Your concrete driveway can be one of the features of your home that is easy to take for granted. However, it may eventually be necessary to replace the driveway for a number of reasons. When this need arises, you may find that you are not particularly informed about this process. To help you with making sound choices for your home's needs, you should consider the answers to the following couple of driveway replacement questions.
What Is Involved With Removing Your Old Driveway?
When having a new driveway installed, one of the first steps will be to remove the old one. Unfortunately, concrete can be extremely difficult to remove, which means that you will need to hire professionals for this task. They will have the tools that are needed to efficiently break up the concrete into moveable pieces. If your driveway is relatively short, this work will likely be able to be done with jackhammers. However, longer driveways may require the use of a specially designed vehicle that can break concrete as it drives on it.
Depending on your local community, it may be necessary to obtain a permit for this type of project. Also, you may need to have your concrete demolition cleared with the local homeowner's association. This is necessary because this project can be somewhat loud, and it is important to ensure that it is only being done during approved hours.
How Can You Prevent Common Forms Of Damage To Your New Concrete Driveway?
After your new driveway has been poured, it is important for you to understand the steps that you can take to help ensure that your new driveway lasts for as long as possible. To this end, you will want to make sure that you are regularly washing your driveway. This can be done with little more than a garden hose as you will primarily be rinsing off oil, dirt and other debris from the pavement. These substances can gradually weaken the strength of the concrete, which can make it more likely to crack. Yet, simply rinsing it off can remove these materials before they are able to cause damage.
In addition to rinsing driveway, you will want to make sure that you are applying a fresh coat of concrete sealant every year. This sealant will prevent water and other substances from soaking into the pavement. This may not seem like a serious issue, but these materials can weaken the interior of the concrete while also putting pressure on it. Eventually, these forces will cause deep cracks to form. Talk to a contractor, like GaitlinByrd Cement, for more help.
