You may think that all concrete residential driveways are essentially the same. After all, they look similar and all need to support the weight of vehicles, right? But the number of inches of concrete we choose when installing a concrete driveway can actually have a large impact on the long-term health of your driveway. This in turn determines whether or not you’re getting a good deal on the driveway.
Below, our South Jersey contractors will let you know how thick your driveway should be. As well, we’ll let you know when concrete thickness won’t help, and what you can do to increase the strength of your driveway anyway.
Concrete slab thickness will vary depending on what you use your driveway for. For instance, commercial driveways often need to withstand heavy vehicles, whereas a residential driveway will typically only need to withstand the weight of one or two passenger vehicles.
This means that residential driveways generally only need to be four inches thick. That said, we’ll discuss your driveway needs with you to determine if you need more thickness. The biggest determining factor is your soil: some soil types are rougher on concrete than other soil types. There may also be some areas where the concrete needs to be thicker.
Commercial driveways generally need at least six inches. This minimum requirement doesn’t increase for industrial businesses, but if there are regularly larger trucks on your driveway you may need to get more reinforcement to prevent long-term structural issues.
While the actual level of thickness may vary between driveways, the minimum you should expect is anywhere from 4-6 inches.
CONCRETE COST
The thicker your driveway needs to be, the more you’ll need to pay for it. However, it’s more cost effective to get the right thickness of concrete than it is to continually pay for concrete driveway maintenance.
Our concrete contractors in NJ will discuss cost with you before you make any decisions regarding concrete driveway thickness.
DO YOU NEED REBAR IN A CONCRETE DRIVEWAY?
People want to make sure their driveway is thick enough to prevent cracks, but there’s another factor you need to consider. For all of its compressive strength, concrete doesn’t have much tensile strength. This makes it prone to expanding over time, which is what causes it to crack.
We don’t use concrete thickness to increase its tensile strength. Instead, we need to use another material to reinforce the concrete. This means using either rebar or wire. Wire is more common than rebar for residential properties, which have lower strength and thickness requirements.
LOOKING FOR CONCRETE INSTALLATION OR REPAIR IN NEW JERSEY?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. Almand Bros is the best concrete company in NJ, helping its residents get the concrete services they need for more than 40 years. Our experienced team uses quality materials and is dedicated to making sure each job is performed up to our standards.
If you have any questions about our South Jersey contractors, or you’re ready to purchase one of our services, you can call us at (856) 310-1390 or email us at almand.bros@outlook.com.