Most concrete projects are calculated based on square footage. A typical concrete driveway would cost between $8-$15 dollars per square foot. In order to determine a more accurate cost you need to determine the following. How much and what kind of materials needs to be excavated and removed from your driveway area. Once you have based your driveway area measuring length x width you can use a Concrete Calculator tool to do this. Concrete driveways
are generally built with 2-3 “ of gravel base and 4-5″ of ready mix concrete. So if you have an existing driveway that needs to be removed in order to replace with a new driveway you can usually estimate about 8″ of native material needs to be removed and disposed. Enter the dimensions of your driveway into the Concrete Calculator using a depth of 8″. This will give you a fairly accurate quantity of material that needs to be removed. And you can also you this tool to
estimate the amount of gravel and ready mix concrete your job will require. Typical excavation costs range between $2-$4 per square foot.

Most concrete projects are calculated based on square footage. A typical concrete driveway would cost between $8-$15 dollars per square foot. In order to determine a more accurate cost you need to determine the following. How much and what kind of materials needs to be excavated and removed from your driveway area. Once you have based your driveway area measuring length x width you can use a Concrete Calculator tool to do this. Concrete driveways
are generally built with 2-3 “ of gravel base and 4-5″ of ready mix concrete. So if you have an existing driveway that needs to be removed in order to replace with a new driveway you can usually estimate about 8″ of native material needs to be removed and disposed. Enter the dimensions of your driveway into the Concrete Calculator using a depth of 8″. This will give you a fairly accurate quantity of material that needs to be removed. And you can also you this tool to
estimate the amount of gravel and ready mix concrete your job will require. Typical excavation costs range between $2-$4 per square foot.

For most residential installations in British Columbia a typical cost for 32 MPA strength concrete is between $250-$300 per cubic meter of concrete, taxes and delivery included.. 32MPA concrete is considered very good strength material for most applications but it is also important to note the minimum thickness for a patio, driveway or sidewalk would be 4″ thick. And 5″ thick for driveways is even better. Some of the costs could include admixtures put in the concrete to help it set slower or faster plus additives such as fibrmesh to assist in reinforcing ready mix concrete. There is also generally an additional cost for small size loads less than a full truck load.

Concrete use for driveways is the most versatile building material available but should be reinforced in one of the following ways. Wiremesh installed prior to pour will help reinforce your driveway and is one of the cheapest methods but has its limitations. When pouring the concrete the wire mesh needs to be manually lifted into the middle area of the concrete to provide any benefit. This can be done but since the concrete placers are walking on the wiremesh while lifting it generally is not completeley lifted to the middle of the concrete in all area’s. For smaller jobs it works better. Fibermesh is an additive that is mixed into the ready mix concrete and provides reinforcement throughout all area’s. Its is slightly cheaper than wiremesh and does not require any additional labour to install or lift as does wiremesh. Rebar is the best method of concrete reinforcement but is the most expensive. Rebar can be tied into a grid and lifted and supported to the middle of the concrete area using concrete chairs or blocks placed under the rebar to fully support it duting concrete placement. We can offer pricing on all of these options when quoting your project.

We recommend sealing your concrete but it is not a requirement. It is mostly recommenced for exterior applications but can also be good for interior concrete finished where the concrete is the finished floor surface. For typical broomed or smooth finished exterior surface such as a driveway its can prevent damage from occurring due to salting of roads during the winter months. If you have a colored, stamped concrete finish on your concrete it is a requirement to prevent staining of your finished product and protect to appearance as the concrete ages. For most exterior brushed or smooth concrete finishes a water based sealer is recommended and for colored, stamped concrete surfaces and solvent based sealer is usually applied. In addition
periodic cleaning and sealing of your concrete surface should be performed about every 3-5 years to maintain the appearance and durability of the sealer as It can wear over time. We can provide sealing of your concrete during installation or as periodic maintenance in the future.

Control joints are grooves are saw cut lines placed in the new concrete slab to promote a controlled crack where the joint is placed. At Grants Concrete we install control joints with a grooving tool and time of concrete placement or withing a day or two after concrete placement by saw cutting the concrete. Our goal when installing control joints is to avoid random cracking outside of the control joint area. However in some cases the concrete can still crack. That is why using steel reinforcement is recommended to hold any two area’s together should a crack occur even when control joints have been installed. Control joints also add a pleasing look to your driveway, patio or sidewalks by defining the entire area into smaller sections in a grid type layout instead of just one big area of concrete. Control joints are commonly included in our installation costs unless specific designs are requested as part of a design element.

Concrete is one of the most versatile and most suitable building material for installations of driveways, patio’s, sidewalks or just about any area that requires pavement of some kind. Concrete in it’s plastic state can be moulded in virtually any form. Colors, textures and unique design features can be accomplished to provide a long lasting and aesthcically pleasing feature adding value to you home. And when installed properly will outlast most other types of building
materials such as asphalt or paving stones. The cost of using concrete for your driveway, patio or other pavings needs when factored over the lifespan of you home is also the most economical choice.