Thursday
05Nov2009
Green Driveway Construction
Thu, November 5, 2009 at 6:12
Or, Paving Roofs?
If you're looking to start your own green business or if you happen to already be in the business of building roofs and/or driveways and want to green your business then this may well be the green start-up idea for you.
Before we begin please allow me to explain that like many green ideas this will force you to rethink the way things are usually done but the idea I'm about to present has been in use for as long as I can remember. Years ago, near the corner of what is now the intersection of Battleground Avenue and Old Battleground Road in Greensboro, North Carolina there once stood a house that had a driveway constructed of used asphalt roofing shingles simply laid on the ground until they were about 6" thick. The driveway outlasted the house.
Currently, roofing contractors pay tipping fees to landfills to get rid of old shingles and the landfill operators usually bury the shingles in the ground even though many states have legalized the use of old shingles to make new asphalt. You see, many asphalt companies have invested or in most cases, borrowed, millions upon millions of dollars to buy machines that chew up old asphalt roads and turn them into new asphalt and if you think those asphalt companies are going to retire those machines early you're crazier than RecycleBill.
And therein lies to opportunity.
While it's true most homeowners wouldn't want to look out their windows at driveways made of a hodgepodge of mixed color shingles and removing the nails is a real pain in the... Well, you know. The fact is: used asphalt shingles are a better base material for driveways than gravel, rock, screenings, limestone, sandrock, ground seashells or any other material commonly in used in the construction of asphalt or concrete driveways-- you simply need to rethink the way you do things now. And when you consider the fact that roofing contractors will pay you $25 to $50 a ton to take it off their hands it really begins to make economic sense.
By the way, my shop floor is made of used asphalt shingles. It's not pretty but it's not muddy and I got paid to relieve the roofing contractors of their old shingles. Next year I'm planning to build sidewalks from old shingles and my wheelbarrow is the only tool I need.
If you're looking to start your own green business or if you happen to already be in the business of building roofs and/or driveways and want to green your business then this may well be the green start-up idea for you.
Before we begin please allow me to explain that like many green ideas this will force you to rethink the way things are usually done but the idea I'm about to present has been in use for as long as I can remember. Years ago, near the corner of what is now the intersection of Battleground Avenue and Old Battleground Road in Greensboro, North Carolina there once stood a house that had a driveway constructed of used asphalt roofing shingles simply laid on the ground until they were about 6" thick. The driveway outlasted the house.
Currently, roofing contractors pay tipping fees to landfills to get rid of old shingles and the landfill operators usually bury the shingles in the ground even though many states have legalized the use of old shingles to make new asphalt. You see, many asphalt companies have invested or in most cases, borrowed, millions upon millions of dollars to buy machines that chew up old asphalt roads and turn them into new asphalt and if you think those asphalt companies are going to retire those machines early you're crazier than RecycleBill.
And therein lies to opportunity.
While it's true most homeowners wouldn't want to look out their windows at driveways made of a hodgepodge of mixed color shingles and removing the nails is a real pain in the... Well, you know. The fact is: used asphalt shingles are a better base material for driveways than gravel, rock, screenings, limestone, sandrock, ground seashells or any other material commonly in used in the construction of asphalt or concrete driveways-- you simply need to rethink the way you do things now. And when you consider the fact that roofing contractors will pay you $25 to $50 a ton to take it off their hands it really begins to make economic sense.
By the way, my shop floor is made of used asphalt shingles. It's not pretty but it's not muddy and I got paid to relieve the roofing contractors of their old shingles. Next year I'm planning to build sidewalks from old shingles and my wheelbarrow is the only tool I need.
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