Do you find your current driveway to be a bit uninteresting? Perhaps it’s time to get in touch with a concrete driveway contractor and do some remodeling.
We often take for granted how a good-looking driveway can have a lot of impacts. A driveway is often the first thing you see when pulling up to a property. It’s important to keep it both well maintained and appealing.
It has the potential to raise the property value on top of enhancing your home’s aesthetic appeal. If you’re not sure how to go about your remodeling, here are some ideas to get you started.
Why Go with Concrete
Concrete is an extremely versatile and durable material. Very few come close to its environmentally friendly sustainability and overall durability. Here are just some of the reasons you would want to pick concrete for your driveway remodeling and construction.
Concrete Uses Natural Renewable Resources
Concrete takes advantage of many sustainable and abundant natural resources. These include rocks, cement, sand, and water.
Concrete also uses limestone, which is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. Other construction materials like asphalt make use of nonrenewable resources such as petroleum.
Concrete can Use Recycled and Waste Materials
You can reinforce your concrete with by-products from most industrial plants. These include slag, silica fume, and steel aggregates.
These all function as partial cement replacements that you can mix in with your concrete. In turn, the need for raw materials is reduced and waste that goes into landfills is minimized.
When your concrete reaches the end of its service life, you can also opt to recycle the material for new projects. The resulting material can be used in many ways when replacing your concrete driveways such as filler material, concrete aggregate, or a base course for new pavement.
Concrete is Easy to Maintain and Clean
Cleaning concrete is pretty straightforward. Even when unsealed, you can simply sweep away dirt or use pressure washers on stubborn dirt. With sealant, cleaning and maintenance become even easier.
Applying sealant helps prevent spills from seeping into the slab. This minimizes ugly stains and corrosion from certain substances. Sealant and waxing only need to be applied once every few years depending on how worn your driveway gets.
Repairing cracks, chips and other major damages can be as simple as pouring new concrete over the problem area. This makes repairing concrete driveways a lot easier for your concrete driveway contractor.
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Concrete is Damage-Resistant and Has Long-Term Durability
Concrete can last several decades when properly installed. This is at least two or three times longer compared to an asphalt installation. Concrete does not need to constantly be resurfaced or replaced.
This saves you money in the long run on getting raw materials. With the right treatment, it can also prevent spills, scuffs, scratches, and excessive chipping.
Concrete can Help with Saving Energy
Concrete is a lot more reflective compared to asphalt. This reduces the need for lighting during the evening.
You can also opt for lighter coloring when designing your concrete driveway, helping further reduce its already minimal heat-trapping properties. This prevents what’s called a heat island effect that usually occurs in urban properties.
Types of Decorative Concrete You Can Use
There are many types of concrete you can use to design your driveway. You can opt to combine them to achieve the ideal aesthetic while maintaining effective function.
Stamped Concrete
You can emulate the look and feel of other construction materials through stamped concrete. This is done by pressing molds into the setting concrete, allowing it to dry in specific patterns.
There are many materials you can emulate such as brick, cobblestones, slate, and even shells. The resulting concrete can be colored or stained as well before sealing. Since the driveway is likely to receive a lot of traffic, coloration might fade over time but it’s pretty easy to restore.
Polishing Concrete
You can polish concrete through sanding and grinding. This gives it a shiny and glossy finish. You can use the resulting pieces as sections or as parts of your driveway.
Engraved Concrete
You can use specialized tools to shape, add lines, carve, and engrave patterns into your driveway. It’s a bit more labor-intensive and time-consuming but it can be utilized for certain looks.
Stained Concrete
You can give your driveway a permanent color with staining. Staining allows your concrete to achieve natural tones.
This is done by letting the coloring material, either water or acid-base, deposit color deep into the porous cement. It is then sealed to protect the color from fading.
These are just some of the things you can do with concrete in order to achieve your ideal concrete driveway aesthetic.
You can easily coordinate with your preferred concrete driveway contractor for the best design. You will definitely want to get in touch with one for your next remodeling or construction project.
