What is a Patterned Concrete Driveway?

A patterned concrete driveway, also known as a pattern imprinted concrete driveway is simple a driveway that allows for unique design options. You can get your driveway poured so that it has almost any design that you could you possibly want. This gives you a lot of options when it comes to the look of your driveway which is what makes this option so appealing.

Most driveways are made of either asphalt or concrete and while they may be very functional they are not exactly the most attractive of options. In the past if you wanted to use more elaborate design you had to go with bricks or paving stones. This approach allowed you to design the driveway that you want but it did come at the expense of durability, driveways made out of bricks or paving stones generally don’t last very long. A patterned concrete driveway allows you to get the look of stone with the durability of concrete.

The way that patterned concrete works is that it is poured in the same way as any other concrete would be. However there are coloring agents that can be applied to the concrete while it is drying. This allows you to have certain parts of the driveway a certain color which gives you a great many design options. Several different colors can be used so that that you can have some very elaborate designs.

The next step in the process of building a patterned concrete driveway is to apply a release agent. This is done so that the concrete will not stick to the imprint mats. However in many cases there is also a dye that is mixed with the release agents. This allows for additional color tones to be included in the design of the driveway.

Once the release agent has been applied the next step is to put the imprint mats on the driveway. This is what will actually create the desired design in the concrete. The mats are basically moulds that have the desired shape in them. They are placed on the surface and then tapped down so that they are firmly in place. The concrete will take about three or four days to dry at which point the mats will be removed.

After the mats have been removed the concrete is given a good wash down and then a sealant is applied to protect the surface. This is really all there is to creating a patterned driveway. While the process is simple in theory in practice it takes a great deal of skill to do, especially if you are looking for an elaborate design.

A patterned concrete driveway is not really something that you can do yourself. The skills involved take some real effort to learn. In addition the imprint mats are very expensive; they are not worth buying for a one time job. Therefore even though it may be possible to do a simple design on your own you will almost have to hire a professional to pour your patterned concrete driveway.

Resurfacing a Concrete Driveway

Over time you are going to find that your concrete driveway develops cracks in it, this is largely the result of the weather and the wear and tear of driving on it. In the past once you got cracks in your driveway the only way to repair them was to rip it up and pour a new surface. This is not necessary any more as the cracks can be filled and the driveway resurfaced quite easily. It is a job that you should be able to do on your own which will help to the keep the cost down.

The first thing that you are going to want to do in order to resurface your driveway is to make sure that you clean it. The driveway needs to be clean in order for the resurfacing to be effective. Using a pressure washer is the best way to make sure that you get it clean. If you have any oil stains on your driveway you will need to use a degreasing agentto get them off. It is also important that you clean out the cracks that you plan to fill. Scrape them out as best you can and then pour a small amount of bleach into the crack. After about ten minutes take your pressure washer and spray the cracks out.

In order to fill the cracks you are going to want to use a concrete dressing. For small cracks you can use a putty knife to force the dressing down into the crack, for larger ones you will find that a caulking gun works better. In either case once the cracks have been filled use a putty knife to smooth out the dressing.

Once the cracks are filled you are going to have to cover the expansion joints. These are the lines that divide the concrete of your driveway into sections. They are there so that the concrete can expand and contract as the weather changes. You need to make sure that these expansion joints remain in place so you will want to cover them with duct tape.

The next step is to mix the concrete dressing; you will want to follow the instructions on the bag for that. You are going to need somebody to help you unless you are doing just a very small area. The concrete needs to be mixed in small batches and applied quickly. For a driveway you will need to have one person applying the concrete dressing while the other is mixing the next batch. You want to get the entire driveway covered before the dressing starts to dry.

In order to spread the concrete dressing you will want to pour it onto the slab and then spread it out. If you are doing just a small area the best way to do it is with a trowel, for large areas a long handled squeegee is the best bet. In either case make sure that you push down hard so that you can get the concrete dressing into all of the crevices, this will make sure that you have a nice smooth surface.

When you are resurfacing a driveway you don’t want the concrete to be smooth, your driveway should have texture to it. The way that you do this is to take a bristle push broom and pull it across the concrete dressing while it is still wet. This will make sure that you get a textured surface that will be slip resistant.

The last thing that you will need to do is to remove the duct tape that you had covering the expansion joints. You are going to want to stay off of the driveway for the next six hours while the dressing dries. After twenty four hours you will need to be put a sealant on your driveway to protect it.

