Highland Indiana Concrete Overlays for Salt Scale

You need to decide if a rough driveway has to come out. A new top may be enough. The surface is flaking in patches, and salt has pitted it through many winters. But the slab under that scale may still be sound. Concrete Overlays in Highland are the repair we use when the base can stay.

People call us about driveways in the older neighborhoods. Houses from the postwar years often have a slab that still carries cars. The damage sits in the top paste. So we look at the flakes first. Then we check whether the slab is still one piece.

A Finished Top From Concrete Overlays in Highland

It’s a new layer bonded to the old slab. It comes out even and meets the garage and the walk cleanly. When salt has left the old concrete blotchy, we can put color in the new top. We do decorative concrete, including colored concrete, and we’ll work with you on the look you want. Finished drives from this work are in our photo gallery.

For example, a driveway that only lost its skin can keep the slab below. We’ve ground off loose scale and found solid concrete underneath. After that, the overlay has a firm face to bond to. Residential concrete around Highland often works this way. The postwar pour is still solid under the damaged face.

Concrete Overlays in Highland After Decades of Salt

Salt scale is shallow flakes spread across the drive. The top skin lifts, and the small stones in the mix show through. After a winter of plowing, those thin spots spread. We’ve walked Highland driveways where the scale stayed at the surface. A hammer on the slab still gave a solid sound.

People in Highland salt the driveway so they can get to work in the morning. Winters bring freeze and thaw. Salt stays in the pores of the top paste. Because these postwar houses have stood for decades, that salt has had a long run on the same slabs. Many of those postwar driveways are still sound underneath with scale across the top. So a concrete overlay is the fix we look at for that case. We still have to check the slab before we build on it.

Checking the Slab Before Concrete Overlays in Highland

When we plan an overlay, we find out if the slab will hold a new layer. We look for cracks that run through the full depth. We also check for sections that rock when a car crosses them. When a slab has broken into pieces, we remove it. So the next step is concrete removal and a new pour. Concrete replacement is the work for a slab that has come apart.

We also look at the apron at the street and any service walk that scaled the same way. Upper walks from the door sometimes need the same work. For example, salt and a metal shovel take the surface off those walks too. When salt has pitted the garage floor at the threshold, we can add that floor to the plan. We pour garage floors, from a small patch up to a full replacement.

Prep decides how well the new layer bonds. We clean off the loose scale. Then we open the surface so the new mix can grip. After that, we fix spalls and the cracks that stop short of a full break. We line the new joints up with the joints already in the slab. On Concrete Overlays in Highland, the prep has to be right before any mix goes down.

Placing Concrete Overlays in Highland on a Prepared Drive

Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company. We’ve done this work since our doors opened back in 2006. Because they have a wealth of experience in the field, our staff are confident in the prep. We source our products so we know they are the best available for a bonded top.

Then the new layer goes down over that prepared slab. We take pride in the time the job takes. That surface repair is part of our concrete overlays work, with other residential concrete around Highland, Indiana. So we walk the joints with you and show where they line up with the old slab.