Concrete driveway installation: the job, step by step

How concrete driveway installation works

1. Mark the shape before the machinery arrives. Whether the drive is a straight run, a horseshoe turning back to the road or a widened approach to a garage, the shape decides the square footage and therefore most of the price. Mark it on the ground with paint and walk it. A curve added after excavation has started is the most expensive small change in this trade.
2. Excavate to a depth, not to a look. The hole has to be deep enough for the base and the slab together. Crews that skip depth are the reason drives sit proud of the lawn and then settle. Ask what depth is being dug and confirm that soft or organic material is being taken out rather than compacted in place, because it cannot be compacted usefully.
3. Build the base in compacted lifts. Aggregate goes in, gets compacted, and then more goes in. A base dumped in one go and rolled once is loose at the bottom whatever it looks like on top. This is the single line that most separates a drive that is flat in fifteen years from one that is a map of cracks in five.
4. Set forms, reinforcement and the mix. Forms hold the edge and the fall, which has to run water away from the house rather than towards it. Reinforcement is mesh or bar at a stated spacing, tied and lifted off the ground rather than laid on it. The mix is specified by strength and by whether air entrainment is wanted, and in a freezing climate it usually is.
5. Pour, finish and cut the joints on time. The pour is continuous, the finish is chosen in advance, and the control joints are cut or tooled within hours rather than days. Joints put in late are joints the slab has already ignored, and a driveway that cracks across the middle in its first winter is almost always a joint that was cut a day too late.

Installing over a slab that failed in a loss

Where the old drive was destroyed by a covered event rather than by age, the demolition and disposal are part of that loss and belong on the claim rather than on your own bill. Photograph the damage before the breaker touches it, keep the tipping receipts, and make sure the estimate separates the like for like replacement from anything you are choosing to upgrade. An adjuster pays to restore what was there; a wider, thicker or stamped drive is an improvement and is quoted as its own line.

Common questions

How long does concrete driveway construction take?

The site work is usually two to four days depending on how much has to come out, the pour itself is a morning, and then the slab needs time before it carries anything. The calendar is dominated by demolition and base building, not by the concrete, which is why a quote with a suspiciously short schedule is usually short on base.

Can a new drive be poured over the old one?

Occasionally, as a bonded or unbonded overlay, but only where the existing slab is sound and the extra height does not foul the garage threshold or the street. Where the old slab has moved, an overlay inherits the movement. Most contractors who offer it will say plainly which of the two cases you are in.

What mix is used for a residential driveway?

A general purpose structural mix, specified by compressive strength rather than by a brand, with air entrainment where the winters freeze. Ask for the strength on the ticket and keep the delivery tickets: they are the only record of what actually arrived, and they cost nothing to file.

Does a driveway extension or a wider drive cost proportionally more?

Close to it, because the price is dominated by area. Widening from single to double roughly doubles the base, the concrete and the finishing. The fixed costs, mobilisation, permit and pump if one is needed, are the only part that does not scale, which is why adding a foot of width is cheap and a second bay is not.

Does a horseshoe driveway change the installation?

It changes the square footage and therefore most of the price, because the shape of the drive decides the area. A horseshoe turning back to the road adds both area and curves, so mark it on the ground with paint and walk it before excavation starts: a curve added once the digging has begun is the most expensive small change in this trade.

Do custom driveways cost more per square foot?

The shape costs less than people expect and the edges cost more. Curves, islands and a turning head add forming and hand finishing rather than material, so price the perimeter and the number of separate pours rather than the area alone.

Claims data by state

• Water damage claims in Arizona
• Water damage claims in Florida
• Water damage claims in Georgia
• Water damage claims in North Carolina
• Water damage claims in Texas
• Water damage claims in Washington