How to Build an Oiled Driveway

At the turn of the century, road construction crews regularly sprayed oil over roads to control dust from cars passing over dirt surfaces. The oil bonded with the sand and dirt to form a cap over the road that formed a water-resistant barrier over the soil. However, since motor oil is a hazard to the environment, and banned from dumping in most areas, it would be harmful and probably illegal to coat your driveway with the substance. There is another coating that road crews often call oil, which is actually liquid asphalt, RC-250.

Gravel
Tractor rake

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the driveway bed for the oil or liquid asphalt. You will need to grade a layer of 2 to 8 inches of crushed gravel over a 12-foot-wide path to form a driveway. This involves dragging a rake behind a tractor to level the gravel into a smooth surface.
- 2
  Hire a local company to bring in their trucks to spray the hot oil or asphalt over your prepared driveway bed. This is not a procedure that you could do with any satisfactory results on your own without the specialized heating and spraying equipment.
- 3
  Spread another thin layer of crushed or small gravel over the hot oil/asphalt so that none of the black oil is showing. Again, the company that sprays the hot asphalt will be able to use their equipment to spray the gravel evenly over the surface of the driveway.
- 4
  Roll out the sandwich of hot asphalt and stone with a roller to form a thick layer over the gravel base of your driveway. As the asphalt cools, the materials bond together, forming an almost waterproof surface. You will be able to drive over this strong surface as soon as the asphalt is cool.

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Driveways