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Just some FYI. Usually when the minimum order for concrete is a cubic meter/yard, therfore your cost is most likely based on this. In other words your cost/sq foot goes down as you approach this minimum. You can probably pour as much as you want for the same cost.
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to resurface an existing driveway with some cracks but no buckling yet, but the driveway is otherwise in good shape. I was also told by two contractors that this is is NOT the way to go.
So as ugly as it is they recommended grinding out the cracks, filling back with concrete and scoring the rest of the pad every 10 feet to prevent future cracks. Said short of ripping it all out that is the best we could do.
I know there are epoxy finishes for concrete but that is more for garage floors and porches and stuff.........and the outside concrete is a rougher finish than that. Not rough like swept but not smooth like in the garage.
I'm just catching this thread today......My suggestion is that any new areas to be poured concrete...allow the ground to settle and be well packed...lots of times ground broken for concrete pours is not given sufficient time to allow it to settle thus once the concrete is poured the subsequent ground settling will create big issues...cracks, and even sinking or un-leveling in the concrete. Case in point ,a few yrs back we had an inground pool put in...2 weeks later the coping had been poured (concrete) no one told us to allow the ground to settle for 1 year before pouring concrete...consequently the entire coping and earth underneath it continued to settle ruining the even nature of the coping...It all slanted down and away from the pool and wasn't level to walk on...HTH
As noted above two keys to good concrete -
1.) A firm base because concrete is strong in compression but relatively weak in tensile strength.
2.) Adequately spaced control joints because concrete gains strength by hydrating and when all that water has left the slab it will shrink and crack. Control joints act to "encourage " the concrete to crack along the bottom of the joint where you won't see it.
How old is the existing driveway?
Frank
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