Schererville Indiana Concrete Overlays – Pitted Driveways

The pits show up in the same stretch of the year. The snow leaves the drive. Then the salt film dries on the driveway. By the time the lawn greens up, the surface looks rough. When that happens on older slabs in Schererville, we talk through Concrete Overlays in Schererville with the owner. We’ll do that only if the concrete under the damage still holds.

So salt scaling is what we’re looking at on many of those drives. The top paste is gone in patches. Stone shows through. The worst of it often sits near the street, where plow salt rides in on the tires. After repeated winters, older subdivision driveways can look pitted from the curb to the garage. The slab can still be sound under that loss.

Schererville, Indiana gets a long salt season on the main roads. Because older blocks take that salt, the concrete wears at the surface. Cars leave early for work and come home on a damp, salted surface. So the wear is easy to see when we pull in. We’ve walked drives where the top skin was flaking. But the slab below still sounded solid under a hammer. People have called us after a bag of patch mix failed. They watched it pop off by the next thaw.

Concrete Overlays in Schererville After the Salt Season

After the ground has warmed, we place a new wearing layer. An overlay is a cement-based coat bonded to the old slab. It covers the pits and gives you a smooth drive again. Because the old concrete stays in place, we skip a full tear-out on these. We still clean the slab and cure the new layer with care. So the surface has to be clean before anything goes down. We cut crumbling edges back to solid concrete. Then the mix has to grab and stay in place.

We’ve turned down overlay work when the slab had failed. A hollow sound tells us the concrete has lost support. A section that rocks underfoot means the base has moved. For example, a driveway that has sunk at the garage needs a new pour. Then we talk about concrete removal and a replacement slab. But when the body of the slab still holds, salt scaling stays on the surface. We measure the bad area and note the cracks before we leave.

Slab Checks Before Concrete Overlays in Schererville

So on the older drives we see in town, the pattern holds. Salt scaling on driveways poured decades ago in Schererville’s earlier subdivisions is a surface problem. An overlay covers it when the slab underneath still holds. We check that before we write the quote. We tap the slab and watch where water sits.

That check is how we decide on Concrete Overlays in Schererville for a scaled drive. When the tap is solid and water leaves the apron, the surface can take a bonded coat.

We grind off the weak paste so the new layer bonds to sound concrete. Then we fill deep pits that would show through a thin coat. After that, we place the overlay and keep it damp while it sets. Traffic stays off until the surface can take a car.

Some owners want a plain surface. Others ask for color. Because we also place colored concrete and stamped work, those finishes are available on the overlay. Our photo gallery shows work we have put down. A scaled service walk or a dusty garage floor can join the same visit.

We’ve placed Concrete Overlays in Schererville on rough drives that still carried daily cars. When the slab won’t take a bond, we switch to concrete removal and a new pour.

We schedule Concrete Overlays in Schererville once the quote is written out line by line. So we don’t inflate material prices to make a few extra dollars. Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company, and we’ve done this work since 2006. You can read the company background on About Us. The services page lists repair and replacement next to our concrete overlays work. If we lose a bid in Schererville, it’s because we valued our hours more than the other contractor did.