Popular Types of Concrete Driveway Finishes

Your home’s driveway is the star of your home’s exterior, in fact, it plays such a huge role in the attractiveness of your home because it is the first thing neighbors and people will see when they arrive at your place. They’ll often assume what type of personal life you may have just from looking at it. When it comes to choosing the driveway that fits the style for your home, there are various options available if you wish to use concrete as the main material. Not only is concrete durable and low-maintenance but it is a flexible material that can mimic many trendy styles.

Don’t believe us? Here are just some of the many types of concrete driveway finishes you can choose from:

Plain and Colored Concrete Driveways

Concrete is popular for many reasons aside from durability, one is that it can be poured over pretty much any surface.

If you’re thinking about plain grey concrete and how it can be aesthetically lack-lustre, well you now have the option of choosing from many colored concrete shades. You’re bound to find one that complements your home exterior’s color palette.

Exposed Aggregate

This is one of the highly-attractive and durable surface options. It is extremely versatile because more than a variety of colors, it also comes with different types of textures. An exposed aggregate finish is created by pouring concrete and then adding in aggregates such as stones, pebbles, slate, shells, or a combination of aggregates, before sanding the mix to reveal a beautiful texture that highlights the embedded materials close to the surface, or otherwise be concealed by a thin layer of cement. You can easily have any of these aggregates delivered to you from select aggregate hauling companies. You get a natural finish that works seamlessly with natural surroundings. Each exposed aggregate is unique and blended beautifully to complement brick, weatherboard and rendered homes.

There are various techniques that could be done to achieve this effect including water washing with a high-pressure hose, abrasive blasting, acid etching and honing. A sealant is then applied to protect the finished surface, resulting in a striking, natural-looking finish that enhances the appearance, increasing the value of your property. A sealed surface provides a slip-resistant texture that is also very attractive. This is achieved by exposing the structural aggregates used in the concrete, a process that involves retarding the cement matrix, enabling the concrete to sufficiently harden in order for the top cement matrix to be washed off. The decorative concrete’s surface is then left exposed producing a light to medium wash. Both concrete sealers and acid wash are recommended protection from stains and help enhance the appearance of the decorative stone.

Stencil Concrete Driveway

Stencilled concrete allows you to achieve the appearance of other materials such as pavers, brickwork, slate, tiles, or stone. The stencils offer a wide range of elaborately beautiful patterns that give your driveway a unique charm.

The patterns are produced by manipulating the surface of the concrete pavement once the concrete has dried a bit, but not fully hardened.

Slate Concrete Driveways

Slate concrete comes in many decorative slate patterns and colors, giving you a luxurious finish that adds both depth and texture to your home’s driveway. It is created by stamping slate textured mats into mixed concrete before it sets. This gives you a perfect replication of stone or slate. This is then sealed with a glossy finish, giving your driveway an elegant and sophisticated look.  elegance and sophistication.

Broom Finish

Broom finishes are slip-resistant and attractive textures, achieved when a damp broom is pulled across a concrete surface once it has been steel troweled and floated, producing a coarse surface. This type of texture can be applied in various ways, such as straight or curved lines, with driveways usually broomed at right angles. Fine or medium textures are often used to produce slip-resistant surfaces on outdoor areas like garages, entertainment areas, shed floors, gently sloping and flat walking driveways.

Cove Trowel Finish

Cove trowel finish is an external texture finish that offers great durability and slip resistance. It is often applied to external pavement areas that may be difficult to broom finish because of access restrictions. This is achieved when a cove trowel texture works into the concrete surface as soon as it has been floated, producing a textured swirl effect that looks beautiful, is soft to the feet, and provides you with a very good grip. To get the best finish, the concrete is sealed within the day to protect and cure for maximum strength.

With all these types of driveway finishes, how do you know which to choose for your home? You can start by checking out Versatile concreting driveway galleries for ideas. Once you come up with an idea you love, you can reach out to them for a quote. Their professional team can guide you every step of the way to achieve the best finish for your driveway. They ensure to select the best concrete finish suited to your individual needs, considering a range of factors: the right material for you, the appropriate budget, the length or size of your driveway, your guidelines, how you use your driveway, and the style of your home. Their skilled contractors have over 15 years of extensive experience in installing concrete driveways.

So whether it’s a smooth, fine grade surface for your children to run barefoot on, or require a coarse finish due to heavy exposure for maximum slip resistance, they can create the ideal driveway solution for you. From the driveway design to excavation, landscaping, concrete resurfacing, concrete stencilling, concrete removal, concrete pumping and completion, you are kept in tune with their team’s progress every step of the way. Whether it’s decorative concrete, stencilled concrete, patterned concrete, and exposed aggregate concrete, simply ask and you shall receive.