Concrete Driveways in Sheboygan, WI

Concrete driveways take more punishment in Sheboygan than any other slab on the lot. The NOAA normals for the city's weather station average about 46 inches of snow a year, which means months of shoveling, snowblowing, plowing and salt tracked in on tires. Meltwater runs down the drive in the afternoon and freezes again at night. A driveway that lasts here is mostly about what happens below the surface and in the mix, not the finish on top.

Signs it is time for a new driveway

• Flaking or pitting across a large part of the surface
• Cracks wide enough to catch a coin, or with one side higher than the other
• A panel near the garage that has dropped and holds water at the door
• Water running toward the house instead of the street
• A broken apron or crumbling edges along the lawn
• A drive too narrow for the cars you have now

A single sunken panel on an otherwise good slab can often be lifted, and light scaling can be resurfaced. When settling, wide cracks and scaling all show up at once, replacement usually costs less over the next twenty years than repeated patching.

Starting from the ground up

We break out and haul away the old concrete, asphalt or gravel, dig out soft or organic soil, and replace it with crushed stone compacted in layers. That base spreads the load and lets water drain away before it can freeze under the slab. Forms are set so the surface falls toward the street or the side yard and away from the garage floor.

Thickness depends on use. HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for at least 4 inches under ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches for RVs and heavy vehicles, and 6 to 8 inches at the edges. If a camper, a boat trailer or a truck with a plow parks on the drive, we thicken that area. The concrete itself is air-entrained, reinforcement sits in the middle of the slab, and joints are placed on a grid so shrinkage cracks run where we want them.

The apron and the public walk

Many Sheboygan driveways cross a public sidewalk and meet the curb. The city's Right-of-Way Management page says a Permit to Excavate is needed for any excavation in the right-of-way, naming driveway aprons, curb cuts and sidewalks as examples, and that no work may start there until the permit is approved and returned. On top of that, the Building Inspection FAQ says all concrete work in the city needs a building permit. We plan for both, so the apron is poured with the rest of the drive instead of waiting on paperwork.

If the public walk across your driveway is on the city's sidewalk replacement list, we will tell you, because a City contractor doing that piece may come with a tree-root credit you would lose otherwise.

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Finish choices

• Broom finish: the light ridges give grip in rain, slush and light snow. Most driveways here should be broomed.
• Exposed aggregate: the top paste is washed off to show the stone. It hides tire marks and has good traction.
• Stamped or colored border: a decorative band along the edges while the driving lanes stay plain.
• Smooth trowel: neat in a garage, but slippery outdoors in ice, so we do not use it on driveways.

Your first year with the new drive

Keep cars off for at least seven days and heavy vehicles off for the full cure, which HomeGuide puts at 28 to 30 days. Use sand, not rock salt, the first winter. After that, avoid de-icers made with ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate, which attack the cement paste. HomeGuide recommends the first sealer coat after the cure and resealing every 2 to 3 years. Keep downspouts aimed off the slab, and ask your plow service to raise the blade slightly or use a rubber edge.