Montgomery County wraps the city's northwest edge, from Cheltenham and Abington out along the Schuylkill to Norristown and King of Prussia and up to Lansdale. It is a county of townships and boroughs, and each one writes its own rules for driveways. This page covers the towns, the ground, and what the townships we have checked actually say.
Abington Township, including Willow Grove and Roslyn; Cheltenham Township, including Elkins Park, Wyncote and Melrose Park; Glenside; Jenkintown; Norristown; King of Prussia and the rest of Upper Merion; Conshohocken; Plymouth Meeting; Ardmore and the Lower Merion side of the Main Line; Ambler; Fort Washington; Lansdale and North Wales. Somewhere else in the county? Send it.
Everything here is on the Piedmont side of the Fall Line: rolling ground, harder rock close under the soil, and a lot of slope. The Schuylkill runs past Conshohocken and Norristown, where Stony Creek comes in, and the Wissahickon starts up near North Wales and cuts down through Ambler and Fort Washington toward the city. The Tookany runs through Cheltenham on its way to the city.
For a driveway, rolling ground means most drives are on some kind of slope, and the failures follow the water. The low edge gets undercut, the bottom of the drive where it meets the street takes every storm's runoff, and a drive that crosses a slope sideways tends to crack along the downhill side first. Sealing looks after the surface. Whether the water has somewhere to go decides how long the asphalt underneath lasts.
The inner townships. Cheltenham, the older parts of Abington and the Lower Merion side of Ardmore are thick with mature trees and older houses on lots that were laid out before two-car drives were normal. Drives are narrow, often edged in stone or Belgian block, and shaded most of the day. Shade slows the cure of a seal coat and keeps leaves and moss on the surface; roots lift the edges.
The boroughs. Norristown, Lansdale, Conshohocken and Jenkintown are tighter and older, with rear pads, alley access and short drives squeezed between houses. Much of the work is hand work along walls and foundations.
The later suburbs. Around King of Prussia and in the North Penn townships, drives are wider and longer and the surface is out in full sun. Sun is what turns asphalt gray fastest, so these drives usually need sealing on schedule rather than repair.
Two townships side by side can treat the same job in opposite ways, which is why we check the address before quoting. Seal coating and crack filling on an existing drive are not listed as permit work in either township above. Replacement paving in Abington is, and the quote says so and includes it.
Yes. Abington lists driveway replacement as permit work, with a fee based on the paved area, and the contractor has to be registered with the township. Both go on the quote.
Upper Merion says resurfacing an existing driveway of the same size and location needs no permit. Widening it, or working on the apron at the street, is different.
No. Lansdale, North Wales and the North Penn townships are within reach, and so is the Schuylkill side from Conshohocken up past Norristown.
We will say so on the quote if the loose edging is letting water under the asphalt, and whether it needs a mason first. Sealing against a moving edge does not hold.
Neighboring areas: the city to the southeast, Delaware County past City Avenue and the Main Line, Bucks County to the northeast.
