Concrete driveways

A driveway made of concrete is the best, most stable and problem free driveway you can have. It can be poured in any configuration that you chose and its durable and strong. Also, it will match concrete sidewalks, steps, and patios nicely.

Driveway location and design

It is very important that the driveway will be wide enough, for example, a single car driveway should be a minimum of 11-feet wide, and a double driveway should be at least 22-feet wide, with an entrance at the street of 28-feet. The length of the driveway will be determined by the setback of your house from the street and by the shape of your driveway’s approach: straight, curved or half circled. Garages that are located on the side of the house, are best served by a wide driveway that extends beyond the garage entrance to provide turn around and parking space to the rear.  A driveway that forces you to back-out on to a blind curve or hill is far too dangerous. It is necessary that the driveway will not be too steep to negotiate safely, also, make sure that the driveway does not slope down into a garage.

Driveway construction

Constructing a driveway is a two stage process, first comes the excavation of the ground to allow placement of a base layer of 6-10 inches of crushed stone, then comes the pouring of concrete or lying of asphalt surface layers after the base stage was settled and compacted. In order to prevent under cutting of the slab and subsequent breakage by surface water draining of the drive, since you need to place the crushed stone about a foot wider on each side of the driveway than the pavement’s width.

A proper drainage is critical, the driveway must slope away from the garage toward the street about 2-3 inches downhill for every ten linear feet of driveway. A driveway thickness should be approximately 5-inches, and the concrete should have steel rod or wire mesh running through it for more strength. About every 11-feet a groove should be cut into the concrete to allow it to react to temperature changes and other stressful conditions. It is essential for the freshly poured concrete driveways to be barricaded until they cure, after that, a good concrete sealer can be applied.

The ideal way to apply asphalt is in two layers over the stone base, approximately 3 ½ inches of the total thickness should be laid down as binder course containing larger stone or aggregate, then the other 1 ½ inches can be laid on top.