Concrete Driveways in Kettering, OH

Concrete driveways are the biggest flatwork job most Kettering homeowners ever take on, and usually the one they put off longest. Many driveways in town went in with the house, and Point2Homes' summary of Census data puts the city's median year built at 1961. A driveway that age has been through six decades of freezing nights, snowplows, salt and heavier cars than it was designed for. When it finally breaks into loose plates or holds puddles at the garage door, patching rarely buys much time.

Signs it is time to replace

• Cracks wide enough to catch a shovel blade, or slabs that rock when you drive on them
• Sections that have sunk or tilted, so rain flows back toward the garage or house
• Surface scaling: the top layer flaking off and exposing stones
• A broken apron where the driveway meets the garage floor or the street
• Tree roots lifting sections near the sidewalk
• Old asphalt or concrete patches that keep failing

Inside a replacement job

Demolition comes first: the old slab is broken up, loaded and hauled off, which tells us what the original crew built on. On many postwar lots that turns out to be native clay with a thin skim of gravel or none at all, and that is usually why the panels sank. Soft pockets get dug out. The subgrade is shaped so water heads away from the house and garage, then gravel goes in and gets compacted. After forms and steel are set, the truck pours, the crew screeds and floats the surface, and a broom texture goes on for winter traction. Joints are tooled or sawn on a planned grid.

How thick, and whether to add steel

HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for a 4-inch minimum under ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches where RVs or heavy trucks park, and edges thickened to 6 to 8 inches. Aprons and the edges where tires roll off are where we add depth first. Rebar runs roughly $1 to $3 more per square foot by HomeGuide's numbers; on a big slab, soft soil or a drive that carries a work truck it earns its cost, and on a small pad over firm gravel it may not. We go over that choice at the estimate.

Widening and new layouts

Many Kettering homes were built with a single-car driveway, and families now park two or three vehicles. Widening the driveway, adding a parking pad beside it or flaring the apron at the garage can take cars off the street. The City of Kettering says a driveway extension needs a zoning permit. If the work changes the approach at the curb, an Engineering Department right-of-way permit is needed too. We confirm which permits apply before we schedule.

The drive approach

The section between the public sidewalk and the street is the drive approach. The City of Kettering says property owners are responsible for the approach, curb and sidewalk next to their property, and any work there needs a right-of-way construction permit from Engineering. If your approach is cracked or sunken, it often makes sense to replace it with the driveway so the two match and drain together.

The first months

We give you a date for parking on it, typically around a week out and later in cool weather. No deicing salt the first winter; sand gives traction without attacking the young surface. Per HomeGuide, the first sealer goes on after the 28 to 30 day cure, with a fresh coat every 2 to 3 years. A plastic-edged blade or a snow blower is kinder to the finish than a steel shovel, and downspouts should discharge away from the slab edges.