Concrete Driveways in Joliet, IL

Concrete driveways take more abuse than anything else on a Joliet lot. They carry the cars every day, collect salty slush all winter and get scraped by shovels and plow blades. In Joliet they also have to meet specific city rules: the driveway and sidewalk permit page sets a 4-inch minimum with wire mesh for the driveway, 6 inches with mesh at the approach and where the drive crosses the sidewalk, and a 20-foot maximum width at the front property line. We build every driveway quote around those numbers.

Signs it is time to replace

• Flaking or pitting over a large part of the surface
• Cracks wide enough to fit a coin, or cracks where one side has lifted
• A panel at 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 that is too narrow for the cars you own now

One sunken panel on an otherwise sound driveway can often be lifted, and light flaking can be resurfaced. When sinking, wide cracks and scaling show up together, replacement usually costs less over the next ten years than patching every spring.

What goes under the concrete

Most driveways fail from below. We break out the old concrete or asphalt, dig out soft or organic soil, and compact crushed stone in layers so the slab has firm support and water can drain away. Forms are set so the surface sheds water toward the street or yard, away from the garage and foundation. Joliet's permit asks for the slab thickness and fill depth up front, so the base is spelled out on our quote.

Thickness, steel and joints

The city minimum is 4 inches with wire mesh on the driveway itself. HomeGuide's driveway guide recommends 5 to 6 inches for RVs or heavy vehicles and 6 to 8 inches at the edges. Where a pickup with a plow, a trailer or a camper sits, we thicken that area. The approach and sidewalk crossing go in at the city's 6-inch minimum with mesh. Air-entrained concrete protects the surface from freeze-thaw, and control joints on a planned grid give shrinkage cracks a straight place to go.

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Aprons and widening

The apron between the sidewalk and the curb sits in the public right-of-way. Joliet limits it to 20 feet wide at the sidewalk and 26 feet at the curb, and any change to it needs Public Works approval. If you want a wider driveway, the city allows an existing driveway to be extended only toward the side property line from the house, and the driveway has to stay out of easements. A shared driveway needs a shared easement written into the deed. We check your plat for all of this before we draw the new layout.

Finish options

• Broom finish: the standard. The fine texture gives grip in rain and slush.
• Exposed aggregate: the top paste is washed away to show the stone, which hides tire marks.
• Stamped or colored border: a decorative band along the edges, with plain lanes that are easy to shovel.
• Smooth trowel: clean looking but slick when wet or icy, so we avoid it on sloped drives.

Your first year

Stay off with cars for at least 7 days. Do not use rock salt the first winter; use sand for traction. After that, avoid de-icers that contain ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate. HomeGuide says to wait until the 28 to 30 day cure is complete before the first coat of sealer. Point downspouts away from the slab and ask your plow service to use a rubber-edged blade.