Signs to Look for When Inspecting Your Driveway
Ideally, a concrete driveway will last you around 30 years, but certain factors can shorten its life span, resulting in unsightly cracking, discoloration, settlement, and scaling. When this happens, there are several options for repairing your concrete, but sometimes, a full-on replacement might be necessary. Before you start freaking out about the damage and start looking for the concrete supplier’s number, take a good look at your driveway. When doing a concrete driveway repair inspection, take a good look and look for:
Cracked Pavement
Cracks are a widespread problem in pavement and tend to get bigger over time. To prevent the damage from worsening, consider filling cracks with sealing material. If you don’t, water can get into these cracks and freeze, causing the cracks to expand and become deeper. Fill smaller cracks with a hot-pour rubberized sealer. For cracks larger than 1 ½-inches wide, fill with a fine-grade hot mix asphalt instead. For excessive or alligator cracking (a series of cracks that look like scales or alligator skin), removing and replacing the damaged pavement is a must. This type of damage is too severe for crack sealing to be effective. Remove pavement with isolated areas of cracking to a depth of 4 to 6 inches.
Heaved Asphalt or Frost Heave
During the freeze-thaw cycle caused by fluctuating winter temperatures, ice lenses form in the soil underneath asphalt. Ice lenses are bodies of ice that form when moisture spreads within soil or rock and builds up in an area. As ice lenses grow underneath, they eventually push up the surface of the asphalt, resulting in heaved asphalt. As the ground thaws in spring, heaved asphalt should settle back into place. But if it doesn’t return to its level surface, you will need to cut out the heaved area and patch it with an asphalt patch.
If you’re looking for a professional concrete driveway repair service, call CMJ Concrete Contractors Today, we are based in North Charleston, SC. You can call us at (854) 204-4051 now!
