How Important is a Nice Driveway?

By Greg Vandenberge

Try to imagine driving up to a house without noticing the driveway. Subconsciously our mind seems to focus on the first thing that we see as we enter any house that were looking at. It’s very important that you have a nice driveway in your home.

You’re probably thinking that you never even look at the driveway, so why would it really be that important. If you truly believe that you never look at the driveway, have you ever ran something over while pulling into a driveway or avoided a large hole. The answer to this for most people is yes, they do look at the driveway before pulling into it, even if you don’t think that you do.

If the driveway isn’t in good shape, there is a very good chance that the rest of the home won’t be in good shape either. Rarely do I see a nice driveway and a poorly maintained home. The driveway usually says a lot about the house and the owners. If the driveway is cracked and severely damaged, there’s a good chance that there is going to be problems somewhere else in the home also.

As far as home maintenance goes, new driveways are relatively inexpensive. I’m not talking about or referring to extremely long driveways, I’m talking about regular residential neighborhood driveways that usually fit between two and four cars in them.

If you’re planning on selling your house and your driveway isn’t in the best of shape, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to seriously consider replacing. This seems to be a downfall for most people who are interested in seriously selling their homes. Sometimes this could make the difference between selling your home sooner than later.

Tips for Small Crack In Floor Slab

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Rebar Layout For Concrete Footing

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books.

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Harry Lee’s Landscaping & Concrete
Nashville, North Carolina 27856
252-462-2392

Beautifying Your Home With Concrete

By Manolo Sandoval

Did your Realtor wince when he/she saw your beat-up, discolored, weed filled driveway? Did your mother-in-law almost take a fall on your cracked walkway last time she came for a visit? Is it time to re-do the deck around the swimming pool?

Summer is here and it’s the perfect time of year to get quotes on renovating and beautifying your home’s concrete areas. Concrete is the home renovation industry’s best kept secret. Homeowners believe that they can’t afford upgrades to the concrete areas of their home, when in fact it’s one of the best investments you can make to maintain your homes’ value and indeed enhance it. Concrete products actually strengthen over the years and have very low maintenance. This guarantees that your investment is long term.

Some customers have had bad experiences with contractors and don’t realize that there are trustworthy, honest and affordable concrete contractors who take great pride in their work and want to provide them with excellent service. Nowadays with the Internet it is easy to get information on a contractor before you authorize the work. A quick search will reassure you if your concrete contractor is reputable.

Existing areas in your home can be upgraded, or new additions, such as driveways, slabs, patios, sidewalks, porches, walkways, curbs, pool walks, decks, and steps. Concrete products are available in regular concrete, stamped, or colored, or finishes. Stone finishes are the perfect answer to the pricey stone work that you might see in very upscale homes and businesses. The versatility and array of styles and colors of concrete is very impressive. You can easily find a style that will accent and dramatize your house.

If you love outdoor living then you should definitely look into a spacious patio for lounging, grilling and enjoying your backyard. Patios can be simple or intricate designs. A patio can cut down on some of that yard work too, while providing an inviting area to relax in.

First impressions are always vitally important, as your Realtor will tell you. A cracked and weed infested driveway, or a gravel or dirt driveway may be a deal breaker for the buyer looking for their next home. A driveway may be able to be repaired, or it may make more sense to replace it completely.

I would suggest looking into the use of concrete for many of your home’s remodeling and beautification projects.

Manolo Sandoval

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Harry Lee’s Landscaping & Concrete
Nashville, North Carolina 27856
252-462-2392

Stained Concrete

New LIfe for Ugly or Bland Concrete

By Lee Wallender, About.com

Is there anything less attractive than a monolithic slab of gray concrete? How about a scuffed, marred monolithic slab of gray concrete? In either case, you can give new life to your bland concrete slab with a technique called “stained concrete.”

Stained Concrete Is Not…Stained Concrete

Today, there is no excuse for that gray concrete slab. New techniques are coming down the road–and being improved–to make concrete look less like concrete. One method is stamped concrete. But stamped concrete only affects pattern and texture, not color. Stained concrete imbues your concrete with a huge variety of colors. Stained concrete is a misnomer. When I think of “stained,” I think of a coffee cup spilling on a white sofa. But concrete stain is actually a chemical reaction between the acid stain and the cement within the concrete mix. This bears emphasizing. Concrete is made of both aggregate (rocks) and the binding cement. Because concrete stain works through a chemical reaction between the stain and cement, the aggregate will not stain.

What is the Process of Concrete Staining?

Concrete staining is not the same as adding pigment to wet concrete. Concrete staining is done on cured concrete, and it can be done by the homeowner. First, you clean the surface. You’ll want to use an organic degreaser at medium strength. Note that because concrete stain is a chemical reaction, surfaces previously treated with muriatic acid or otherwise acid-etched cannot be stained. Imperfections in the concrete (that is, the other kind of “stains”) will show through. Concrete stain is not a cover-all. Also, you may need to lightly sand down the concrete to open up the surface. Concrete stain can be applied in many ways (mops, brushes, rollers), but experts such as Direct Color, Inc. recommend spraying on with an ordinary sprayer such as you might use for herbicides. This provides for a wider, smoother broadcast of the concrete stain. The concrete stain can be diluted with water, which allows for a lighter application of stain. But if too much water is added, the chemical reaction with the cement will not take place. What you see at first is not the end color. It takes up to 8 hours for the chemical reaction to take place. Don’t walk on the concrete stain because your footprints may end up permanently on your concrete.

Concrete Stain Kits

Concrete stain kits are available at your local hardware store. These kits contain everything you need: the stain, sealer, gloves, instructions. Keep in mind, though, that they may not cover a lot of square footage: perhaps as little as 200-400 square feet. However, a concrete stain kit may be a good way to experiment with a little-used section of patio or even the concrete pad underneath your AC unit–before moving to the bigger areas such as driveway.

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