Fort McMurray Concrete Driveways

Fort McMurray Concrete Driveways

The driveway to a home features the home and is neglected by many. A great driveway can radically change the look of your fort mcmurray house. Driveways are popularly made with concrete or asphalt. Concrete is great for driveways as they can provide a solid look as well as long lasting durability to the driveways even though they are heavily used. Though concrete driveway installation cost is more than that of asphalt ones but they last long enough with much less maintenance to make the money invested worth it.

There are different designs that make the fort mcmurray concrete driveways look great. A few to count are:

1. Stamped concrete driveway – Once poured concrete is in a stage just before hardening, beautifying stamps are put into it by readily available rubber/plastic stamps.
2. Pigmented concrete driveway – The concrete can be pigmented with single or dual color tone to give it an excellent touch of look.
3. Exposed aggregate concrete driveway –Coarse aggregate matter like colored gravel/pebbles are spread evenly on the top layer of concrete and pressed with a wooden float to embed these in the concrete.
4. Traditional Brick – Traditional brick addition to the concrete layer give an old colonial charm adding a great deal to the curb appeal of the real estate.
5. Interlocking stones – Shell colored interlocking stones on the top of concrete can bring the jazzy life style of the southern spirits to the driveway.

All these can be complemented with an elegant border which re-defines the driveways to a great extent.

The finishing is an important part of the concrete constructions and especially in the case of a concrete driveway. Once the concrete is poured it needs to be finished. The basic steps for finishing are:

1. The concrete top layer should be leveled uniformly by scraping of extra concrete by a screed.
2. Immediately after the scraping off a wooden or magnesium bullfloat should be used to further finish the surface before evaporation of the bleed water.
3. The final step for finishing involves simple broom finish to increase traction. This step can be omitted if the requirement is there for another design implementation.

Concrete driveways need to be taken care of annually and regularly to increase the durability and longevity. The concrete driveways need to be sealed with blankets/coverings in its pre-mature days to let is attain its full strength. These should be sealed using in various sealants like:

1. Acrylic Sealer – This sealer protects the interior as well as exterior surfaces from damage.
2. Polyurethane Coating – This coating is a thicker variant of sealers providing superior durability.
3. Penetrating Sealers – It penetrates to the top layer of the concrete creating a barrier against moisture, deicing chemicals etc.
4. Epoxy Coating – This kind of coating is very resistant to superficial injuries or chemicals.

Concrete driveways can be made from heated concrete to make it usable and skid proof during icy winter seasons. Electrical cables or water tubing is fitted to the wire mesh on which the concrete is poured. The hot water tubing is connected to the water heater and pumps located near the driveway. These need frequent maintenance. Electrical cables are connected to the electrical heating units. These heating elements are monitored by sensors which turn the heat on as soon as the temperature falls below 38F. They also have manual overrides provided to the property owner.

To install new concrete driveways in your fort mcmurray property give us a call for a free estimate.