Q. What is the average price per square foot for concrete work?
A. Costs vary for each job due to the amount of labor and material needed. The majority of variation lies in the amount of preparation work needed for the existing surface.

Q. Why will concrete crack after a short period of time?
A. Concrete is guaranteed to do two things: Get hard and crack! Concrete has to crack because it contracts during the drying, curing, hardening process, and the bond between the cement paste and the aggregate is not strong enough to withstand that stress. We can not guarantee that the concrete will not crack, but we will do our best to control the process by adding control joints and expansion joints to help prevent stress on the concrete and force any cracks to happen in the control joints.

Q. How do you know where to put the joints?
A. To determine the joint placement, multiply the depth of your concrete by 2.5 or 3 to give you the distance in feet that should be between each joint. For example: 4 inch thick concrete slab should have joints every 10 to 12 feet.

Q. How soon can I drive on my new concrete driveway?
A. During the summer, a new driveway may be opened to car and light truck traffic within 10 – 14 days. In cooler weather you should wait an extra 7 days

Q. How thick should the concrete be?
A. A minimum of 4 inches is generally thick enough for a residential driveway or garage floor that will be used for cars and light trucks. A parking area used by both cars and medium to heavy trucks should have a slab 6 inches thick. Frequent use by heavy trucks may require a slab that is 6 to 8 inches in depth.

Q. Should I use fiber mesh or wire mesh reinforcement? 
A. Since all concrete cracks, wire mesh can be placed in the slab to prevent heaving if the ground surface below shifts or settles unevenly. Usually, wire mesh can be hard to control during installation and is difficult to keep in the middle of the slab. Dunn Company uses wire mesh if the driveway has a fairly steep slant to help prevent the concrete from separating if it cracks, but will use it if the customer requests it. Wire mesh strengthens the concrete but will not help hold it together if the concrete heaves or separates.

Q. What decorative finishes can be applied to concrete surfaces?
A. Color may be added to concrete by adding pigments before or after concrete is in place. Chemical stains can also be used to color the concrete after it is in place. Exposed aggregate is another type of decorative finish that can be used. Concrete can be textured by using a stamp or roller to imprint patterns in the concrete. Redwood or treated lumber can also be used to divide the pads of concrete or to make different patterns in the concrete.