A failing driveway is the first thing anyone sees of your house. We tear out cracked, settled, and spalling concrete and replace it with a properly based, steel-reinforced 3500 PSI slab built to carry vehicle loads for the long haul.
Not every crack means tear-out. Hairline cracking at control joints is concrete doing what concrete does. What tells us a driveway is past repair is usually one of these:
If what you have is genuinely repairable, we would rather tell you that on the estimate visit than sell you a pour you do not need.
Most of the concrete failures we get called out to look at are not concrete problems. They are base problems. North Texas sits on expansive clay that swells when it rains and shrinks when it bakes, and a slab is only ever as stable as what is underneath it. That is why the least visible part of our process is the part we are most particular about.
We verify measurements and layout, contact the utility locating service before anything goes in the ground, and protect the landscaping, sidewalks, and structures we are working around. Where we are tying into existing concrete, we saw-cut a clean transition joint rather than butting new against old and hoping for the best.
Existing concrete is demolished and hauled off. We excavate to proper depth, remove unsuitable soil and organic material, then install roughly six inches of crushed aggregate base and compact it with mechanical equipment. Fine grading sets the drainage — always away from the house and the garage, never toward it.
Heavy-duty forming lumber goes in, and we verify elevation, pitch, and finished dimensions before bracing the forms so nothing moves during the pour. Steel reinforcement is installed throughout and properly supported so it sits centered in the slab, where it can actually do its job of adding structural strength and limiting cracking.
We pour 3500 PSI ready-mix continuously to minimize cold joints, then screed, level, and consolidate to eliminate air pockets. Control joints go in at engineered spacing and expansion joints wherever the new concrete meets an existing structure. Concrete is going to move. Joints decide whether it moves where we planned or where it wants to.
Edges are tooled for durability and appearance, and the surface gets a professional broom finish for traction. Then it cures using standard industry practice — which mostly means leaving it alone for the right amount of time, something that matters more in a Texas August than people expect. Forms come off after the appropriate cure, the work area is cleaned completely, and we walk the finished job with you.
Our driveway proposals spell out the materials so nothing is ambiguous: 3500 PSI ready-mix concrete, steel reinforcement, six inches of compacted aggregate base, form materials, expansion joint material, control joints, professional broom finish, complete demolition and disposal of the old driveway, and final site cleanup.
Four inches over a well-compacted six-inch base handles residential vehicle traffic. What changes that math is load. If you park an RV, a dually, a loaded trailer, or run heavy equipment across an apron, the slab should be thicker and the reinforcement heavier in those areas. Tell us what actually drives on it, including the truck that delivers to your house, and we will size it accordingly.
Steel reinforcement does not prevent cracks. It holds the slab together across cracks that do form, keeping the two sides in plane so you never get the vertical displacement that ruins a driveway. That is why we support it properly rather than laying it on grade and pouring over it — steel sitting on the bottom of the slab does very little.
A driveway is a large impervious surface pointed at your house. Getting the pitch right means water leaves toward the street or a planned drainage path instead of collecting against the garage slab or the foundation. On flatter lots this takes real grading work during base prep, and it is the part of the job most likely to be skipped by whoever poured the driveway you are replacing.
Most residential driveways are a multi-day job: demolition and haul-off, base work and compaction, forming and steel, the pour, then curing. The part people underestimate is the cure — the driveway looks finished long before it is ready for a vehicle. Driving on it too early is one of the few ways to damage a good pour, so we give you a specific date at the walkthrough and we would rather you wait an extra day than an hour too few.
We'll also talk through parking during the project. For most homes it means a few days on the street, and knowing that in advance is easier than discovering it the morning the saw starts.
Soil behavior is regional. The clay under Rowlett, Rockwall, and Heath moves differently than soil two hours in any direction, and the crews who work here every week build for that by habit. We are based in Rowlett, our founders live here, and we drive past our own work on the way to yours — which is a decent accountability system on its own.
A&A Exteriors is family-owned, seven years in business, and fully insured. Estimates are free, in person, and come with a written scope so you know exactly what is included before anything starts.
Free on-site estimates with a full written scope — no obligation, no pressure.
Request Your Free Estimateor call 469-496-7500