So we got a new driveway. Let me elaborate.
Our house we love, our driveway we hate. This piece of junk has been a bumpy, broken hot mess since the day we moved in 5 years ago. It was probably original to the house, thin and narrow, complete with ribbon of gravel and weeds up the middle.
Here's the thing - driveways (i.e. concrete) are not cheap. And our driveway is 100 feet long - and that's longer than home plate to first base. So we had to save up for this one - and thankfully, we are lucky enough to have a generous neighbor to split the cost since the driveway is shared (yay).
We reached out to two contractors who've done work in neighborhood. This really is the only way we go about finding contractors for house work. Friends or neighbors who've had good experience with someone - anything else is just too risky in our opinion when finding help. Ultimately, one was about twice as much as the other, we opted for the cheaper, and he assured us he'd build the driveway to last us for decades (rebar, good concrete, gravel, pinning, etc).
So here goes the progress - from original driveway, to clearing it out and repouring.
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Old driveway with grass ribbon.
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| View from front of yard looking towards garage. |
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| The weeds were such a pain in the butt to manage. |
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| Old driveway removed, day one complete. |
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| Full view of driveway with no concrete. |
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| Here comes the big truck. |
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| Will it fit? Just barely. |
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| Here's the view from inside the kitchen - scary. |
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| Fence temporarily removed, concrete still drying. They splattered on the garage :( |
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| View from the front, end of day two. |
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| View from street, no cars for almost a week. |
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| Voila - new driveway 2 days later - Wrigley breaking it in. |
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| Driveway terminates into our house since it's so close already. |
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So after a few months of enjoying the driveway - we can say that best part of a new driveway is that you don't notice it. We like how the house feels complete from the outside. The "sore thumb" factor was really taking away from the overall house, and now we just don't even think about it.
What do you think? Let us know if you have any questions about the project!
- Chris and Becca
