When you first have your stylish new driveway installed at home or at your place of business, of course the surface looks fresh, smooth and even. However, over time you may well see that it starts to show signs of wear and tear, no matter how well you look after it.
Sadly, this is largely inevitable, but some issues are more pressing than others and if you’ve started to notice that your driveway has begun to sink, you’ll need to take action as a matter of urgency in order to address it.
In the majority of cases, a sinking driveway is caused by rain, changes in the season and in soil conditions. These can all lead to significant damage and potentially expensive repairs, so it’s important to ensure that your ground is compacted properly before you have the driveway installed.
Compacting involves smoothing and regrading the earth so that there’s a level surface on which to work. If this isn’t done properly, the ground beneath your driveway material will have little pockets of softer earth that will erode more quickly as time goes on, which can cause the driveway to sink.
Without the necessary foundations and support in place, when you park your cars on your driveway, the weight of the vehicles can lead to cracks and this can make the erosion beneath worse, accelerating the sinking process.
And, naturally, the weather has its part to play in causing problems with your driveway. Between autumn and spring, temperatures can change quite dramatically indeed, putting pressure on your driveway materials as a result of the freeze-thaw cycle.
When water freezes, it expands and this pushes everything around it upwards. This in turn can lead to cracks in your paving, reacting to the ground as it moves around.
How you treat a sunken driveway will depend on the material you chose at the initial installation. With concrete, for example, you could consider injecting a filler material into the gaps beneath to help lift it up… but get in touch with us today and we can provide you with all the help and advice you need to bring your driveway back to life.