ddsrph

One other point about concrete is the value of immediate sealing. Concrete that can be kept wet for 7-10 days after pouring can achieve 50% increase in strength. This in many cases is impractical. If you apply a sealer as soon as set enough to walk on this will seal in the moisture needed for the chemical reaction of “curing”. Plus it will prevent dirt from ruining the appearance. I always seal same day as pouring.

username.exe

Yep, agreed. YouTube has been sending me concrete finishing videos for months, so I knew what I wanted:
- 4inches deep, 3/8 rebar 2ft on center, rebar doweled in to the existing driveway to 'tie-in', 3000 psi and fiber mesh... control joints a must (my house was built in 1972, and the 2 car driveway has zero control joints... and the cracks to show for it, as well.

The more I think about it, the more I lean towards getting the contractor to do it. How do you get rid of a couple of loads of dirt, anyway??

username.exe

Good point, I assumed this was standard but will check with the contractor.

Are you a concrete contractor yourself? I was planning on doing some smaller jobs myself (footpath around the side and back) later in the year.

ddsrph

No I am a retired dentist but have built most of my last two houses myself. The part I didn’t build I researched to the nth degree so as not to rely totally on contractors. You can do a lot of small jobs with the 80 lb ready mix bags. I have done a lot that way. A wheel barrow and a hoe is all you need. Lowes sells some 5/8 or 3/4 diameter steel pins with multiple nail/screw holes for alignment and holding of forms. Even the contractor stuff I build my own forms in most cases. I just made this flower bed last week using ready mix bags and some concrete dye.

username.exe

Great job with that!
I've been steadily collecting concrete finishing tools over the last year (so far only hand tools). I also have two large mixers and I'm waiting for a decently priced bull float with long handle to appear on offerup and I'll be ready to go, as long as it's not too hot to pour. Plan on getting all my mistakes out in areas no one will see (like under the bins).

Steerpike

I've always liked this kind of driveway. Took a few snaps on my walk last night ... Is this a lot more expensive than concrete pour?



And another ...



ETA - these are hillside homes, so I'm guessing the use of 'bricks' or 'tiles' helps deal with the 3D terrain? Come to think of it, how does one deal with concrete on a slope? How do you stop it from 'running' (leveling, succumbing to gravity ...)?

ddsrph

My driveway has a portion very sloped. I was going to do the whole drive myself and started with this very sloped part pouring two ten by ten foot sections and later decided to hire out the remaining 100 feet. The trick is to get dry concrete with just enough water to be mixed but a stiff mixture that will not easily run downhill. There is a specification called slump measured in inches which I don’t know details of but the pros specify a certain slump based on pour requirements.

markonline1

Outside of the house done. Trim replaced and house repainted. The missus went with a darker shade than we had agreed, but gotta say, I love it!
Before

After

old.sparkles

The after looks so much better than the before

Jerseygirl

Love it. Good job.

Pulaski

I would say so, but I have no hard figures to quote. I would guess that it's about twice the cost of a plain grey concrete slab.
My driveway is fairly steep, somewhere around 1:8 (12½%), and is poured concrete, and I have never seen any sign of any sort of "pouring issue". It was apparently cast in one whole slab from just beyond the garage (it's a side-loader) all the way up to the road, and is somewhere about 100ft long. Then after it had cured it had relief cuts made, to reduce/ control cracking. The cuts are mostly transverse, across the entire width of the driveway, but the apron outside the garage has a longitudinal cut, which has the effect of placing some of the cut slabs "along side each other" on the slope of the hill. Curiously, since the driveway was poured (presumably when the house was built in 1998), the drive has slid down the hill, by maybe ¼", as the lateral cut lines farther from the garage have been push downhill by the drive slabs, and no longer line up wth the slab cuts closest to the garage.

I decided to use some of my excess "at home" time this year to try to deal with the issue of water leaking out of the cuts in the driveway, after heavy rain. Some of the cuts on the steepest part of the drive would leak water for anything from a few hours to as long as three days, after heavy or prolonged rain. It has only ever really been an annoyance, except in winter a few times when it was cold enough for the water to freeze overnight, but I suspect it would have eventually led to cavities and in turn to cracking and collapse. Anywhy, I dug a narrow trench about 70ft long, along the edge of the drive and just wide enough to take a 4" pipe, starting just above the highest "weeper" and carried on down the hill before turning away and into the woods. I have already put the pipe in and covered it with crushed rock but still have to refill the trench and seed it with grass, but this fix is already 100% effective after several heavy storms over the past couple of months. It is amazing to see how much water is running out of the ground for upto a day after a storm - I think the fact that so much water flows and so quickly (I estimate 1-2 gallons/ minute) means that it is draining the water more quickly than when it had to force its way out through the relief cuts.

username.exe

Big upgrade!

Pulaski

That definitely looks good, and I like it that you removed the protruding timbers, and squared-up the window lintels (I assume they are decorative anyway) ..... but I think it looks under-dressed without (faux) shutters.

markonline1

Cheers. That blue was pretty wish washy, especially with the grey trim. This is definitely a little bolder.

Cheers, although I can’t take credit for the work. Scared of heights for starters LOL.
Again, the wife has to take credit for removing the extra timber. I said keep it. Of course, she was right. As for the shutters, we had those in the old house, so I’m sure they will end up being installed in this one. They will have to wait a wee bit though.

Nutmegger

I think it has a very nice clean look without them. You did a great job.