Driveway Resurfacing
Not a lot of people realize at the time that when you pour new concrete, especially when it’s butted up against old concrete, the two will look very different. There are differences in color and texture that really stand out.
Our Robson Ranch, TX homeowner came to this realization a day after he had two shoulders poured next to his original driveway to make it wider. He got the extra space he needed but not the look he wanted.
One phone call later we got together with him and suggested going with a driveway resurfacing material that would make it all blend together. Specifically a skim coat overlay.
We’re often asked just how tough our material is. It is designed for use on driveways and other exterior surfaces that will have cars, trucks, and other heavy equipment passing over it.
I have a friend in the business who applied it to a weighing station floor for 18 wheelers and years later it was still in good shape. That is about as extreme a case I can think of when it comes to testing the durability of our resurfacing material.
Now, that doesn’t mean it’s bulletproof, you need to have some common sense when it comes to caring and maintaining it; specifically keeping in mind that if you are doing something on it that might hurt regular concrete then it’s going to also hurt the overlay.
For example, don’t think you can dump a load of bricks or stones right on top of it; or drag a six burner gas grill with a missing wheel across the surface and not damage it.
Our material is tough, but these things will gouge, chip, and scratch regular concrete so it’s no surprise that it will also damage the overlay.
All is not lost, if this happens we can often touch up the damage but it’s better to have the “ounce of prevention” vs. the “pound of cure”.
Our Robson Ranch homeowner was sold on how tough it was but was mostly concerned about how it would look. After talking it over with him we decided to go with tinting the driveway resurfacing material a light beige color and then scoring (cutting) an eight inch wide border around the perimeter of the driveway and walkway leading to the house.
We will often stain the border a different, darker color so that it will contrast nicely with the rest of the area. It was a nice simple design but as we were wrapping it up, they asked us if we could still score it with a large diamond pattern in the middle to make it stand out a little more. Of course we obliged.
I think it was a great idea, it really helped tie it all together. Lastly, we sprayed a light brown stain over the entire job and sealed it with two coats of a solvent based sealer that really enhanced the color. What a difference from where we had started. It looks great!
