You may have already decided to use concrete as the material for your driveway, after all, concrete is a relatively versatile and durable material choice. Apart from this, concrete also doesn’t normally require much maintenance even though it lasts really long. The concrete driveway increasing in popularity is not so surprising. But even though concrete is a really great material option, there may be some requirements that you may need while constructing your concrete driveway, one of these is the thickness of the driveway. So, how thick should the concrete used for a driveway be?
What Indicates The Thickness Required For A Concrete Driveway
Although concrete is known to be really durable, concrete still isn’t technically lightweight. Because of this, it would usually require some support so that it doesn’t crack or break. This concrete has two main forms of support, these are concrete steel reinforcing for internal support as well as some concrete ground preparation for the external support.
You can use compacted soil or even some undisturbed soil, as well as some compacted base and subbase of these crushed stone materials. Before even starting the concrete driveway project, it is best to first determine where and what you’re going to use the concrete for. You have to determine whether the concrete driveway will be used to accommodate cars and half-ton trucks, or RVs, dump trucks, and heavy equipment.
By determining what you would be using the concrete for, it would be extremely helpful in identifying the thickness and the soil. Additionally, with this, you can effectively determine and consider the concrete budget and how much you’re willing to spend. You may discuss more with your paving contractors so they can answer your questions.
What The Driveway Will Be Used For
As previously mentioned, the thickness greatly depends on what the concrete will be used for. If the concrete will only be accommodated by lightweight vehicles, then 3 inches to 4 inches thick pad will be enough, but heavy vehicles such as a dump truck, forklift, or RV will definitely require a thicker concrete slab.
Delivery trucks don’t really require to be too thick since these trucks aren’t always fully loaded. The concrete residential driveways are usually poured 4 to 6 inches thick on a prepared base. Naturally, the thicker the concrete is, the more strength it provides.
What Type Of Soil You Have
This is typically not considered and probably the most unapparent factor to consider. Although that is the case the strength and drainage can actually vary significantly depending on the type of soil you have and your location. Even if you can decently pour concrete on a solid undisturbed soil or subgrade that provides reasonable support, you may still need to consider other factors such as elevation and water drainage.
For instance, if your property has expansive soil which as the name suggests, would expand when wet and shrink as it dries, can provide some poor support for concrete and is recommended to be removed. The same can be said for organic soil, peat, or topsoil. Although these types of soil are usually used and are great for gardening and water, they are not good for supporting concrete.
Meanwhile, there are also other soils such as mixed sand, gravel soils, limestone, and granite which all provide great support and can compact well. As for the best soil mix for supporting a concrete driveway, loam or granular soils are a mixture of sand, clay, and silt are considered to be the best at this, so you may need these.
What Is Your Concrete Budget?
Naturally, a concrete driveway with a thickness that can accommodate 4 full-sized cars or heavy industrial vehicles, as well as a concrete driveway that can accommodate a small motorcycle may potentially have a large difference in the cost. The typical factors that affect the cost of a driveway and make it more expensive are the dimensions of the driveway pavement, preparation work, and concrete thickness.
Aside from those, other factors that may potentially affect the budget are the thickness of the driveway pour, the potential addition of driveway rebar, adding a compacted driveway subbase and base, plus the type of cement driveway finish, texture, and color additives. Another additional potential budget indicator is whether you decide to hire some pros or do it yourself. Naturally, doing it yourself is extremely ineffective, in contrast, hiring professional services is efficient and effective.
How Thick Should These Concrete Driveways Be?
As briefly mentioned earlier, the residential driveway is typically poured about 4 inches on a prepared base. Although it is usually poured that thick, it may also depend on how strong your concrete is. That being said, stronger concrete can decrease the thickness to only 3 inches thick. Although this trick can potentially provide the same amount of concrete durability as a normal one, it does decrease the costs by a little bit.
Do also note that the driveway concrete slab thickness may be required to be increased by 4 to 8 inches with a properly prepared base and sub-base. If you were looking to increase the thickness of the concrete to 5 inches, then the costs of the driveway would increase to about 20 percent, and in return, the strength of the driveway could potentially increase by 50 percent. In addition, a commercial driveway or driveways that are typically used for construction are commonly poured 6 inches thick on a prepared base.
What Is The Maximum Width For Concrete?
If we’re talking about concrete, there are typically no properly identified maximum thicknesses for concrete driveways. This is because it is only natural to the thickness by the use, space available, and budget, the thickness does generally affect the driveway. Just keep in mind that residential concrete driveways are usually between 4 inches and 6 inches, while commercial drives are usually poured between 6 and 8 inches. Aside from that, concrete highways are naturally way thicker, normally between 11 and 12 inches of concrete on a prepared base. Any additional thickness would be unnecessary.
What Is The Minimum Thickness For Concrete?
A concrete driveway should typically require a minimum of 4 inches thick at least for residential concrete, but do keep in mind that the thicker the concrete is, the greater its strength is, so it is pretty useful to keep it relatively thick. A minimum concrete thickness of 3 inches thick ready mixed concrete may be allowed in some places and areas although it isn’t really advisable since it doesn’t provide the necessary strength to support most standard passenger car and passenger car driveways.
Rebar And Wire Mesh For Heavy Industrial Vehicles
You can do some additional for your concrete, and the concrete should contribute many benefits to your concrete driveway. These steel reinforcements can potentially provide your structure with some additional capacity. This could be vital, especially if the slab pavement will be exposed to heavy traffic. This reinforcement usually doesn’t really completely fend off cracks, but instead, holds them together in the case of a crack. You can use some wire mesh for pavement driveways that are 4 to 5 inches thick, but rebar is recommended for those that are 5 inches or more.
Concrete Aggregate Subgrade
When it comes to western states, their property may often have proper expansive soils, because of this, it is recommended to use 2 to 8 inches of crushed aggregate rock as subgrade material. The thickness of these subgrade materials may vary depending on how expansive the soil is. You may consult a soils engineer near you if you’re not sure about your soil.
Passenger Car Driveways Expansion Joints For Standard Passenger Car
These expansion joints are what you call the seams that are penetrating through the thickness of the concrete. With these joints, the slabs are allowed to expand or shift without cracking, easier to repair. These are typically recommended for curing concrete driveways that are relatively wide and long.
Additionally, there are also control joints which as the name suggests, are the ones responsible for controlling cracking that may occur as the concrete dries, shrinks, and forms to the base or ground underneath. These are usually 2 or 3 times the pad thickness proper finishing in feet apart concrete driveway thickness.