Resurfacing a concrete driveway is not a particularly difficult to task but you do have to work quickly. You will need somebody to help you but it is a good project for a homeowner to do themselves. The cost to resurface a concrete driveway is now quite low and it can really improve the look of your house.

Concrete Driveway Costs: Estimating the Cost of Your New Driveway

If you are going to build a driveway you are going to have to decide what it will be built of. There are actually several options in this regard but for most people it comes down to a choice between concrete and asphalt. Since price is going to a major factor you will want to know how to estimate the price of each type of driveway. This article will explain how to determine the cost of a concrete driveway.

The biggest thing that you are going to have to do to estimate the cost of a new driveway is to determine how much concrete you are going to need; it is by far the biggest cost when it comes to building your driveway. This is fairly easy to do all you have to do is figure out how many square feet your driveway is. This is pretty basic math in most cases but if you do have an oddly shaped driveway an estimate will be probably be good enough for your purposes.

You are also going to have to determine just how thick you need your driveway to be. The standard for concrete driveways is four inches but if you are going to be parking heavy vehicles like trucks or RVs on your driveway you will need to go with six inches. From there the math is pretty simple; just multiply the square footage of your driveway by the thickness in feet. This will tell you how many cubic feet of concrete you need. Since concrete is normally priced by the cubic yard you will want to divide that number by twenty seven.

As an example if we were building a large driveway that took up 2000 square feet and was four inches thick we would multiply 2000 by a third of a foot to give us 667 which we then divide by 27 to get 25 cubic yards of concrete approximately. Concrete will run you about a hundred dollars a yard depending on where you live so you would estimate that it would cost about $2500 dollars for the concrete.

Of course there is more to building a concrete driveway than just the cost of concrete; you also have to factor in the cost of sand. The concrete will need to be poured on a layer of three inches of sand. You can figure out the amount of sand you will need in cubic yards the same way that you figured out the amount of concrete. Which in this case works out to be 18.5 cubic yards. Sand goes for about fifteen dollars a cubic yard so you would expect to pay about two hundred seventy five dollars. In addition you will need to factor in the cost of two by fours that will be used as forms as well as the stakes to hold them in place, figure on a couple of hundred dollars for these. It will also run you a couple of hundred dollars each to have the cement and sand delivered if you are not going to pick it up yourself.

So far in our estimate we have assumed that you will be building the driveway yourself in its entirety. That means building the forms, mixing the cement and pouring it. If you are going to pay somebody else to do this you will want to estimate about a dollar per square foot, in our case about two thousand dollars. You can of course do part of the work yourself, for example build the forms and then have somebody else pour the concrete. The way this affects the price is something that you will have to work out with the company you use for this purpose.

So far we have estimated that the cost of a concrete driveway that it two thousand square feet and four inches thick will come to about $3200 if we do the work ourselves and $5200 if we hire somebody else to do it. However this is only part of the story. Before we can even start to pour concrete we have to build a base, this will need to be excavated to a depth of eight to twenty four inches depending on how cold it is where you live. You will then need to put gravel on top and have it compacted. This can cost anywhere from one thousand to five thousand dollars depending on the depth and if any power lines or pipes have to be moved.

While you are obviously going to want to factor in the cost of the prep work that is required to build a concrete driveway it is also important to keep in mind that these costs would also apply for an asphalt driveway, therefore they are not going to be a factor in determining which type of driveway you should choose.

Asphalt Driveway Costs: How to Estimate Construction Costs

A driveway can really add to the value of your home, not to mention provide you with a place to park your car. There are several different materials that can be used to build a driveway so you are going to need to be able to determine which is best for your needs. One of the factors that you will have to consider is cost. Therefore you are going to want to know how to estimate the cost of an asphalt driveway.

The first thing that you are going to have to do in order to estimate the cost of an asphalt driveway is to determine just how big your driveway is going to be. This is fairly easy to do in most cases since they are usually fairly rectangular. Even if your driveway does have a bit of an odd shape you should not find it to be too difficult to determine the square footage for your driveway. Once you have the square footage you will want to divide that number by nine in order to determine the square yardage which is what is used in the formula for estimating how much asphalt you will use.

The next thing that you are going to have to do is to determine how thick your driveway will need to be. The standard for an asphalt driveway is three inches. This normally consists of two inches of base pavement with a one inch wearing layer on top of that. If you are replacing an existing driveway you can probably just replace the wearing layer so you would base your estimates on a one inch thickness, for new construction you will need three inches.

