How Durable Are Concrete Driveways?
When planning on a new driveway or a patio addition for your outdoor living, you only want to make your home a welcoming abode.
Your decision will depend on which surface material you intend to use. While there are a variety of surfaces available, your choice will be based on whether your area of residence suits that type of material or if the weather condition will impact the choice you made.
Concrete is a popular material for driveways for many reasons. First, they are highly durable, can last for many years, and require a little upkeep. You don’t need to spend much on a driveway cleaning or makeover.
Concrete for driveways is a good choice, especially for larger areas that need paving.
Among the driveway paving, concrete can be considered middle-level because it is neither expensive nor cheap. Expensive than tarmac and gravel but cheaper than block paving and resin-bound.
Today, concrete paving is no longer dull and monotonous. Concrete slabs come in different colours and make an attractive surface.
More Things You Need to Know About Concrete
Concrete is an exceedingly durable surface. Well installed with the proper base and reinforcement, concrete can bear the heaviest vehicles you will drive.
There are two types of concrete driveways and patios; stamped and pavers.
If you want your driveway concrete as the main surface, consider the following factors:
- Costing
- Maintenance
- Durability in your area
- Capability to absorb water if during heavy rains
- If it doesn’t easily crack or break loose
- If it doesn’t fade in a few years
The Stability of Concrete
A concrete surface is easy to clean and easy to repair. But with too much pressure, it can crack underneath.
Concrete likely breaks loose if pounded with heavy equipment. But human traffic is less problematic for driveways that are to be used only by homeowners’ vehicles.
Major benefits of concrete paving
- Environment-friendly/sustainable
- Adds character to your home, especially for patios
- Admirable water absorption but non-permeable to other damaging elements due to its cohesiveness
- Patio pavers can be DIYed to save costs
- Requires little maintenance
- Suitable for all types of climates
- Replaceable sections; doesn’t have to redo the entire surface for repairs
Stamped versus pavers
Poured concrete will make a whole lot of covering. Half solid concrete can be decorated or stamped to achieve an illustrated look. This is what installers do when they emulate block pavers.
Because block paving is rather sophisticated in look, versatile and highly appealing, but this is no reason to discredit concrete. Your decorative concrete can still add curb appeal to your driveway or patio.
When choosing concrete pavers, you are getting the benefits for their numerous advantages over the stamped type.
Concrete pavers can stand well in all climates, drain water fast, and are easily replaced when one block is damaged. Yes, you can replace the blocks instead of having the whole surface re-cemented.
As with brick paving, they are more pricey though more sophisticated compared to stamped. But block paving takes a longer time to install because pavers need to be installed one by one. When you opt for that, you must have a professional installer to do the job.
Concrete as a material
Cement and concrete are mistakenly understood as one type of material. While in idea it may be true but cement is just one component contained in concrete.
Concrete is the whole thing. It is a composite material made of lime-based Portland cement, stone aggregates, sand, and water.
Concrete mixture is used in building homes. For walls, the mix has smaller stone aggregates and a finer or smoother finish. For driveways, the aggregates are larger and are combined with sand.
Final Thoughts
Installing a driveway or patio or both can be a daunting and expensive project. But if your property already has a driveway and needs refurbishing, our skilled installers here at Newcastle Driveway and Patio Pro will be happy to do the makeover.
Even so, building from plain and old pathways, we can help you find the best driveway for your home.
For further information on what we do and how much can you spend on a concrete project, care to reach our customer representatives, and they will lead you to our team of contractors.
Send your queries now and receive your no-obligation quote now.