Concrete Driveways in Gainesville, FL

Concrete driveways in Gainesville rarely fail from the top down. They fail from below, when rain runs under the slab and moves the sand that holds it up. You see it as a panel near the garage that has dropped, a crack that keeps getting wider, or an apron at the street that has broken off. Many driveways in the city date from the 1970s and 1980s, when about 40 percent of Gainesville's homes were built according to Point2Homes' Census summary, and a lot of that concrete was poured thin on loose ground.

Signs it is time to replace

• Cracks wide enough to fit a coin, or cracks where one side sits higher
• A panel near the garage or house that has sunk and holds water
• Water that runs toward the garage door or the foundation
• A broken or crumbling apron at the street
• Roots lifting the edges
• A drive too narrow for the cars you have now

One sunken panel on an otherwise sound driveway can often be lifted or replaced on its own. When cracks, settling and broken edges show up together, a new driveway is usually the better spend.

What goes under the concrete

We break out the old driveway and haul it away. Then we dig out soft or organic soil, add fill where needed and compact the base in layers so it supports the slab evenly. Forms are set so the finished surface slopes away from the garage and the house and toward the street or yard.

Thickness depends on use. HomeGuide's driveway guide recommends at least 4 inches for ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches for RVs or heavy vehicles, and thicker edges of 6 to 8 inches. If you park a boat, a trailer or a work truck, we thicken that area. Rebar or wire mesh helps hold cracked sections together, and control joints on a planned layout keep shrinkage cracks in straight lines.

Aprons and Gainesville's rules

The part of your driveway between the property line and the street sits in the public right-of-way, and the city has standards for it. Public Works memo EDCM 24-02 says driveways in the right-of-way are built of 6-inch-thick concrete and that the apron grade should not exceed 9 percent unless the City Engineer approves. Single-family homes on minor local streets may use the city's concrete flared driveway detail. The city's right-of-way page says driveway installation and inspection go through the Department of Sustainable Development at 352-334-5050. In unincorporated Alachua County, the county Public Works department handles right-of-way connections. We plan the apron to the rules for your address.

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Finish choices

• Broom finish: the standard. It grips in the rain and costs the least.
• Exposed aggregate: the top paste is washed off to show the stone. It hides stains and tire marks.
• Stamped or colored borders: a decorative band along the edges with plain concrete in the lanes.
• Smooth finish: looks clean but gets slick when wet, so we keep it off sloped driveways.

After the pour

Walk on it after a day or two. HomeGuide says to wait at least 7 days before driving on a new driveway and about 30 days before parking heavy vehicles on it. Wait the full 28 to 30 day cure before the first coat of sealer, then reseal every 2 to 3 years. Keep downspouts pointed away from the slab and fix leaking hose bibs or irrigation lines near the edges, since steady water under concrete is what causes most settling here.