Asphalt is sold by the ton and there is a formula for determining how many tons you will need for your driveway. The formula is the square yardage times the constant 0.057 multiplied by the depth of pavement in inches. Therefore if you had a driveway that was 300 square yards and three inches thick you would come up with a requirement for 51 tons of asphalt. The price of asphalt will vary depending on a number of factors, particularly the price of oil, so you will want to check the current price. If we assume it goes for $150 a ton which is about average the cost of paving your asphalt driveway would come to $7500.

It is important to keep in mind that this is just the cost of paving the driveway; you will also have to have prep work done before hand. In most cases you will need to excavate eight to twenty four inches depending on the climate where you live, the colder it is the deeper you will have to go. You will then need to fill that excavation with gravel and have it compacted, this is necessary to ensure proper drainage. The cost of all of the prep work will run you at least another two to three thousand dollars, even more if gas or plumbing lines have to be moved.

While you are going to want to keep the cost of the prep work in mind when you are planning your budget it is not really a factor when it comes to deciding on the type of driveway that you will have. The same prep work will be required regardless of what you build your driveway out of. You want to make sure that you don’t skimp on the base of your driveway; if it is not well built the whole thing will be poorly constructed.

The cost of an asphalt driveway is pretty steep; there is no getting around that. However when you look at the cost of a concrete driveway you will find that asphalt does have a lower price. That being said you should not base the decision on the best type of driveway solely on cost; there are other factors that have to be considered.

Concrete Driveway Sealers: Choosing the Right One

All driveways need to be sealed. Not only will this keep it from cracking it will also help to keep the concrete from getting stained. At some point you will spill oil or gas on your driveway, having it sealed makes it easy to cleanup. There are actually several different types of concrete driveway sealers to choose from so you are going to want to make sure that you know how to choose the right one for your needs.

There are basically two types of concrete driveway sealers, with each of the broad categories being broken down further. You can choose between a penetrating sealer and a topical sealer, the difference between the two should be pretty obvious. A topical concrete sealer will simply cover the top of the driveway while a penetrating sealer will penetrate to a depth of anywhere between a quarter of an inch and four inches depending on how it is used.

The advantage of a penetrating concrete driveway sealer is that it gets down into the pores in the concrete. This means that it gives you the best possible protection, it also won’t wear off as fast a topical sealer. The big advantage of a topical sealer is that it is cheaper, and it does provide very good protection. The downside is that you will have to reseal your driveway more often since it wears off faster. That being said it is pretty easy to apply; you really just have to brush it on like paint.
If you choose to go with a penetrating sealer you will also have to choose between a silane, a siliconate and a silicate sealer. A silane concrete sealer is very durable and should last for five to eight years. The disadvantage is that it is the most expensive, in large part because you have to use a lot of it. A silane sealer also tends to turn the concrete a darker color. A silicate sealer will bind with the concrete permanently which makes for a very good seal. The downside is that it does not work well on smooth surfaces because it has trouble penetrating. It is better for when you need to seal rough concrete so it is not really a great choice for a driveway. You will probably find that a siliconate driveway sealer is the best bet. It will also bind well with the concrete to provide a good seal. It also has the advantage in that it can be used to both cure and seal the driveway. That means that it can be applied the day the driveway is installed.

If you are going to use a topical sealer on your driveway you will again have to choose from one of several options. The cheapest is a silicone sealer, it is generally not a good choice for a driveway. The problem is that it does not resist abrasions all that well, it also doesn’t last very long. An acrylic sealer will last longer, usually about five years. The price is reasonable so it will probably provide you with the best value. One last option that you have is a polyester sealer. This will offer even better protection than the acrylic but it does come with a significantly higher price. In general you will find the extra protection that you get is not worth the price.

Choosing a concrete driveway sealer is not all that complicated but you do have to make sure that you know what all of your options are and what their advantages and disadvantages are. Once you know this you should have no trouble making the right choice for your driveway.

How to Seal a Concrete Driveway

If you have a concrete driveway you are going to want to put a sealant on it to protect it. This is something that will need to be done when the driveway is first built and then it should also be done every three to ten years. Just how often you do it will depend on the weather in your area and how much use the driveway gets. In general if you live in colder climate you will want to seal your driveway more often. Remember that before you seal your driveway the first time after it has just been built you need to make sure that you wait at least twenty one days for the concrete to cure.

