How to Maintain Your Concrete Driveway in Los Angeles

Being a homeowner in Los Angeles is great, but as you well know, there are many things you have to maintain in order to keep your property value high and your repair costs low. Your concrete driveway should be one of those things that should need as little maintenance and care as possible throughout its lifetime.

While other materials may be cheaper to install, they will need constant care and what seemed like an inexpensive option for your driveway will actually end up costing you more in the long run.

The best thing you can do to keep costs of repairs low and to increase the life of your concrete driveway is to provide quick attention to issues as they arise to keep them from getting bigger.

3 Rules to Follow Having a Great Driveway in Los Angeles:

• Remove Stains Immediately

The first step in easily maintaining your concrete driveway is to remove stains as you see them. This will keep them from setting in and becoming harder to remove and keeps your driveway looking good. Everyday things like oil, gas, grease and even animal feces can stain your driveway in a matter of minutes and takes away from the beauty of your home as the driveway is one of the first things that someone sees. 

• Keep it Clean and Seal, Seal, Seal

You should try to give your driveway a good power wash cleaning at least once a month.  This allows you to get rid of stains or break them up and allows you to see your driveway condition better. Bigger or dark stains, like oil, could hide imperfections, such as cracks, dents and divots. A clean driveway will allow you to see any damage that needs to be taken care of right away to prevent further damage. If you don’t like using chemical cleaners, you can just use a power washer. The water pressure should be more than enough to get out dirt and stains. If you have never cleaned your driveway before or have a lot of build up due to weather, then you should consider using a cleaner along with the power washer. This can easily be picked up at any hardware store.  At the end of the process you should use a sealer to help prevent water from getting into the concrete and prevent deep staining.  Luckily, the sealer only needs to be applied every two years or so and it can be a DIY. 

• Avoid Using Deicing

While Los Angeles rarely gets cold enough for this to be an issue, there are areas throughout Los Angeles County that do experience weather severe enough to cause ice to form on your driveway. People living in mountains or high desert areas may use deicer as a precaution during the cold winter months. What is deicer? Well it’s simply large pieces of salt that are used to both keep ice from forming and melt down ice on sidewalks, driveways, etc. The ice and chemicals are extraordinarily strong and can damage the chemicals contained in concrete. This is a risk to concrete weakening breaking up. 

Although concrete is extremely durable, always remember to treat it with care. Take heed of these there rules and use common sense when it comes to your concrete driveway. Don’t park extremely heavy vehicles or machinery on the concrete. Typical residential concrete driveways are not made for the heavy weight. If you take care of your driveway, it will be easier to maintain and will go years without needed replacing.  Even better you can do all this as DIY, saving you time and money. 

If you have questions or would prefer to discuss options with a professional please reach out to us and we can help you!