Concrete Driveways in Athens, GA

Concrete driveways in Athens take a beating that has little to do with winter. Many lots slope toward or away from the street, so water runs the length of the drive in every storm. Under the slab is often red Piedmont clay or loose fill left from building the house, and the trees that shade older streets send roots under the concrete. When a driveway here fails, it is usually a panel that has dropped, a corner that has broken off where runoff washed out the edge, or a crack that keeps widening as roots grow.

Signs it is time to replace

• Panels that have sunk and hold water near the garage or carport
• Cracks with one side higher than the other
• Broken edges along the lawn where the ground has washed away
• An apron at the street that is cracked through or separated
• Large areas of rough, worn surface
• A driveway too narrow for the cars you have now

Not every bad driveway needs to come out. One or two sunken panels on an otherwise solid slab can often be lifted, and that option is covered on our repair page. When several of these signs show up together, replacement is usually the better use of money.

What goes under the concrete

The base decides how long a driveway lasts. We break out the old concrete, asphalt or gravel and dig past topsoil, roots and soft clay until we reach firm ground. Where the subgrade is wet or full of fill, we remove more. Crushed stone then goes in and is compacted in layers, which spreads the load and gives water a way out instead of soaking the clay.

Thickness follows the load. HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for at least 4 inches for ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches for RVs and heavy traffic, and edges of 6 to 8 inches. If you park a work truck, a trailer or a boat, we thicken the slab where it sits. Rebar or welded wire set in the middle of the slab holds cracked sections together, and joints placed on a planned grid give shrinkage cracks a straight path.

Slope and drainage on Athens lots

On a downhill driveway, water collects at the garage door. On an uphill one, it races toward the street and undercuts the edges on the way. We set the forms so the surface sheds water to the side or toward a safe outlet, keep the slab pitched away from the house, and point out when a trench drain at the garage, a swale beside the drive or a downspout extension would help. These are small items on the quote that prevent the most common failures.

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The permit at the street

In Athens-Clarke County, driveway work that ties into the public street is permitted through Transportation and Public Works. Its Residential Driveway Permit Application lists an $85 fee for a new driveway and $79 for repairing an existing one, and it requires the inspector to be called 24 weekday hours before work starts. If your driveway meets a state route, GDOT has its own permit. Outside the county, other cities run their own processes; Jefferson, for example, publishes its own driveway permit application. We sort out which applies at the estimate.

Finish choices

• Broom finish: the standard, with a light texture that grips when wet
• Exposed aggregate: the surface paste is washed off to show the stone, which hides tire marks and red clay stains
• Stamped or colored borders: a decorative band along the edges with plain concrete in the lanes
• Smooth trowel: kept for flat areas only, since it gets slick on a slope in the rain

Caring for a new driveway

Keep cars off for at least seven days and heavy vehicles off for about a month, per HomeGuide's guide. Keep the surface damp or covered for the first days of a summer cure if we ask you to. HomeGuide recommends sealing every 2 to 3 years, which also helps keep red clay and oil from staining the surface. Keep downspouts discharging away from the edges and fill any washouts along the sides before they grow.