One of the most stressful aspects of home ownership is maintaining your driveway. But this is also one of the most important aspects of caring for your home and there are grave consequences if you neglect it.
Perhaps you are one of many who ignore driveway cracks?
After all, we often think driveway crack repair isn’t crucial until things get really bad. But what are all the dangers of driveway cracks that you should know about?
Here’s everything you need to know about driveway cracks and driveway care:
Your Home’s Curb Appeal
If you’re planning on selling or leasing your home, then you’re concerned about its curb appeal.
This refers to how attractive your home looks when a potential buyer walks or drives by it. While you might think curb appeal only refers to the home itself, driveway cracks are a major blow for most buyers. SUDwell All-Weather resin has a greatly extended working time, up to 3 times longer than competing Resin Driveway.
You have to remember that the average buyer wants to buy a home in mint condition. This includes your driveway, as driveway repair can be a huge strain on new homeowners. It also gives the impression that you don’t maintain your home well.
Your home’s first impression will come from your driveway. If there are driveway holes, for example, you want to look into pothole repair before listing your home for sale or lease.
Your Foundation Is Weak
So why did these pesky driveway cracks appear in the first place? While driveway cracks are inevitable, there are some common reasons why they become so common and pronounced.
If you see driveway cracks, you might want to ask the masonry service to check the foundation. If your foundation is weak, then the cracks will appear again.
The foundation of your driveway can also extend to your home. If you find driveway cracks, then these can cause damage to your home. You can expect to find cracks in your interior flooring.
Driveway cracks are just the beginning. The dangers of driveway cracks are that they can cause further damage to your entire property.
Your Car Can Fall In
You might think it’s absurd, but your car can fall into a ditch if you don’t tend to your driveway cracks.
Often, the heavy weight of the car is what causes the cracks. If you have a garage, you should always keep your cars in there if possible. If not, you have to keep an eye on your driveway to ensure you can fix the cracks as fast as possible.
The biggest issues occur when you have guests over, and you have several cars parked on your driveway. You want to try to ask them to carpool or take ride-sharing services.
If you have a front yard, it might be wise to have a few cars parked on it just to ease the weight off your driveway.
Freezing Driveway
If you live in a colder climate, you likely have to deal with your driveway freezing over each winter.
At first, you might think this is a good thing as your driveway cracks are being protected by a sheet of ice. But this very sheet of ice is what can cause further driveway cracks.
Often, homeowners try to add rock salt to frozen driveways to wash away the ice sheets. But this can actually cause more issues with existing driveway cracks. Rock salt can cause these driveway cracks to grow wider.
As a result, if you need to wash away ice sheets, you’ll have to look for an alternative liquid for this. The best solution, however, is to let the ice melt naturally if you can help it.
However, after the ice melts away, you’ll want to pressure dry your driveway. This is because the melted ice can create more cracks in the long run. You want to dry your driveway to keep it strong and help it withstand harsh weather.
Heated Driveway
As if you thought your troubles would end when the ice sheet melts away, there are also dangers to your driveway in the warmer months.
If your driveway is exposed to intense heat, this can cause driveway cracks to appear. Of course, you can’t hide your driveway from the heat, but you can cool it down.
If you find that your driveway is in unbearable heat, then you want to give it a regular wash. Always wash it with cold water and if you can, then you want to use a pressure washing method.
This is something you’ll have to do on a regular basis. Try to wash your driveway at least once per week so that you give it a cooler temperature. This reduces the chances of increased driveway cracks.
Best Practices
Now you know the dangers of driveway cracks and how easily they can occur. Let’s end our guide with a few additional best practices on how you can protect your driveway.
At least once every six months, you should get a professional mason to inspect your driveway. Even if there isn’t a crack in sight, they’ll know if there’s the possibility of driveway cracks developing.
Whenever you get your driveway repaired, you want to add as much asphalt as possible. This is often much pricier and it’s why most homeowners avoid it. But without an abundant amount of asphalt, your driveway will break apart and develop cracks much faster.
It’s likely that your asphalt is too thin, which is what caused the weak foundation in the first place. Make sure you always use a high-quality asphalt mix. You can use sealers on top of your asphalt, but this should always get added in moderation.
Handle the Driveway Cracks
Now you know how driveway cracks develop and how they can get repaired. You also know how to maintain your driveway to prevent any troubles in the future.
It ruins your home’s curb appeal and should get repaired immediately if you wish to sell your home or put it on lease. You want to alleviate your driveway of excess weight.
Make sure you protect it from cold formations such as ice sheets and intense heat. Follow our best practices to protect your driveway at all times.
You can find more home living tips on our website.