars the same size as those that were the top five best-selling models at the time of purchase; this way, all available spaces can be utilised effectively. In addition, add at least 0.5m extra in all dimensions adjacent to walls or obstructions so as to prevent vehicles from obstructing each other or blocking access to other parts of the building.

Size of the Parking Lot

Outside of considering how much space each parking spot requires, you also must take into account how large your entrance and exit roads should be. On average, each stall requires 300 to 350 square feet; this includes space allocated to itself, its aisle, end island, or cap, and any necessary two-way aisles or lanes that enable drivers to pass each other easily in either direction.

Standard parking spaces measure 16 feet long by 8 feet wide, accommodating most cars and pickup trucks comfortably. You may wish to create smaller spaces for smaller vehicles in your lot; though this will reduce overall capacity, it will help avoid customers becoming impatient due to congestion in a clogged lot.

Determining how wide the aisles will be is also essential, as this can affect how many vehicles can fit in your parking lot. Most parking lots utilise one-way aisles, which require less clearance between cars compared with two-way aisles and offer substantial space savings overall. Also factored in when making this decision are parking spaces’ angles; wider angles require longer aisle width than narrower ones.