Paving & sealcoat · Two Rivers · the ferry-road yard since 2005
Hot mix, laid like it has to last a generation.
Solstice paves the valley’s drives and lots the unhurried way: base read before it is priced, two compacted lifts with tack between, edges finished by hand — and a sealcoat calendar we keep, so the mat’s life is our memory, not yours.
What the yard does
Five trades, one standard
Each one is the same discipline with a different surface — measure first, base second, mat last, calendar after.
New drives
2.5 in in two lifts over read base, crowned to shed the melt, edges hand-tamped.
Mill & overlay
The old surface milled 1.5 in and replaced with a fresh 2 in mat on tack coat.
Sealcoat cycles
First coat at ninety days, then every third or fourth season — and we keep the calendar.
Crack routing
Routed to a half inch, blown clean, sealed hot and recessed to survive the plow.
Reclaim & millings
Old pavement ground into new base in place, or bladed millings for long lanes.
The calendar clause
Every Solstice mat goes into the yard book with its sealcoat dates beside it, and the yard calls when they come due — not the other way around. A driveway maintained on schedule outlasts two that were not, and nobody should need a filing cabinet to own one.
The yard’s position
Slow on purpose
The valley has no shortage of crews who will lay a mat in a morning and be three towns away by supper. Solstice books fewer drives a season than it is asked for, reads the base on every one, and keeps the calendar after the cheque clears — which is why the same names appear on our list decade after decade.
Visit one
The measure
Tape, slope and a core sample where the story is unclear. The base gets read before the drive gets priced — a mat over a mystery is a scheduled redo.
The verdict
Base or reclaim
Sound base under a tired surface means overlay. Failed base means the old drive is ground into a new one, in place, at $1.95 — either way the decision is written down before the iron comes.
Day one
Prep & tack
Edges cut square, millings hauled to the plant as RAP, tack coat down, and the planer run where the overlay needs the room.
The lay
Two lifts, one pace
Binder at an inch and a half, wearing course at an inch — each rolled behind the screed while it is still hot enough to compact honestly.
Handback
Roll, cure, calendar
Density checked before the mat cools, cure dates on a card on your door, and the drive into the yard book with its sealcoat years already written beside it.
The sequence
How the valley gets paved
Five visits from first tape to first sealcoat reminder. The pace is deliberate — the ground here rewards it, and so does the second decade of a Solstice mat.
2025 — 2026
The yard book, photographed
Six surfaces from last season’s list. Every one is already in the calendar for its first or fifth sealcoat.
Twenty-one seasons, counted
Year eleven and they called before I did — the sealcoat, routed cracks, the whole calendar. The drive looks closer to new than the house does. In the valley, that is just what Solstice is.
Asked at the ferry landing
Why two lifts instead of one thick mat?
Compaction is physics. A roller reaches about 95% density through an inch and a half of hot mix; double the depth and the bottom of the lift stays loose forever. Two lifts give the drum two surfaces it can actually finish — it is the difference between a mat and a band-aid.
What happens at the measure?
Tape, slope reading, and a core where the base’s story is unclear — about forty minutes, no charge. You get the verdict in writing: overlay, reclaim or rebuild, with the price of each from the same book the last customer was quoted from.
Do you really call when the sealcoat is due?
Every mat since 2005 is in the yard book with its dates beside it, and the book is checked each spring. It has called customers we had not heard from in eight years. A few thought it was a sales trick; then the drive aged a decade without a crack worth routing.
What does the yard do in the off-season?
Reclaim and millings while the ground allows, crack routing on dry winter days, equipment, and the book. Paving is seasonal; the calendar is not.
The 2026 season list opens in April · (555) 027-5586 · shop@solsticepaving.example
Get on the season list
Address and the rough size of the surface. The measure is free, the verdict is written, and the calendar starts the day the mat cools. shop@solsticepaving.example