Concrete Driveways in Harrisburg, PA

Concrete driveways around Harrisburg come in two very different kinds. In the city, a driveway is often a short parking pad off a back alley, or a narrow drive that crosses the public sidewalk and drops through a curb cut to the street. In the suburbs across the river and east of the city, it is usually a full two-car drive leading to an attached garage. Both face the same winter: snow, salt, plows and a lot of freezing and thawing.

Signs it is time to replace

• Cracks wide enough to fit a coin, or cracks where one side sits higher
• Flaking and pitting over a large part of the surface
• A section near the garage that has dropped and holds water
• Water draining toward the house instead of the street
• Broken edges and a crumbling apron
• A drive too narrow for the cars you have now

One sunken panel on an otherwise sound driveway can often be lifted, and light surface wear can be resurfaced. When cracking, settling and flaking all show up together, replacement is usually the better use of money.

What goes under the concrete

Most driveway failures start below the surface. We break out the old concrete or asphalt, dig out soft soil, and put down crushed stone compacted in layers. That base spreads the load and lets water drain away. Forms are set so the surface sheds water toward the street or yard, never toward the garage or foundation.

HomeGuide's driveway guide recommends at least 4 inches of concrete for ordinary cars, 5 to 6 inches for RVs or heavy vehicles, and 6 to 8 inches at the edges. If you park a work truck, a trailer or a camper, we thicken the slab where it sits. We use air-entrained concrete for freeze-thaw resistance, add rebar or wire mesh where the slab needs it, and cut or tool joints on a planned layout.

Curb cuts and the public sidewalk

In the City of Harrisburg, a driveway that crosses the public sidewalk and curb involves the public right-of-way. Chapter 9-103 of the city code requires a permit from the City Engineer before a sidewalk, curb or street is cut, and says driveway cuts are applied for in the owner's name or by a contractor acting for the owner. The code also calls for a bond on curb, sidewalk and driveway work and sets inspection fees. We prepare the application, schedule the inspection and include those costs in the quote. Outside the city, boroughs and townships have their own driveway rules, and we check them for your address.

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Alley pads and city parking

Many Harrisburg rowhouses have a back yard that opens onto an alley. A concrete parking pad there gets a car off the street. These pads are small, but they still need a proper base and a slope that drains to the alley and not into the house or the neighbor's yard. Access can be tight, so we plan how the concrete truck or buggies will reach the spot before pour day.

Finish options

• Broom finish: the standard choice, with texture that grips in rain and snow
• Exposed aggregate: stone showing at the surface, good traction, hides tire marks
• Stamped or colored borders: decoration along the edges, plain lanes in the middle
• Smooth trowel: we avoid it on sloped drives because it gets slick

The first year

Keep cars off for at least seven days, per HomeGuide, and heavy trucks off for about 30. Do not use rock salt during the first winter; use sand for traction. After that, avoid de-icers that contain ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate. HomeGuide recommends waiting 28 to 30 days before the first sealer and resealing every 2 to 3 years. Keep downspouts aimed away from the slab, and ask your plow service to raise the blade slightly.