Concrete Driveways in Binghamton, NY

Concrete driveways in Binghamton take more abuse than any other slab on the lot. Snow piles up on both sides, plow blades and shovels scrape the surface, cars drip salty slush every day from December to March, and meltwater runs across the slab and freezes again at night. With 86.5 inches of snow in an average year at Greater Binghamton Airport, according to Wikipedia's climate table, a driveway here needs to be built for winter first.

Signs it is time for a new driveway

• Flaking and pitting across a large part of the surface
• Cracks wide enough to fit a coin, or cracks where one side sits higher
• Panels near the garage or house that have sunk and now hold water
• Water draining toward the foundation instead of the street
• Broken edges along the lawn or a crumbling section at the street
• A drive that is too narrow for the cars you own now

One sunken panel on an otherwise solid driveway can often be lifted, and light surface wear can be resurfaced. When settling, wide cracks and scaling show up together, replacement usually beats years of patching.

Short drives on old lots

Many Binghamton houses were built before most families had more than one car. Point2Homes, summarizing Census data, shows 44.9 percent of the city's homes were built in 1939 or earlier. On those lots the driveway is often a narrow strip beside the house, leading to a small detached garage, sometimes on a slope. These older drives were often poured on bare soil with little or no stone under them, which is why they crack and sink. When we replace one, we dig out the soft material, add a compacted base and look at whether a little extra width or a side pad will fit within the lot.

What goes under the concrete

Most driveway failures start below the surface. We remove the old concrete or asphalt, dig out soft or organic soil, and replace it with crushed stone compacted in layers. That base carries the load and lets water drain away instead of freezing under the slab. Forms are set so the surface pitches toward the street or yard and away from the garage and foundation.

HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for at least 4 inches of concrete for ordinary cars and 5 to 6 inches for RVs or heavy vehicles, with edges of 6 to 8 inches. If a pickup with a plow, a trailer or a camper parks on the drive, we thicken that area. The concrete is air-entrained to resist freezing, reinforcement is placed mid-slab where the design calls for it, and control joints go in on a planned grid so cracks run where we want them.

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Where the drive meets the street

In the City of Binghamton, the public sidewalk that crosses many driveways is the owner's responsibility, and work in the right of way needs a Street Work Permit from the Department of Engineering. If your driveway project includes the sidewalk crossing or the curb, we plan for that permit and tell you whether the city's Curb & Sidewalk Assistance Program may cover part of the walk.

Finish choices

• Broom finish: the standard. The light texture gives grip in rain and slush.
• Exposed aggregate: stone showing at the surface, good traction and it hides tire marks.
• Stamped or colored borders: decoration along the edges, with plain lanes that are easy to shovel.
• Smooth trowel: neat but slick when wet or icy, so we keep it off sloped drives.

The first year

Keep cars off for at least 7 days and heavy vehicles off for about 30, as HomeGuide recommends. Do not use rock salt the first winter; use sand for traction. After that, avoid de-icers with ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate. HomeGuide advises waiting 28 to 30 days before the first coat of sealer and resealing every 2 to 3 years. Ask whoever plows to use a rubber edge or keep the blade slightly raised.