The last thing you want when you get home form a long day at work is a bumpy ride to your front door right? Worse, a sludgy, muddy mess because of the rain, forcing you to trudge through slop, dragging it into your home, all the while ripping up metres of grass and soil that leaves an untidy mess in your yard. We at Logan’s Concrete Contractor have seen it all before, and lucky for you, we know exactly how to fix your problem.
We have an in-depth experience of pouring driveways as it is one of any concreter’s most common jobs and will be happy to meet you on site to discuss exactly what it is that is required and how to go about it. But to get you started, you may want to think of a few very different issues that we will likely question you on.
Shape and type
Are you just looking for a simple pad? DO you want it to run all the way to the garage? Do you want extra room for friends to park so that there is less grass being eroded (let’s not less forget less to mow!).
These are all important considerations. You may even just want the two narrow concrete tracks sufficient to drive on leaving sol and earth in between an either side. Obviously price may be a depending factor here. The bigger area you want, the more work it demands, but also a larger volume on concrete.
Thickness
We find very few people consider the thickness of the slab and tend to think of concrete slab, pads and driveways as being two dimensional, rather than three dimensional blocks.
Why is this important to you? The thickness may help determine the life and movement of the concrete. Certain solid types may move more easily over tie, or allow water to wash sediment out from underneath creating pockets of air. Regardless of the concrete build, no thin slab will hold up to heavy vehicles over time if the soil has been washed away or shifted underneath. On the flip side, the thicker the slab, the higher the volume on concrete, thus increasing the price of materials to do the job.
At a minimum for a driveway we will pour it one hundred millimetres thick, which on good soil should be well enough to prevent cracking and allowing it to last. As you expect, if you don’t have a solid base, ie a good soil type, we would likely go a little higher. This may also be the case if you are planning on running heavier vehicles, above the average car weight over the driveway, as extra weight requires extra strength and rigidness.
Finish
While this doesn’t need to be too pre-planned before the pour, you might want to think about the type of finish you want on the driveway. Many concrete contractors offer basic finishes, such as your simple, smoothed over look, or your brushed textured look. If you want that pebble and aggregate look, this can also be arranged but we will have to be advised prior to the pour. The benefits of a textured look also had a safer non slip addition to it if that is what you are going for, however many people find these surfaces harder to clean.
Of course there is also the option of approaching a professional a professional concrete finishing company that can increase the finishing look in many more ways
Other things to look out for
If you are planning to run your driveway all the way to your road, especially if you are changing the curbing or guttering, you may require an approval from your local Council. As such we ask that you contact them first to discuss what is required and that you may indeed progress. This will prevent any last minute applications and may also determine if you wish to proceed.
The next thing to do is to check if there will be any electricity, water or gas lines running over the area you want the pad laid. While these are normally deep enough not to be an issue, you always want to double check. Further, remember that once you lay a slab over these area, they will be much harder to access.
Contact Us!
If you’re still reading all of the above, than you must be in need of a new driveway immediately (all maybe just extremely bored). Fear not, you can ring us during normal business hours to organise an onsite meeting at your home. This allows us to have a chat and discuss what you want and how we will go about it. Afterwards we can do a general measure up which will allow us to determine how much concrete we need. If we can’t give you a quote on the spot, we may have to go back to the office and punch in some numbers before getting back to you.
Once you are happy with the work that will be done, we can start on our next available day. Unless they are is particularly small, we normally operate over two days. The first one is for the earthworks and excavation – all general preparation work. The next available day we will normally pour the slab, which will include the general pour, settling and levelling to the desired effect. Once it is pouted however, you still won’t be able to access the general area for a few days while the slab dries. This is important to remember in case the area in question is blocking access to vehicles or anything else you may want from the back yard for example.
The final point is that all of the above is very weather dependant, and bad, mostly rain, weather, may push the job out by an extended timeframe.
How long before it can be used?
Well that’s a good question, and is also weather dependent. Many contractors will allow people to walk and drive on in a few days. We always recommend leaving it a little longer, especially if heavy vehicles are involved, to ensure the internal concrete is just as set as the outer.
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Logan Concreters 