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Summary: Concrete driveways look beautiful with or without stains. The concrete driveways come in various shapes like straight, curves etc. The process involves four main steps; making the form, estimating the concrete, pouring the concrete, curing the concrete. The article will discuss them in detail.
For the sake of attractive appearance and comfortable access, you should always use curved forms. This will make the entryways curved in shape on both sides. Start your project by using ¼ “plywood cut by widths in order to make a match for the depth dimension for the concrete.
Remember, dimensions are really important consideration and should be handled carefully. Use as many stakes as you can in order to avoid the plywood from bulging. Plywood can bulge when you place the concrete into the form so use as many stakes as you can. We all know that concrete adopts the shape of the mold. There are various molds available in the market, made up of 2*8 or 2*6 lumber that is usually supported by 1*4 or 2*4 stakes.
How to build the form
The first step in your driveway project would be to build the form. Follow the instructions given below to build the form:
· Make an excavation according to your need
· Put two parallel boards in it. Position these boards in a way that their edges, on the inside, form the sides of the driveway.
· Raise both ends of the board with their top edges about 2 or 3 inches above the level of the ground. You should start this process from the highest point at the ground level.
· Run a straightedge in order to make a bridge across the forms
· After completing the above step, set straightedge’s level.
· Use double headed nails to fasten the forms with the stakes that you have used.
· The opposite ends of the board should be raised up to the desired pitch.
· Drive the stakes to make a space of approximately 3 f along the board and when it is done, nail the stakes.
· Don’t forget to nail the stakes to both boards that you have used and install another stake at a random location where the two boards strike.
· The end of the boards should not be uneven, if they are so, and then make them square with the help of a saw before nailing them.
· Finally, oil both form boards with any motor oil. You can use paintbrush or any other brush to oil the form boards. The reason for using oil is that it prevents the concrete to stick with the form. It also helps in preventing any absorption of water for the form boards.
· After you have successfully placed the forms, double check all your measurements before moving on towards the next step. If necessary, order any reinforcing mesh that can be fit into the form.
Here comes the concrete
After you have made sure that the form that you have deployed is ready then comes the task of estimating and ordering the concrete. Estimating the amount of concrete is another time consuming task and requires efficient calculations. It is always recommended that you use the ready-mix service. Don’t waste your time in mixing the concrete yourself.
It really requires immense amount of time and effort. You have to tell all the dimensions of the driveway like the width, the length, the depth to the concrete company before ordering it. Once you have clearly described the dimensions, the concrete company will help you in estimating the concrete required. Plan a date, for pouring the concrete, with the company and get ready to welcome the truck when it arrives at your place. It is always recommended to have few of your friends at the time of placement in order to assist you. As soon as the concrete comes out of the truck, you will have to quickly level it with the help of shovels and then try to level the top with the help of a straightedge. Remember that all these steps require hard work and fast work.
Start pouring concrete from your garage and then work towards the street where your driveway meets. To make the task easier, divide the driveway into several sections; let’s say each section should be around 10 feet. Mark these sections with the help of stop boards. Start with placing the concrete in the first section only and then so on. Give special considerations to the edges. Screed the concrete off and then place it on the section that is still un-poured and adjacent to the previous section. This is done in order to avoid any extra concrete over any area.
Cover the concrete properly
The concrete that you will use should be covered with burlap. Make sure that the burlap is kept wet for at least a week. You can use various ways of keeping it wet like using any garden hose or any sprinkler head etc. However, it is not necessary that you use burlap; the basic purpose that should be taken into consideration is to keep the surface of concrete wet. If you have any other way of doing it, try it. After you have finished the trowel job and suddenly it starts raining, then the first thing you should do is to cover the concrete with newspapers or any other material like burlap. Don’t let the raindrops to damage the concrete surface.
Make sure that you spare at least two weeks for this project. After that, detach the forms that you have used and make sure that you have backfilled any dirt that is required in order to cover the concrete surface. Use any float to level the surface of concrete. There are various floats available in the market like bull float etc. A bull float is efficient in producing a level but it makes the surface a bit rougher. You can also use hand floats for this purpose.
At the end, use the following checklist to make sure that you have carefully stored the plan in your mind or on a piece of paper before placing a concrete driveway:
· First of all, look for the codes in your own community.
· Make a blue print of your project. Try to incorporate all the dimensions in it.
· After that, try to get all required building permits
· Start excavating and build the base and build the form. If you feel it difficult to do both altogether then divide them into two tasks; building the base and building the forms.
· Make sure that your measurements are correct by double checking them
· After you have double checked the measurements; order the concrete after estimating the amount of concrete required.
· Finish the concrete carefully.
· Make all possible arrangements for protecting the concrete until it becomes really hard.
· Backfill and its all done.
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