OT: Coolest driveway?...
 

Over the next few months I'm going to have this large (meaning wide) driveway poured along with a footer next to the house for the boat (when it's not on the lift) and I'm kicking around some ideas whether it be patterns in the cement itself or some kind of fan or other angles with the expansion joints. Anyone do anything creative with theirs?

I got SOOOO lucky last week. I was having a driveway poured, and the concrete company flaked out on the contractor, so he sais to me "How about if I give you a paver driveway for the same price?" I'll post pic's tomorow.

I would never be able to guess it is winter. Subway, Driveways and all of the rumors going around!!!

Oh, and ours is concrete, pretty nifty stuff. If you run really fast and try to slide on your belly on it, it will turn your stomach red. Pretty cool stuff!

The patterned/colored driveways are a nice touch. If you had a little extra cash you could add the fiber optic lighting that is both fixed in color or rotates thru a pallate of colors. NNNIIICCCCEEEEEE.....

We had a front porch stamped with a pattern and stained a brick red. We absolutely loved it - at first. Then we figured out that it holds dirt and always looks dirty. Difficult to keep clean. Always have to hose it down and scrub with a brush to get the dirt out of the pattern. My father had a similar experience with stamped, stained concrete.

Anyone else have this experience?

a client of mine has a heated driveway cus he doesn't like to shovel snow in the winter.........

its not cement :mad: Its concrete :D :D

Cement is to concrete like flour is to bread ;)


We normally just saw cut every 10' x 10' squares, You might be able to get them to saw cut it a different angles to fit your likings. You should keep the saw cuts/expansion joints square, if they tend to go into diffreent angle cuts, you might end up with a few cuts with points which you do not want, points break off no matter where they are. Have them pour it 6" thick and also put alot of rerod in it, don't use rolled wire, so there will no chance of breaking or shifting. Also you could use a mix that is stronger, like driveways are 3500 psi concrete, you could step up to 4500-5000 psi concrete, in the higher psi mix's, there is just more cement in the mix. It would be neat for a color/stamp deal, but that sorta deal is 3-4 times more $ then normal concrete.

If it is outside, it will mostly be a broomed finish unless you don't prefer that. I think being around your boat and maybe water/washing the boat, if it does not have a broom finish it will probably be slippery.

I'm thinkin' more about the angled expansion design than anything else. The fact that patterned grooves being hard to keep clean makes sense, and I don't want to make more work for myself trying to keep it looking tip-top.
Our winter temps around here for the most part are in the mid 30's occasionally spiking into the upper 20's for short periods. I consider this a moderate winter climate so I don't think I have to be so concerned about winter freeze cracks of any kind. I want to do something other than conventional squares but not yet so sharp as to be weak on the points. Just different because the drive will be large. Just wandering if anyone else tackled this and their opinions before the piggy bank gets emptied...

BTW, I'm looking at the rough surface versus the smooth finish....

Anybody got any pics of theirs?...

What the hell is a heated driveway?

They heat driveways by circulating hot water through pipes buried in the concrete just like you would through a pole barn or basement floor. I know a plumber who puts in quite a few heated driveways and side walks, it beats shoveling snow but (for me anyway) it would be a little hard to justify the cost.

all the people out where I work have heated driveways. I think that is awesome No salt no shoveling. How much more $$ is that on the price? and How much is it for the lights?

We don't need heated driveways in coastal Texas: thankfully. If we did, then all of my Papaya and Mangos would freeze!

Here's our drive: 6" thick, 14' wide, stamped and colored edges and a large stamped and colored area in front of the garage. Sidewalk is Pavestone.

With the edges stamped and colored black: it's easy to maintain.

Here's the sidewalk area, Pavestone can be used for a driveway too.

..

I don't wanna be picky, but you really gotta pay more attention to da lawn.;) :D :D

i have been looking into stamped concreate a couple of masons here in nj have like 50 paterns from squares to fans of bricks to what looks like rock walksways they stain then to what ever colors you want and clear coat them the clear fills in the voids and seals the joints so it does not trap the dirt. i spoke to some home owners that had it done 2-3 years ago and they stil look great min maint. re seal every 3 years they say. also looked into pavers have to re sand every 2-3 years and have to fix settling after 1 1/2 years and aprox every 2 years espesaly where car tires sit. looking for any input from any oso

Marc- ???
Due

Here is our driveway, its agrigate..Its not really creative, I just like how it goes through the trees and to the house, kind of cool

Reckless,

If the slab is more than about 25' in width or length, you'll need to have expansion joints. There are metal expansion joints the finisher can put in or you can have them cut the slab. The idea is to control where cracks will form. Your concern is not winter, but hot summer. The heat will cause the slab to expand unevenly and then crack. I used to live in Chesapeake and you may remember 15 years ago when I-64 used to buckle during the really hot days during the summer.

Once the slab cracks, the moisture and freezing during the winter cause more damage. If the finisher puts cuts in the slab, then you can put silicone sealer in the cut to keep the moisture out. They typically put tar in the cuts in commercial applications, but you don't want tar in your driveway.

I'm about to do our driveway...about 350' long and 60' wide in front of the garage. If I do the concrete work myself it will take longer but will last longer. If I go with asphalt, then It'll get done in a day or two but will have to be resealed annually. Sounds like a good project. See you nect year at the RPBA poker run.

Bill

nice places and nice driveways, But why spend money on concrete or asphalt ? Buy bigger boats, bigger motors,larger dinner tabs.