Driveways are a great longterm investment. But as you’d expect over time they can start to show signs or a little wear and tear. It can happen when you have heavy traffic driving on them all the time.
Most of the time it can be a little cracking, a chip of tow or the most common issues is discolouration, this can be due to the obvious, oil and at times it can be other natural sources as well.
All of these factors can cause the overall appearance of your driveway to deteriorate. Being most of the time the centrepiece of your front yard, of course, you want it to look its’ best.
One thing we pride ourselves on is the skills we have developed over the years with our concreting. And our driveways are at the top of our list. We feel we are experts in concreting cairns driveways and other concreting finishes.
We have installed as well as replaced and repaired many quality cairns driveways over the years and because of this, we get to see the warning signs before they happen. Most of the time they can not be avoided, it’s just the nature of having a driveway, but at least you can be aware of the potential issues and what to look out for down the track. Let’s take a look.
Excessively Heavy Loads.
If a driveway is built right and of course that’s what we are all about a well constructed driveway can easily support a good amount of heavy traffic over a long period of time. Having said that, large and heavy trucks over time can have an impact on the driveway by putting the driveway under a lot of pressure. If you’re building a residential driveway, and there’s a heavy vehicle on there every now and then, you’re not going to have too many issues.
You’re probably not going to have too much of a problem with this but it’s handy to know.
Weather Conditions
Even though I’ve added this, it’s something that’s pretty much hard to avoid, especially up here in the north where we get extreme weather conditions, which can be an issue if we get a cyclone that is big enough to do damage, which is a real possibility. This is something that is just a part of life and we learn to deal with it.
Having said that this can be handy to know. Things like excess water lying on the driveway can cause issues as well as consistent sun beaming down on the concrete. One of the best things you can do to help protect your driveway is to seal your driveway. It all helps with protection.
If this is something you want to look into when you get your driveway done, let us know we can advise you on what we think will be the best options for our conditions.
Poor Construction
Something that can lead to the breakdown of your driveway is poor construction and this is where weather conditions can play a role in the deterioration of any driveway. I can’t tell you the number of jobs we have been to where we needed to fix a major issue of replacing the area altogether because of poor quality workmanship.
This is where we always recommend you make sure your local cairns concreter has all the qualifications required to do a proper job. The last thing you want is for there to be issues down the track. This is where there’s always that conflicting issue of a cheap quote over a more expensive quote. The cheap one always looks more attractive but will it cost you in the long run? That’s the question.
We of course only use the best possible materials and always follow the Queensland regulations and requirements. Our business relies on giving you the best possible product and service. Whether this is a small landscaping concreting job or you need a driveway done, our standards always stay the same.
Shifting of Earth and Soil
This is another one that is really out of our control and its something that we will just have to monitor, especially after a cyclone or storm. Sometimes we can have movement that can have implications on our foundations like cracks. So as I said, not much we can do about it until there’s a major issue, but being aware of it will help.
Tree Root Growth
Whenever you’re looking to lay any concrete, especially a driveway, it’s a good idea to check all the types of trees in the area, as over time the roots of the trees can actually cause a lot of issues by growing under the driveway. Once they start to get bigger they can lift up the concrete as well as cracking the area, which can cause either dips or the area to rise.
When we assess the area we always make sure the area is good to go and make sure you won’t have any issues for many years to come. This is one thing that we can control in the planning stage. We are all for trees, just not under driveways.
Concreting Cairns and the outer areas, that’s what we do. Give us a call and we’ll help you with your new concrete driveway.