Damaged Driveway - Repair Or Replace? Three Things You Must Consider

Your driveway is the entrance to your home and one of the first things to get noticed by visitors. If the driveway is busted or overwhelmed with unappealing cracks it can leave an unpleasant impression. More often than not, this is a problem that goes unaddressed.

If you have a driveway that is cracked or busted and are ready to address the problem you have two basic choices, replace or repair. Three things you must consider when making the decision to replace or repair.

1. Most driveways are a minimum of four inches thick. Natural stresses caused this four inch thick slab of concrete to literally tear itself apart. These stresses include expansion and contraction due to heat and cold, the weight of vehicle traffic, and movement of the substrate. Any crack repair material placed within these fractures will undoubtedly suffer a similar fate as the original slab of concrete, failure.

2. Driveway replacement can be expensive but if performed correctly can provide you with fifty plus years of solid use. If you decide to replace a concrete driveway make sure the contractor uses a four thousand psi mix of concrete poured at a minimum of four inches; furthermore, steel reinforcement should be added for increased tensile strength to compliment the already high compressive strength of concrete.

3. Over time, a driveway's surface can become weathered and lose its finish. There are a variety of overlays available. Although relatively expensive, when compared to the cost of replacement, these overlays can be a viable option. I don't suggest overlaying cracked or busted concrete; however, if the desired effect is simply a nicer finish then overlay can do the trick.

Concrete repair can be a risky endeavor. Far too often, I see a repair gone wrong, a costly mistake that never should have been attempted in the first place. Every day, home owners waste money on costly repairs that fail. That being said, cracks can be filled to prevent moisture penetration and good concrete can be overlaid for aesthetic appeal.

Many times, due to budget restraints, the best solution is to simply cut out and replace only the most severely damaged sections. This way, you spend less money and the repair is solid.

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Guide to Replacing Or Repaving a Concrete Driveway

1. Determine the problem- do you need to repair and seal cracks, or replace the driveway completely? If you are just repairing cracks it's a pretty simple job and you can skip to the last step.

2. Clear out your old driveway- If you are replacing your driveway then you are going to need to get a concrete cutting power saw to break up the driveway into small chunks of concrete that you can haul away. Concrete cutting can be dangerous, so be sure to use the proper safety precautions that you would use with any other power tools. Once you cut up the concrete into small enough pieces you can then pick them up and haul them out of the way.

3. Compact and flatten the surface- once you've removed all of the concrete from your driveway you need to flatten the surface to prepare for the concrete to be poured in the hole.

4. Pour the Ready Mix- once you have flattened and compacted the ground you can now pour the ready mixed concrete into the hole. Ready mix is pretty easy to pour, but it's important to have a rake to ensure that to concrete surface is even throughout the whole driveway. If the driveway ends up being uneven, this usually isn't too big of a problem and you can often just pour another coat of ready mix over the previous layer and even the new layer out.

Pouring the ready mix itself is probably the easiest part, and it is a good idea to look into hiring a contractor to perform the concrete cutting, as this may be dangerous for people with no experience cutting concrete.

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