When it comes to concrete paving for your driveway, there may be a temptation to do the work yourself. However, according to the experts at Parking Lot Pros, you may find it more beneficial to have the work carried out by a team of professionals. You might be thinking to yourself, ‘well they would say that’, but there really are a few good reasons to allow those with experience and knowledge of paving to do it for you. Below are a few of them.
Professionals Know What They are Doing
Without trying to sound rude here, unless you have worked with concrete in the past or have experience of laying pavement, you are probably not qualified to do this job. Although it might look easy, there is a lot involved and getting it wrong could be very costly. For starters, if you don’t prepare the base layer properly, the concrete paving could crack and shift, which will shorten its lifespan. Furthermore, failure to lay the concrete level means that it will not look good and will affect how you park your car.
Professional concrete pavers will use the correct mixture and will ensure that your paving has adequate drainage in place (which is also hugely important when it comes to how your driveway looks and functions).
It Will Save You Time and Money
When you have no experience of laying concrete, you can watch as many YouTube video tutorials as you like, but the professionals will still get the job completed much quicker than you ever could. They will have the necessary equipment to do the job and will know exactly what needs to be done without referring to YouTube every five minutes. And speaking of that equipment – can you imagine how much it will cost you to rent or buy the things you need to achieve the same type of finish?
The professionals know how and when to lay a concrete driveway and they know how long it will take to fully cure in certain conditions. This knowledge is something gained through on-the-job experience (something most of us just don’t have).
The Consequences of Getting it Wrong
If you are determined to lay the concrete driveway yourself, it is important that you are aware of the consequences of getting it wrong. If you do not get the consistency of the concrete just right, it will affect the pour and the cure. No matter how it looks when it has dried, it will be more susceptible to damage from bad weather than a concrete driveway installed by a team of professionals. Strong sunlight, rainstorms, and flooding can all have a detrimental impact on concrete driveways that have not been installed properly.
Poor materials and a substandard installation could leave the driveway particularly vulnerable to damage, and you may find that cracks soon start to appear. You may notice bleeding, which occurs when the concrete mixture is incorrect. Excess moisture will rise to the top while heavier deposits will find their way to the bottom. You might notice puddles forming on the surface of the concrete. A small amount of bleeding is normal but if there is too much water in the mixture the structure of the driveway could be adversely affected.
Conclusion
Saving money might be your motivation for considering laying your own concrete paving, but unless you have experience then this is not advisable. Making a mistake in the installation of the driveway will affect its appearance at best and its integrity at worst. It therefore makes sense to get the professionals to take care of this work for you.
