Lake County is the western edge of the service area, and the one part of Central Florida with real hills. Clermont, Minneola and Groveland in the south, Mount Dora, Tavares and Eustis further north. This page covers the towns we reach, what slopes and sand do to a driveway, and the county's rules for driveways that meet a county road.
Clermont, the largest city in the county, and its neighbours Minneola, Montverde, Groveland and Mascotte, along with the Four Corners area where Lake meets Orange, Osceola and Polk. North toward the Harris Chain: Mount Dora, Tavares, the county seat, and Eustis, with Leesburg further out. South Lake is well inside forty miles of Orlando. For the north of the county, send the address and you will get a straight answer.
The Lake Wales Ridge runs up through the south of the county, and Sugarloaf Mountain near Minneola reaches 312 feet above sea level, the highest point in peninsular Florida. The county takes its name from its water: around 250 named lakes and well over a thousand other ponds and bodies of water, including the Harris Chain in the north and the Clermont Chain of lakes in the south.
Hills change how asphalt fails. On a sloped driveway, storm water runs down the surface and along the edges instead of sitting on it, and on sandy ground that running water carries the soil out from under the downhill edge. The first sign is usually a lip along the side of the drive where the lawn has dropped away, and then a piece of the edge breaks off. A steep drive also needs attention to where its water ends up at the bottom, whether that is the garage, the street or a neighbour's yard.
Sealing a slope is its own job too. The coat is worked across the grade so it does not run, and the crew plans the day so nobody has to walk back up a fresh surface. Timing matters more on a hill than on flat ground. On a level drive a passing shower sits on a fresh coat; on a slope it runs across it, and anything uphill, a neighbour's yard or the street above, sends its water down the same way. Summer work on a sloped drive in south Lake is booked for the morning and only goes ahead when the afternoon forecast gives the coat time to set before any storm arrives.
Citrus built this county. The December 1989 cold wave destroyed most of the groves, and much of the land around Clermont and Minneola that used to be citrus has since become subdivisions. That makes south Lake one of the newer housing areas in the region, with a lot of driveways laid over former grove land in hilly terrain, while Mount Dora, Tavares and Eustis keep older town centers with older, narrower drives and mature trees.
US 27 and State Road 50 are the main roads through south Lake, with Florida's Turnpike crossing the county and US 441 running north through Mount Dora and Tavares. Driveways that come straight off the busier roads take more turning traffic at the apron than those on quiet subdivision streets, and the apron is often the first part to go.
A reseal or crack fill on your own side of the right-of-way line is not apron work. Anything at the road is done under the correct permit, and the fee is written on the quote.
Yes. It changes how the coat is applied and how the day is planned, not whether it can be done. Undermined edges on the downhill side are fixed first.
A culvert crossing in the county right-of-way is part of the driveway permit, and its size follows the county rule. If it needs replacing, that is quoted as paving work.
Send the address. North Lake is at the outer edge, and you will be told honestly.
Neighbouring counties: Orange to the east, Seminole to the north east and Osceola to the south east.
