Concrete Driveways in Tigard, OR

Concrete driveways in Tigard take a steady soaking for most of the year. Plantmaps lists about 41.8 inches of precipitation annually, and every gallon that lands on the slab, the roof and the yard has to go somewhere. When the ground beneath a driveway stays saturated, it softens, the slab loses support, and panels tip, crack and settle. Many of the drives we replace were poured on native soil in the 1970s and 1980s, the decades when, per Point2Homes, about 40 percent of Tigard's homes went up.

Signs a driveway has reached the end

• Panels that have dropped and now hold a puddle near the garage
• Cracks with one side higher than the other
• Large areas of flaking or crumbling surface
• Water running toward the garage or the foundation
• A broken approach at the street or crumbling edges along the lawn
• Tree roots lifting whole sections
• Not enough width for the cars you own now

One sunken panel on an otherwise solid driveway can often be lifted or replaced on its own. When settling, cracking and drainage problems show up together, a full replacement usually makes more sense than patching.

Built from the bottom up

We remove the old slab or asphalt, dig out soft or organic soil, and replace it with crushed rock compacted in layers. That base carries the load and lets water move out from under the concrete instead of sitting there. Forms are set so the finished drive falls toward the street or a planned drain, never back toward the garage.

Thickness follows what parks on it. HomeGuide's driveway guide calls for at least 4 inches for passenger vehicles, 5 to 6 inches for RVs and heavy vehicles, and thickened edges of 6 to 8 inches. If a boat, camper or work truck lives on the drive, that area gets more depth and steel. Joints are sawn or tooled on a planned layout so shrinkage cracks follow straight lines.

Slopes and Bull Mountain lots

On the hillier streets west of downtown, a driveway can be steep enough that the finish becomes a safety question. We give sloped drives a heavier broom or an exposed-aggregate surface, and we look hard at where runoff from the street and the uphill neighbor will go. A trench drain at the bottom of a steep drive is sometimes the difference between a dry garage and a wet one.

The approach at the street

The section between the street and your property line is the driveway approach, and Tigard regulates it. Under Tigard Municipal Code 15.10.020, a residential approach can be up to 30 feet wide including its end slopes, must sit at least 6 feet from the projected side property line (with some exceptions), and cannot come within 30 feet of an intersecting street right-of-way. Approach work goes through the city's Public Facilities Improvement permit, and if you move a driveway, section 15.10.040 requires the old approach to be removed and the curb restored. Our quote shows the approach as its own line so the permit and the private work are clear.

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Finish choices

• Broom finish: the standard choice, with ridges that give grip in rain.
• Exposed aggregate: the top paste is washed away to show the stone, which hides wear and grips well; HomeGuide groups it with basic decorative finishes at $10 to $15 a square foot.
• Decorative borders: a stamped or colored band along the edges, with plain concrete in the wheel lanes.
• Smooth trowel: we avoid it on driveways here because it turns slick when wet.

After the pour

Stay off with vehicles for at least seven days and keep heavy trucks off for about 30, per HomeGuide. HomeGuide also recommends waiting 28 to 30 days before the first coat of sealer and resealing every 2 to 3 years, which helps a driveway shed water and resist moss. Keep downspouts discharging away from the slab, and clear needles and leaves so they do not stain the surface or hold moisture.