Driveway cracked and starting to crumble, or big chunks of the top layer flaking off after one winter?
Most Denver driveways that crack and spall were never built for what they face here: expansive clay, mag chloride off the street and roughly a hundred freeze-thaw cycles a year. We tear out failing driveways and pour new ones on a compacted base, with steel or fiber reinforcement, an air-entrained mix, control joints at the right spacing and a slope that drains away from the house.
You get a fixed written, itemized price after we measure, from a licensed and insured Colorado contractor pouring in the metro since 2010. Call (720) 782-8086. We reply the same day during business hours.
Your driveway is a year or two old and there is a crack running across it. The contractor who poured it says all concrete cracks eventually, and then stops answering your calls. Concrete can crack, but control joints at the right spacing steer it to lines you do not notice, and a compacted base keeps it from breaking across the middle. Our work is backed by a warranty, and we reply the same day during business hours.
You agreed to a number. Halfway through, or when the invoice arrived, it was far more than you were originally quoted, with no notice. Here someone measures on site first, and you get a fixed written price, itemized, before any work is scheduled.
The apron and the tire path are pitted and chipped, like the surface was shot at, while the rest of the slab looks fine. That is mag chloride and freeze-thaw working together. We pour with an air-entrained mix, let new concrete cure before the first seal, and use a penetrating sealer on driveways so water and salt stay out.
Two driveways poured the same week on the same street can end up in completely different condition. The difference is almost all under the surface, in the part nobody sees once the pour is done. What goes into ours:
Same driveway, same angle. Cracked and settled slab taken out and repoured.
"No warranty on concrete" and "he won't fix it unless forced to" come up again and again in homeowner threads. Before you sign with anyone, ask who stands behind the work and how to reach them afterward.
Our driveways are poured by a licensed and insured Colorado concrete contractor carrying general liability and workers' compensation, working in the Denver metro since 2010, and the work is backed by a warranty. If something looks wrong, call (720) 782-8086. We reply the same day during business hours.
A failed drive at a brick ranch, torn out and replaced end to end.
We do not quote driveways over the phone, because the number depends on things we have to see. After an on-site measurement you get a fixed written price, itemized, so the bill is the quote and you can compare it line by line with any other bid. No hidden charges.
What moves the number:
The stock is old. The ranch tracts that fill Arvada, Lakewood and Englewood went up mostly between 1950 and 1975. Those driveways were poured to the standards of the day, often thinner than we would pour now and with less reinforcement. Fifty to seventy years later they are not failing because anything went wrong. They are failing because they are finished.
Clay soil moves. Expansive clay swells with water and shrinks without it. A driveway placed on undisturbed clay with a thin base rides that movement and cracks along it. This is the single biggest reason two driveways poured the same week on the same street end up in completely different condition.
Mag chloride hits the apron first. Salt brine comes off the street on your tires and drips where you slow down and turn in. The first ten feet of a Denver driveway and the apron at the street almost always look a decade older than the rest, and that is why.
Then freeze-thaw finishes the job. Once salt has opened up the surface, water gets in, freezes and lifts the top layer off. That is the flaking you see, and it accelerates once it starts.
Older Denver lots have their own problem. The bungalow neighborhoods have narrow original drives running back to a detached garage off the alley. Access is tight, the runs are long and skinny, and a replacement there is a different job than a two-car pad in Broomfield.
"Poured one hour before heavy rain came through" and "there is standing water on it" are how a lot of ruined finishes start. Rain on fresh concrete takes the cement off the surface and leaves it rough and weak. Exterior concrete in Denver runs roughly April through October, and when conditions are wrong, sometimes the right answer is to wait. We'll tell you which it is.
"Left concrete and rocks all over my yard" is a common complaint after a driveway job. We protect your yard and haul off the debris, including the old slab.
Concrete costs more up front than asphalt but lasts far longer, handles sun without softening and needs less maintenance. Asphalt does shed snow a little faster because it is dark. Over the life of the driveway, concrete is usually the cheaper choice if you plan to stay. If you are selling soon and the slab is sound, a repair or partial replacement may make more sense, and we will say so.
Keep it clean with a broom finish, add integral color, go with exposed aggregate for grip, or match a stamped border to your patio and walkway from curb to door. We carry 20+ stamp patterns and will help you choose the right pattern and color.
We'll measure, talk through your options and hand you a fixed written price. No pressure, no hidden charges.
A fine crack that follows a control joint is what joints are for. A crack that runs across the slab between joints, opens wider, or has one side higher than the other in the first year or two usually points to the base or the joint spacing. Ask the contractor to come look first, and if they will not, get a second opinion on site.
In Denver, concrete for most homeowners who plan to stay: it costs more up front, lasts far longer, does not soften in the sun and needs less upkeep. Asphalt is cheaper to put in and sheds snow a little faster.
It depends on how deep the damage goes. If only the surface is rough and the slab underneath is sound, resurfacing can work. If the slab is weak, cracked or holding water, it should be re-poured. We tell you which after we see it.
If the slab is still sound, resurfacing covers the spalled areas, followed by a penetrating sealer to keep water and salt out. If the spalling is deep or the slab is cracking too, replacing that section lasts longer.
Get a free on-site quote this week. Honest pricing, no pressure, work backed by a warranty.
