14 November, 2010

The Driveway Re-Do

We've always taken the simple act of driving up the driveway to our house for granted.
Whichever house that happened to be in our 27 years in the Air Force.
Even our duplex in Yigo, Guam had a driveway.
Then we moved into this little cottage of ours.
Curb appeal was non-existent.
So was the driveway!


We had a driveway, kind of.
I think someone dumped bits and pieces of leftover blacktop over time.
Then, they ran it over, a little.
There were no boundaries, and over time grass and weeds began to grow through it.
And I felt like I was going to bottom out each time I drove in or backed out.
And it drained into the garage when there was a heavy rain.
So, we decided to
put in a nice big driveway that was engineered to drain away from the house.
Isn't that a novel idea.
There's actually a funny story about the "price quote" I received from the people doing this for us.
The gentleman shows up, measures, asks how many expansion and control joints we wanted.
I gave him the numbers our city inspector gave me.
Yada, yada.
He comes back with a quote of 450.
Dollars? I asked.
Are you sure only $450 dollars.
4-5-0 dollars?
Yes, yes, yes. He says.
I think I was borderline obnoxious.
He had a very heavy Mexican accent,
then throw in my New England accent,
and the fact that I LOVE a good deal!
Well, the husband comes home and I relay the whole story to him.
He looks at me like I've been smoking something.
"You can't even rip the old stuff out for $450!"
Long story short-
When in doubt, have the contractor WRITE the amount out.
Lesson learned.
So. here's how it went.


Tear it out and make it bigger.


Put in rebar and chairs.
Groovy boots!




Bring in a couple of concrete trucks.





The "make the concrete vibrate" machine.
I'm pretty sure that's the technical name for it.
It vibrates the concrete so there are no are pockets that would weaken the structure when cured.


They level it.




I don't know what the term is for this.
However, in my professional opinion, I'd call it "smoothing it out".



These guys definitely knew what they were doing.
We now have a great place to park.
I hope we added value to our property.
Although it wasn't the deal of the century,
we love that it adds a finishing detail to the front yard
 and we're not bottoming out any more.
These guys did this all in 2 days.
It pays to know when to call in the professionals!

ann marie





7 comments:

  1. no cement driveways in New England black top so 450.00 sounds like a huge deal. Looks great.
    Cathy

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  2. Isn't it great to have a good driveway? I have lived in houses where we had to put a driveway in too. One of the houses we got at a real bargain...basically because it had a gravel driveway when every other house in the neighborhood had cement. You will love it this winter~! Hugs- Diana

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  3. We put a driveway in at our old house - the days it took to get it all done were the highpoint of life (I'm sure!)for all the little boys in the neighbourhood.

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  4. yay aren't you thrilled!? Really the curb appeal is instantly improved!!

    Come enter my giveaway from Empress of the Eye!
    xoxo
    Karena

    Art by Karena

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  5. Hi. Thanks for visiting my blog. Your driveway will be a great asset. Love your grandbaby's nursery!!! Our granddaughter is one! Love being a grandma!
    ~ Julie

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  6. WOW! Great price.......send them my way :)

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  7. Nothing beats the look of a brand new driveway in my opinion
    Driveways Essex

    ReplyDelete

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