At 01:46 AM 3/1/2004, you wrote:
Hi Tim,
We had a beautiful stamped concrete driveway installed in September, 2003. After the snow melted in early February, 2004, we noticed much damage to the driveway. There are several large patches of the concrete flaking off and the concrete in the areas around the cuts is just crumbling. Most of the sealer also seems to have worn off and there is a dusty white powder on the surface which wipes off easily with plain water. We called the installer, who blamed the cold weather, the tracking of salt onto the driveway from our car tires (we did not use any salt on the driveway ourselves), and the incline of the driveway. He said he would power wash it, redye it, and reseal it. We are afraid it will never look the same and think the installer owes us more. What is your opinion? Thank you,
Denise
Denise,
Spalling and surface failure of concrete can almost always be traced to workmanship errors. All sorts of things could have gone wrong. I have covered this in great detail in past concrete defect columns. I urge you to read all of them, but especially one that talks about deicing salts and surface failure.
Each time I hear a contractor blame road salt, I burst out laughing. There are millions of square feet of concrete in cities and towns, such as curbing, actual concrete roadways, sidewalks, drive aprons, etc. that get the same rock salt exposure, but exhibit no signs of surface failure. Don't you just hate it when people fail to take responsibility for their actions?
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB