Oil and Stone Chip Seal
Oil and Stone Chip Seal Driveways in Islip, NY
Also called tar and chip. Hot liquid asphalt sprayed onto a prepared base, stone chip spread into it, and the whole thing rolled so the aggregate embeds: a textured, matte finish with the stone colour showing through.
The ground under Islip
Islip is south-shore outwash: sand and gravel washed out from the moraines to the north and laid down flat. Level ground, free-draining subgrade, easy excavation: on paper the most straightforward material we work on. Streets closer to the water sit on a higher water table, which limits how deep you can excavate before working wet.
For chip seal, the base requirement is exactly the same as for asphalt. This is a surface treatment, not a structural one. Free-draining sand is good ground for it, provided the base beneath has been compacted in lifts. Sprayed over an under-compacted base it will settle with the base.
How we do the work
Chip seal gets misunderstood in both directions, so let’s be plain.
It is not a cheap version of asphalt. Different product, different look, different maintenance cycle, different jobs it’s good at. Choosing it purely to save money on a driveway that wants asphalt is a decision you’ll regret in five years.
It is not a repair for a failed base. Chip seal is a surface treatment. Sprayed over a driveway that’s sunk or cracking from below, it cracks in exactly the same places within a season or two. Anyone offering to chip seal a broken driveway is selling you eighteen months.
It is genuinely good on long drives, on properties where a smooth black surface would look wrong, and where you want texture and grip rather than a formal finish. It suits older houses and larger lots better than a suburban front driveway.
Living with it: expect some loose chip for the first few weeks as unembedded stone comes free: it sweeps up and settles down. Plough with the blade slightly raised or with shoes fitted, because a blade dragged hard across it will pick at the surface. And it’s renewed by recoating rather than resurfacing, on a longer cycle than asphalt sealcoating.
What moves the price in Islip
Drainage design is what varies here. On flat ground water doesn’t run off on its own. It goes where the pitch sends it, and getting consistent fall across a large area is a set-out job done before anything is laid. On a slope you can be sloppy about that and get away with it; on Islip’s flat lots you cannot. Parts of the south shore also sit in mapped flood zones, where added hard surface becomes a regulatory question rather than a design preference.
Local rules
Islip is in the Town of Islip: the hamlet and the town share a name, which occasionally confuses paperwork but does make the answer simple. Unincorporated, so the town office.
What we’ll do regardless: tell you what applies before you sign, not after we’ve started.
Why this crew
The person who quotes the job is on the crew that runs it, and the quote states the base depth, which is the line worth comparing across any estimates you’re holding.
ICPI certified, Techo-Bloc Pro, A+ with the BBB, trading since 2017, working out of a yard on Horseblock Road in Medford.
Frequently asked questions
Can I put chip seal over my existing asphalt driveway?
Only if the existing surface and base are sound. Over a cracked or sunken driveway it will mirror the failure. We’ll look before we answer.
Is it dusty?
No. The stone is embedded in hot asphalt, not loose over a base. That’s a gravel drive, a different thing. There’ll be some loose chip in the first weeks and then it’s a solid surface.
Will more hard surface make my drainage worse?
It can. Every square foot of hard surface is a square foot that no longer absorbs water, and on flat south-shore lots that water has to be given somewhere to go. It’s a design question, not a reason not to build.