The first thing that you are going to have to do before you even start to seal your concrete driveway is to make sure that you will have a couple of days of good weather. You will ruin the seal if you get it wet while the sealant is still drying so you need to make sure that you will not have any rain during this time, if the weather is at all doubtful wait for another day.

The next thing that you are going to want to do is make sure that you give your driveway a good cleaning. Any dirt that is on your driveway when you put the sealant on will be sealed in. this is not going to look good. Give your driveway a good sweep and then spray it down with a hose. It is often a good idea to get a pressure washer to make sure that the driveway is really clean. After you have cleaned the driveway you will have to wait twenty four hours before you put the sealant on so that you can be sure that it is completely dry.

The next thing that you are going to have to do is to choose the right sealer for the job.There are several options available when it comes to concrete driveway sealers but in most cases you will find that a penetrating siliconate one is the best. That being said you should research your choices so that you can be sure that you are getting the right one for your needs.

Once you have chosen your driveway sealer the next thing that you will have to decide on is how you plan to apply. You basically have three options, you can use a brush,a roller,or a sprayer,
really it is like painting in that regard. A sprayer will make the job go a lot faster, especially if you have a large driveway.

When you start applying the sealant you are going to want to work on just a small area at a time. Apply it in thin layers and have your coats overlap slightly, again this is just like painting. If you start to get puddles grab a brush and spread them out so that they don’t dry that way. You want to apply just enough sealant that the concrete turns a slightly whitish color.

Once you have applied the sealant you have to make sure that you stay off of the driveway for at least twenty four hours. After that your driveway should be good to go as this is all there is to sealing a concrete driveway.

Asphalt vs. Concrete Driveways: How to Choose

If you are going to build a driveway for your house the biggest decision that you are going to have to make is what to build it with. You actually have several options but most people narrow it down to a choice between asphalt and concrete. There are a lot of factors that you are going to have to consider to make sure that you make the right choice to meet your needs.

The first thing that most people think about when they are trying to decide whether to go with a concrete or an asphalt driveway is the cost. Unfortunately this can be rather tricky to determine. The problem is that while an asphalt driveway will cost less to install initially the concrete driveway will last longer and require less maintenance. Therefore you are going to have to think about how long you plan to be in your house as well as the maintenance costs that are involved in your particular case, these vary depending on a number of factors.

In most cases you will find that the cost of asphalt is about thirty percent less than concrete, although this can vary, asphalt is a petroleum product so its price varies as oil prices change. However once the driveway is installed you will need to have a sealer applied to the drivewayabout six weeks after it has been poured and then every three years or so after that. Putting the sealer on is not all that difficult, you can do it yourself, and the cost is not that high but it is something that you will have to make sure that you remember to do.

With a concrete driveway you put the sealer on it as soon as the concrete has dried and that is about it as far as maintenance goes. You may have to clean up some oil or gas spots when you have a spill to keep them from staining the driveway but that is really all that you are going to have to do. In most cases you can expect that the concrete driveway will last at least twice as long as the asphalt one. Of course both of them should last for at least ten years so if you are not planning to be in your house for that long this probably won’t be a factor in your decision.

The climate where you live is another factor that you are going to have to consider when you are choosing what material to build your driveway with. In colder climates you will find that asphalt tends to stand up better. The cold temperatures can crack concrete and when this happens it can be very expensive to repair. With asphalt on the other hand it is much less likely to crack and much easier to repair if it does. In warmer climates the opposite is true, asphalt tends to melt when the temperature gets too high, this is not an issue with concrete.

One last consideration is the appearance of your driveway; some people will just prefer the look of one over the other. Concrete does offer the advantage of allowing for more choice in terms of appearance. You can alter the color concrete and you can stamp it so that it has texture added to it. Asphalt on the other hand will pretty much require that you have a black driveway.

Ultimately the biggest factors when it comes to choosing the right driveway material are going to be the weather where you live and how long you plan to live in the house. If you plan to be there for a long time you will want to go with concrete, it will be cheaper in the long run. On the other hand if you plan to move in the not to distance future you will find that the asphalt will last just fine until you have sold the house. It is a good idea to look at what your neighbors are doing as well, if everybody else in your neighborhood has a concrete driveway there is probably a reason for it.