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I recently had a new asphalt driveway installed.

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Due to the slope of the driveway they stopped about 2 1/2 feet from garage. This has created a problem with the end of driveway being 5 1/2 inches higher than the garage floor. This makes it extremely difficult to get motorcycles in and out.

Can anyone suggest a solution to fix this? I don't want any boards or anything like that but something that looks like it would belong there.

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    Was the contractor, like, suddenly surprised when they got close to the garage to discover that they had an issue with the grade? Why didn't they do a little earthwork before laying the pavement down?
    – Craig Tullis
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 3:16
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    Overall this reeks of a whole lot of poor planning and horrible execution of the task.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 5:38
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    I think that this should become "famous" question because it's a school book example of how things shouldn't be done. Also this explains in the best possible way what is the purpose of engineers and blueprints. @65eglide when it comes to your question I would pour triangular shaped concrete element leading from top of driveway to garage level. But depending on other slopes this might lead to water getting inside of garage when there are heavy rains. Perfect would be to place drain slot but this is more complex because you would have to make channels. Place pipes connect with sewerage etc.
    – python starter
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 8:03
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    Sounds like you need these guys: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_a_Contractor
    – user4302
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 11:24
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    A drawbridge from the garage to the mound of asphalt.That will allow the motorcycles in, and keep the water out (assuming the bridge is up when it rains).
    – Tester101
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 12:06

3 Answers 3

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Looks badly done - grass should have been removed before paving, grade fixed if needed so water won't run from driveway into garage.

For a crude fix, place a slot drain right up against the garage to divert water, and infill with lots of "cold patch" to make the slope inbetween as smooth as possible, rather than this huge drop at the end of the pavement.

For a better fix, hire a different paving contractor...

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    And I guess this is The answer. Nothing to add here, except for suggestion to sue contractor for getting the job done really bad.
    – Marek Oleszczuk
    Commented Jul 13, 2015 at 9:18
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Have had a similar problem, slab concrete replacement driveway ended up resting a couple of inches higher than the slab in the garage floor. What to do about water coming in and dealing with the height difference.

In your situation, since you have soil between the asphalt and garage as well as a decent amount of space, digging out a drain trench between the asphalt and the garage will let you put in a length of slotted french drain pipe to control water and use rock and pavers to smooth out the difference in heights of the two surfaces.

Dig the trench a couple of inches deeper than the pipe to allow you to wrap the pipe in weed blocking cloth (to keep it unclogged), then fill in the space around and above the pipe with whitewash rock. Fill in the rest of the area with the rock sloping the surface until you have about 1 1/2 " edge of asphalt and garage showing above the rock. Cover the rock with 12x12" landscape tiles (gray color if you want them to not be noticable, red ones if you want to make the spot more safely marked). You can then run your motorcycle over the area smoothly. If you happen to run a car tire over the area, the tiles are large enough to take momentary pressures since supported by the rock. I have put in a couple of hundred feed to french drain using this method and it works fine to control the water, makes a decent walkway and always looks nice. Good luck.

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Been there, done that; landscape fabric and crushed stone.

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    Please explain how you used them. Thanks!
    – Niall C. ♦
    Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 2:48

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