During the winter months, snow and water settle into the concrete or asphalt surface of your driveway and freeze once the temperature falls under 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This constant cycle of freeze and thaw would be enough to cause damage, but each time a car, truck, or SUV hits the compromised material, causes driveway cracks, which, if left unrepaired, can grow and split into chunks, which create holes.
It’s important to repair driveway cracks and potholes in your driveway can save you lots of time and money. Cracks and potholes not only bring down the overall value of a home and prove unsightly to your friends, loved ones, and local homeowner’s associations, but they also cause expensive damage to one’s items, vehicles, and more.
Noticing the Damage
The first signs of damage to concrete or asphalt driveways will come through noticing those fine line or hair-trigger cracks across the concrete surface or waves, bumps, or ridges in the asphalt material. If you see one or two cracks less than a ¼-inch wide, these may not immediately indicate significant structural damage to your driveway and can be repaired using products available in your home improvement stores. Note that fillers and patching materials are not fixes to repair driveway cracks. These solutions may be stop-gap measures because water will degrade the repair material and may seep into the asphalt or concrete, which will start to open the hole again.
Driveway cracks from ¼ to ½ inches wide or more, or holes that measure over 1-2 inches deep are generally key indications of more important underlying issues. Filling in those cracks will only temporarily solve the problem. Because of this, many homeowners shy away from completely replacing their driveways, choosing instead just to deal with the growing cracks and crumbling material by patching up the bad spots. While this is much more cost effective in the short run, it could cause additional problems down the road.
Hiring a Professional
Before considering a complete removal and renovation of the driveway, consider hiring a professional to repair driveway cracks. A professional would be able to advise the homeowner whether the best option is filling or patching existing problems, reconstructing the base structure and layout of the driveway, or a middle option: resurfacing the driveway, which removes and replaces aesthetically-unpleasing layers of concrete and refinishes the top layer of the driveway. Note that this doesn’t work for fundamentally-flawed or structural or compromised foundational issues with the driveway.
Oftentimes, replacing the driveway can be an expensive and time-consuming process. However, having a certain look for one’s home is part of that sense of pride in homeownership. In many cases, the structure or physical condition of the driveway faulty, but a repair would add to the aesthetic value of the home—remember, in a selling market, the driveway condition had potential to affect the market value of the home. Buyers may look upon a cracked or pitted driveway as a big turnoff. If you plan on selling your home, it’s almost always preferable to hire a professional to resurface or repair the driveway rather than patch it. This will add to the value of the home instead of just patching over an existing structural issue.
Remember…
Save your property value and avoid costly repairs to your vehicles and landscaping by hiring a professional to repair driveway cracks. It’s important to pay attention to the cracks and potholes you see in your driveway. Measuring their growth and following appropriate maintenance procedures can save you lots of time and money. Cracks and potholes bring down the overall value of a home and prove unsightly to your friends, loved ones, and local homeowner’s associations, and they also cause expensive damage to one’s items, vehicles, and more. Repairing and replacing these issues with the help of a team of professionals is a wide aesthetic choice and financial decision for any discerning homeowner.
