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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:15 am
by trand
Hi, we recently had a concrete drive done, and the finish is well! 
not good to put it mildly, the contractor says he is going to sand it down, with some sort of grinding machine, as much as i have tried I can not find any pics of sanded concret drives and to be honest I am quite concerned about what sort of finish i am going to end up with, and there are quite a few cracks as it was laid 2weeks ago when it was sunny and quite hot, the cracks actually appeared within an hour of it being laid , any veiws would be more than welcome.pics have now been added, ( by Mickg thanks) and as you can see, pretty rough and bad....
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:59 am
by London Stone Paving
That does not sound very good. Cracks appearing already is a very bad sign. I have no experience of this sanding machine that your contractor talks of. I cant see how a sanding machine is going to fix the cracks.
Get some photos uploaded on the thread a.s.a.p.
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:49 pm
by trand
Hi, I would if I could find the way to download pics.
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:53 pm
by mickg
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:25 pm
by trand
sorry tried and tried but not being too up on p.c's cant get the pics onto a web page, but can send by e.mail.... trand
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:33 pm
by dig dug dan
what you have is called plastic cracking
Its when the concrete dries out too quickly, usually when the subbase material sucks the water out quicker than the top, and you get cracks all over it.
Putting down a plastic dpc under the concrete prevents it drying out too quickly.
Was this done do you know?
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 6:54 pm
by lutonlagerlout
you can send me the pics and i will post for you
lutonlagerloutatyahoodotcom
cheers LLL
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:00 pm
by simeonronacrete
If you don't like what you finish up with you can consider a thin decorative surfacing applied on top.
See Ronadeck Resin Bound Surfacing and Ronadeck Resin Bonded Surfacing at driveway surfacing
If you need someone to visit, just call 01279 638 700 and ask for Simeon.
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:07 pm
by trand
Surely I should'nt have to have a finish applied over a newly laid drive the job should have been done properly in the first place, as in the estimate., a brush finish arriss trowel edges...
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:08 pm
by simeonronacrete
I guess that's something you'll have to discuss with your contractor, but if you need an option to overcome the problem.....
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:47 am
by mickg
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:55 pm
by dig dug dan
Its plastic cracking all right, and why oh why didn't they bull nose the edges???
Edited By dig dug dan on 1279299374
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:58 pm
by lutonlagerlout
thing is it looks like there is visqueen and mesh there so they were on the right track
plastic cracking can happen to the best of us
we subbed some concreting at a school and the same thing happened, the poor old subbie had to pecker it out and redo at his own cost,but the funny thing was those cracks were only 5-10 mm deep (not funny for him of course)
looks like they have left shuttering in place
cheers LLL
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:30 pm
by DNgroundworks
nice bit of "yard brush" finish there!
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:33 pm
by dig dug dan
I think they are expansion joints rather than form work there.
When this happened to us, the concrete company told us to brush neat cement into the cracks.
We did this, and the customer was happy, and tbh, you cannot see it now.
