Concrete Driveways in Pueblo, CO

Concrete driveways are the biggest job we do in Pueblo, and most of them are replacements. With a median home built around 1965, according to Census figures summarized by Point2Homes, a lot of Pueblo driveways are older than the people parking on them. Driveways of that era were often poured narrow, thin and without steel, for cars that weighed far less than today's trucks and SUVs. When a driveway like that breaks up, patching rarely buys much time. A new concrete driveway, built properly from the ground up, is usually the fix that lasts.

Signs it is time

• Cracks that have opened wide, or panels that have shifted so edges no longer line up
• Sections that have sunk, leaving a lip at the garage or a puddle in the middle
• A surface that has scaled, pitted or flaked over large areas after winters of freeze-thaw
• Broken edges where tires run off the side
• A driveway that tips water back toward the garage or house
• A driveway that is simply too narrow for the vehicles you own now

Built from the base up

Most driveway failures start underneath. We remove the old concrete and haul it off, then dig out soft soil and organic material until we reach firm ground. A layer of gravel base goes down and is compacted in lifts. According to HomeGuide, ordinary cars need a slab no thinner than 4 inches, campers and heavy trucks call for 5 or 6, and the edges should be thickened to 6 to 8 inches. We set the thickness to how you use the driveway, and we write it on the quote.

For reinforcement we usually use rebar on a grid, set on chairs so it ends up in the middle of the slab instead of lying on the dirt. The forms are set so the driveway drains toward the street or a yard, not toward the house or garage. Lifted, broken driveways are one of the signs of swelling clay that the Colorado Geological Survey points to, and wet soil is what makes clay move, so getting water off and away from the slab matters as much as the concrete itself.

Get a Free Estimate

The mix and the finish

Pueblo's average January low is 15.4 degrees, while the average January high is 48.4, per Wikipedia's Pueblo climate data. That swing means a driveway freezes and thaws over and over each winter. We order air-entrained concrete for every driveway. The tiny air bubbles give water room to expand when it freezes, which is the main defense against scaling. We finish without adding water to the surface, broom it for traction, and cut or tool control joints at spacing that matches the slab width and thickness so that shrinkage cracks follow the joint lines rather than wandering through the panels.

Aprons, approaches and the street

The section between your property line and the street is often a different story from the rest of the driveway. Curb cuts, the approach across a public sidewalk, and the apron at the gutter can fall under local rules. City of Pueblo addresses now go to the Southern Colorado Building Department, while Pueblo West and other unincorporated areas go to the Pueblo County Building Division. We check which office covers your address and whether the work at the street needs its own approval before we pour.

Widening and adding parking

Older driveways are often only one car wide. Widening means pouring a new strip alongside the old slab or replacing the whole thing so it all matches. Tying new concrete to old is possible, but if the old driveway is already cracking, it usually makes more sense to replace it all at once. We also pour side pads for a trailer, boat or RV, which need a thicker slab than a car does.

The first month

Per HomeGuide's driveway guide: people can walk on it after a day or two, a car can come onto it after a week, and a loaded pickup, camper or delivery truck should stay off for about a month. During that month, aim sprinklers away from the edges. Through the first winter, shovel or plow instead of salting. Seal it once the month is up, then again every two or three years, which cuts down on the water and salt the surface soaks up.