Driveway Disintegrating

[Shuram Gudatetris]

This is what my driveway is doing . . . I took closer and closer pictures of the same area. What is going on? What do I do to stop it? It gets worse every day.

[balon!]

acid rain?

Do you live in the city?

[dANdeLION]

Acid rain in Cameron, Missouri?

[Tulizar]

I've seen rock salt--used to melt ice and snow--do similar damage to sidewalks and driveways in my area.

[dANdeLION]

That makes more sense....it was a cold winter.

[wayfriend]

Oldness does this. Salt, water, sun, and traffic wear concrete away over time. Your marks are also not inconsistent with something heavy whacking your driveway.

Do you seal your driveway?

Did this appear suddenly?

[Fist and Faith]

I have a tough time looking at the second two pictures. They seem to be moving, like water going back and forth.

[Savor Dam]

I'll have two of whatever Fist is having!

(I agree with Tulizar; that looks like the salt damage my driveway had back when I lived in American Siberia -- aka Cleveland)

[aliantha]

I think the technical term is "spalling". Dunno how I know that. No idea how to fix it. But maybe you can (try to) brush away all the loose stuff and patch it with more cement?

[sgt.null]

looks like a new hampshire driveway when they used more salt than sand during the iwnters.

[wayfriend]

Patching is a tricky business; patches to concrete rarely take well.

A good concrete sealer will help prevent further damage tho.

[lorin]

Looks to me like there are two layers. My guess is someone put cement over cement without a cement adhesive between. They will never bond and weather changes will quicken the disintegration.

[Vraith]

Lorin could be right...the damage doesn't look that deep to me from the photos...either way, concrete ALWAYS does this eventually, all that changes is how fast, which depends on grade, water and temperature differences, and road salt.
Good sealer, regularly applied [heh...about twice as often as the label tells you as far as I can tell...but I get lots of rain, lots of snow, lots of freezing, lots of salt] will slow it down...but only slow.
If it's as shallow as it looks, you can use pre-mix patch, which will fall apart fairly quickly. [VERY quickly, if it's a spot you actually drive over] You can get the right blade and a rugged saw, cut out a square and fill it with real concrete [hard, and potentially life-threatening if you don't know what your doing...the cutting part anyway, especially if it is old enough to have actual rebar buried in it somewhere].

The cheapest/best amatuer way [but you'll sweat doing it]: get a hefty hammer, a big chisel, cut around and in it till it is at least 1 and 1/2 inches deep, drill some pilot holes and screw in masonery screws every 2-4 inches inside it, with tops @ 1 inch below driveway surface, mix up a bag of concrete [DO NOT use too much water! Mixing it by hand is hard, but too much water, you'll have to do it all again next year]
Level by tapping across it with the edge of a damp 2x4.
[edited to correctly spell amatuer...and I'm still not sure it's right...I dread the day I have to spell amateur and garauntee [amatuer/gaurantee?] in the same sentence]

[wayfriend]

Vraith, you make me want to salute you with a Tool Time grunt. Ahr-ooo.

[Shuram Gudatetris]

The concrete is only six years old. I have not sealed it or anything. The damage is from salt. There was no damage last year. Once the weather warmed, I noticed some cracking and flaking. It has been getting noticeably worse by the week.

I don't know if I have what it takes to do what Vratih has suggested, not to mention that over half of my driveway looks like the pictures.

I would like for it to stop getting any worse.

I hate this house so bad. Not only is the driveway crumbling, I have a new crack that goes across the floor of my garge, and water seems to be coming up from it. There is a spot in my rec room that gets wet everytime it rains, and I think it is the same deal as the garage, cracked concrete.

This house was constructed brand new less than six years ago. I feel like these problems shouldn't be happening already. Not for $160,000 anyway. My wife and I split up and now it is just me living in this fucking giant 4 bedroom house in the middle of Pleasantville. The damn thing is tore up bad. I don't think I can sell it. Not in this market, anyway. I hate it.

[lorin]

The concrete is only six years old. I have not sealed it or anything. The damage is from salt. There was no damage last year. Once the weather warmed, I noticed some cracking and flaking. It has been getting noticeably worse by the week.

I don't know if I have what it takes to do what Vratih has suggested, not to mention that over half of my driveway looks like the pictures.

I would like for it to stop getting any worse.

I hate this house so bad. Not only is the driveway crumbling, I have a new crack that goes across the floor of my garge, and water seems to be coming up from it. There is a spot in my rec room that gets wet everytime it rains, and I think it is the same deal as the garage, cracked concrete.

This house was constructed brand new less than six years ago. I feel like these problems shouldn't be happening already. Not for $160,000 anyway. My wife and I split up and now it is just me living in this fucking giant 4 bedroom house in the middle of Pleasantville. The damn thing is tore up bad. I don't think I can sell it. Not in this market, anyway. I hate it.

I sure get you. I bought a money pit as well. In 4 years 100 grand just to keep it from sinking into the ocean. It is 4 bedrooms also. And after the end of my glorious relationship and the 3 kids moving out I am here alone too.

I wonder if an arsonist would give us a two-fer discount

[aliantha]

I wonder if an arsonist would give us a two-fer discount

Maybe if y'all offered to throw in the airfare....

[Vraith]

WOW...
If that house/driveway is really only 6 years old, you need to be in court.
[if you're in one of those "developement" areas with a bunch of houses built at once, you ALL need to be in court]

Some surface deterioration on concrete drive after 6years is one thing, water leaks, cracks, [and it sounds like "rec room" means in basement, so foundation problems]...That's BP construction land...they did it on purpose and with malice aforethought.

[Infelice]

The concrete is only six years old. I have not sealed it or anything. The damage is from salt. There was no damage last year. Once the weather warmed, I noticed some cracking and flaking. It has been getting noticeably worse by the week.

I don't know if I have what it takes to do what Vratih has suggested, not to mention that over half of my driveway looks like the pictures.

I would like for it to stop getting any worse.

I hate this house so bad. Not only is the driveway crumbling, I have a new crack that goes across the floor of my garge, and water seems to be coming up from it. There is a spot in my rec room that gets wet everytime it rains, and I think it is the same deal as the garage, cracked concrete.

This house was constructed brand new less than six years ago. I feel like these problems shouldn't be happening already. Not for $160,000 anyway. My wife and I split up and now it is just me living in this fucking giant 4 bedroom house in the middle of Pleasantville. The damn thing is tore up bad. I don't think I can sell it. Not in this market, anyway. I hate it.

Maybe you could rent one or two rooms out or something. Just gotta be careful of who you rent to (could lead to more headaches than its worth).

And I agree with Vraith, you need to be in court. I know that houses here in Australia have a structural guarantee of about 25 years. Surely it would be similar over there in the USA.

[Fist and Faith]

I'll have two of whatever Fist is having!

Really, though, for me, it's the same general idea as this: