Serving Portland, Gresham, Vancouver & Surrounding Areas
New driveways, parking lots and private roads across the Portland metro, built from the base up.
Warranty
Satisfaction
Portland Team
Smooth Rollin’ Sealcoating and Paving installs new asphalt across the Portland metro from our shop in Gresham. New paving is what we are set up for, and it is the work Cisco bought the paver to do. A driveway or lot we install is ours from the first cut of excavation to the last pass of the roller, run by one crew rather than handed between a grading subcontractor and a paving subcontractor who never speak to each other.
Most of what decides how long asphalt lasts happens before any asphalt arrives. Excavation depth, subgrade condition, base material and compaction, and the grade that decides where water goes. Get those right and a Portland driveway runs 15 to 20 years. Get them wrong and no thickness of surface saves it. If your surface is still structurally sound and only needs patching or crack work, that is a repair job rather than a paving job, and we would rather point you at our asphalt repair services than sell you a rebuild you do not need.
Warranty on All Work
New paving is a structural job. These are the things a correctly built surface does that a resurfaced one cannot.
A new installation lets us build the foundation for what will actually drive on the surface. Residential driveways, customer parking and loaded truck traffic each need a different base depth and material, and that decision can only be made once, at construction.
Water is what ends asphalt, and it ends it from underneath. A new build lets us set the grade so runoff leaves the surface properly rather than pooling or running under the edges. Retrofitting drainage onto an existing surface is always a compromise.
A properly built asphalt surface in our climate runs 15 to 20 years with routine maintenance. Surfaces laid over failed bases or inadequate preparation fail in a fraction of that, which makes the cheaper quote considerably more expensive per year.
A smooth, correctly graded surface is the first thing anyone sees arriving at a property. For a business it sets the impression before a customer reaches the door. For a home it is one of the few improvements visible from the street.
Every project receives the same attention to detail, from small driveway repairs to large commercial parking lots. We treat your property like our own.
Everything below is new installation or full rebuild work. For patching, potholes and crack sealing on a sound surface, see our asphalt repair page.
Complete residential driveway installation from excavation to final roll. We remove the existing surface or vegetation, excavate to depth, install and compact an aggregate base, set the grade for drainage, and lay and compact the asphalt at temperature. We handle straightforward suburban driveways, long rural approaches, sloped and awkward-access sites, and shared driveways between properties.
New parking lot construction and full-depth rebuilds for Portland-area businesses. Customer parking, employee lots, delivery and service areas, and truck courts each get specified for the load they carry rather than one section across the whole site. We phase the work so you keep access and parking open, and handle the striping and ADA layout in the same visit. See our commercial paving services for the full scope.
Private roads are association assets and they are paved on association budgets, which makes them a different kind of project. We provide a written scope and price a board can take to a vote, phase the work so residents keep vehicle access throughout, and tell you honestly whether a full rebuild or targeted repair plus overlay is the better use of the reserve fund.
Where the existing base is still sound but the surface has worn out, an overlay puts a new asphalt layer over the old one at a fraction of the cost of a rebuild. The catch is that an overlay only works over a sound base, and laying one over a failing foundation buys a season or two before the same cracks come through. We check what is underneath before recommending it.
The part of the job you never see and the part that decides everything. Excavation to the right depth, removal of unsuitable material, aggregate base placed and compacted in lifts, and grading set so water leaves the surface. We also take on base construction as standalone work for sites that need the foundation fixed before anyone paves them.
When a driveway or lot has failed structurally, with alligator cracking across the field, edges that have dropped, or potholes that come straight back after patching, the honest answer is that it needs rebuilding rather than repairing. We remove the failed surface and base, correct the subgrade and drainage, and build the whole section back properly.
We believe in making your asphalt project as simple and transparent as possible.
We discuss your needs and goals. Ricardo will personally visit your property to assess the existing surface, identify underlying issues, and take precise measurements.
You'll receive a detailed, easy-to-understand proposal clearly outlining the scope of work, materials to be used, and straightforward pricing with no hidden fees.
Once approved, we schedule work at your convenience. Our team arrives fully equipped to prepare the site, including cleaning, saw cuts, or grading for proper drainage.
Our crew lays and compacts the asphalt at temperature, using the right equipment for the size of the job.
We conduct thorough cleanup, then perform a final walk-through with you to ensure complete satisfaction and answer any questions about care and maintenance.
Ready to begin?
Square footage, excavation and base requirements, drainage, and site access are the four drivers, and they matter in roughly that order. A flat suburban driveway on sound ground with easy truck access is the straightforward case. A sloped lot, soft or wet ground, a long rural run, or restricted access all push the number up, because most of that additional cost sits under the asphalt where it is not visible in the finished job. We price after walking the site, because a figure quoted over the phone on this kind of work is a guess.
For a typical Portland-area residential driveway carrying cars and light trucks, two to three inches of compacted asphalt over a properly compacted aggregate base is the usual specification. The base matters at least as much as the surface. Adding asphalt thickness over an inadequate base is one of the most common false economies in this trade, because the surface fails at the base regardless of how much material sits on top of it.
Sometimes, and it is genuinely cheaper when the conditions are right. An overlay works when the existing base is still structurally sound and the problems are confined to the surface. It does not work over a failed base, because the cracks in the old surface reflect straight through the new layer within a couple of seasons. We check what is underneath before recommending it, and we will tell you when an overlay is a waste of your money.
A properly installed asphalt surface generally runs 15 to 20 years here. The spread between those two numbers is almost entirely base preparation and maintenance. Sealcoating every two to three years and sealing cracks as soon as they appear is what moves a driveway toward the top of that range rather than the bottom, because both keep water out of the base.
Realistically, roughly April through October, with the shoulder months depending on the weather in a given year. Asphalt has to be laid and compacted while it is hot enough to move, and cold ground or steady rain takes that window away. We would rather tell you a job needs to wait for the season than lay a mat that cannot be compacted properly, because that surface will not last regardless of what it looks like on the day.
It depends on the jurisdiction and on what the work involves. Straightforward replacement of an existing residential driveway on private property frequently does not need one. Work in the public right of way, a new approach onto a street, and anything that changes drainage usually does. The property owner is responsible for permits, but we will tell you what your particular job is likely to need before you go looking.
