How to Prevent Cracks When Pouring a Concrete Driveway

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Cracks in Driveway Crack Concrete — _{Photo: Tomasz Sienicki via CC}

While the image of a beautiful flower poking up through the concrete of your driveway might be perfect for a photo op, it means something a bit more ominous: You’ve got cracks in your driveway! If you’re planning on pouring a new driveway, follow these steps (and take preventative measures) to ensure it lasts a long time.

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Avoid excessive drying

One of the major ways you can prevent concrete from cracking is to ensure it doesn’t dry too quickly when you first pour it. A long drying time allows the water to reach full strength, so we suggest you water cure the concrete while it’s drying. This can be done by either spraying a mist of water over the concrete slab, flooding it, or ponding it. This ensures the concrete won’t dry too fast, since the process normally takes around seven days to complete.

Find the perfect mix of water and cement

Be sure not to add too much water to the concrete mix as you begin this process. As concrete hardens and dries, it shrinks; this is caused by the loss of excess water. When this shrinkage occurs, the concrete becomes weaker. In order to avoid this loss of water, never exceed the .50 water to 1 cement ratio. This will improve the overall strength of the concrete and prevent cracks in your driveway.

Ensure the ground under the concrete is well compacted

The quality of the concrete you pour is dependent on the strength of the ground underneath it. If the subgrade isn’t compacted correctly, the concrete can collapse. To ensure the base is compacted well, you can do one of two things: Use static force to compact it — which can be done with a simple heavy machine — or use vibratory force with a standard vibratory plate. The method you choose depends entirely on your type of soil. If it’s cohesive soil, static force is enough for you. If it’s granular, use the vibrating plates.

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If these methods don’t work for preventing cracks in your driveway, don’t worry; repairing those pesky cracks can be easy. There are many different crack fillers at most hardware store, like this RadonSeal Concrete Foundation Repair Kit. Do you have any tips of your own on how to prevent cracks in driveways or how to fix them?

Ben Parker

Ben never thought he’d be writing about cars for a living, but here he is, knowing more about the Kia Stinger than he’d care to admit. When he’s not devoting his time to researching engine specs and other oh-so-exciting car details, he can be found enjoying time with his wife and dogs. See more articles by Ben.