Concrete Driveways in Dubuque, IA

Concrete Driveways in Dubuque live a hard life. Tires carry street brine onto them from November to March, a good share of them climb or fall steeply between curb and garage, and many older ones were laid on whatever soil was there. The concrete itself is often the easy part. The work that decides whether a driveway lasts thirty winters or eight is the tear-out, the grading and the base, all done before a mixer backs in.

Reading the old slab

Walk your driveway and look for these. One or two is normal aging; several together mean the slab is finished.

• Flaking surface. Patches where the top layer has popped off, usually heaviest near the street where brine collects.
• Offset cracks. A crack where one side sits higher than the other, or cracks running in several directions from one point.
• A dropped apron. The section at the garage has sunk, so water runs toward the door or freezes against it.
• Seasonal heave. Panels that rise in winter and settle in spring, catching shovels and plow blades.
• Broken edge at the walk or curb. The public side of the driveway breaking up where it meets the right-of-way.

Tight hairline cracks by themselves are just shrinkage. When the surface is scaling across most of the slab, patching only buys a season.

Our build, layer by layer

Thickness. HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for a 4-inch minimum for ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches for RVs or heavy trucks, and 6- to 8-inch thickened edges. On Dubuque grades we often go heavier at the apron and on the steep pitch, where tires spin and push.

Base. Soft and organic soil comes out. Crushed stone goes in and is compacted in layers. On a slope, the subgrade is shaped so water leaves sideways instead of running under the slab.

Steel and mix. Rebar is tied and lifted on chairs so it ends up mid-depth. The concrete is an air-entrained exterior mix, the single biggest defense against freeze-thaw.

Joints and texture. Control joints are spaced to match the thickness. On grades, a firm broom texture run across the slope gives tires and boots something to grip in January.

Pouring on a hill

A steep pour has its own problems. Wet concrete wants to slide downhill, so the slump, the order of placement and the timing of the finish all get planned. The top and bottom transitions have to be gentle enough that a car does not bottom out. We also look uphill: runoff from the yard above or a neighbor's lot can cut under a new slab within a couple of springs if nothing redirects it.

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Where the driveway meets the street

Inside Dubuque city limits, replacing or adding a driveway in the public right-of-way takes a permit from City Engineering, applied for online through ROWay. In practice that covers the approach between the curb and the sidewalk. If the public walk crossing your driveway is broken or lifted, the owner is responsible for it, and folding it into the same job is usually cheaper than doing it later.

The first year

Cars stay off for about a week; heavy trucks longer. HomeGuide recommends letting the slab cure 28 to 30 days before the first sealer and resealing every 2 to 3 years, at roughly $1 to $3 per square foot. During the first winter, use sand for traction and no rock salt. After that, keep de-icer light, shovel before snow packs down, and point downspouts away from the slab.