To Repair or Replace?
The cold weather seasons can bring in beautiful scenery; however, with the cold comes dangers as well. This can especially be true when it comes to your concrete driveway. While it is very durable, it can suffer by taking in ice, sleet, snow, and slush for a duration of time – and Eastern North Carolina has been seeing quite a bit of that lately! With our area not seeing these effects very often, the ice that we do get can be very unforgiving. If you’re faced with the decision to repair or replace your driveway after a season of unpredictable weather has come through, you need to be aware of the following signs to determine what steps you need to take next.
Signs to Look For
Knowing the severity of damage to your concrete driveway requires an understanding of what a damaged driveway looks like. The most obvious warning sign is cracks – big or small! These run across the surface of your driveway and can expand and deepen if you have used chemicals to get rid of snow or ice. Cracks can also deepen from having water from rain or melted snow seep into its existing fractures. When the temperatures drop and the water freezes up again, the ice expands, widening the crack even further.
The other common driveway imperfection to be aware of is sunken areas or divots. If the subgrade wasn’t properly prepared, the concrete will not have proper support and will be prone to sinking. Without proper support and the presence of thick snow/ice, it is easy for even durable concrete to give way to divots.
Survey the Damage
It is important to remember that each case is different and should be approached with a different technique. However, there is a basic rule of thumb to follow that cracks or divots over 2 inches deep are better off being replaced, while lesser imperfections could be fixed with a resurfacing. You will also need to take your driveway’s age into consideration. Age can be the largest determining factor of how susceptible it is to damage. Younger driveways that are already cracking will most likely continue to split, as they probably were not installed properly and need to be inspected for repair immediately.
Repair or Replace?
The bottom line is that it can be tough to decide whether it is best to resurface your concrete or to go all in and replace it. While there are basic signs and guidelines for you to take note of, it is always better to have an experienced and trusted opinion on the matter. While certain imperfections and damages can be seen plain as day, there might be some greater source of the problem that you can’t see on the surface. Regardless of what you decide, having it done will be incredibly beneficial so that you are ready throughout any season.