How Can You Resurface A Concrete Driveway?

Rather than ripping up and replacing your time- and traffic-worn driveway, why not use a concrete resurfacer to refresh its appearance quickly and easily?

One of the main advantages of concrete as a driveway surfacing material is its durability. Your concrete driveway, though, can begin to show signs of wear after years of exposure to the elements, as well as foot and car traffic. 

Rather than ripping it out and starting again, it’s much simpler and less expensive to just renew the original installation. Here are steps on how to resurface a concrete driveway.

Clean and patch your concrete driveway as necessary

• With a pressure washer set to 3,500 psi, remove gravel, grease, and flaking concrete. You should still rent a pressure washer from the nearest home center if you don’t have one.
• After cleaning the driveway, look for big cracks or heavily spalled patches, and cover those that you find with a patching compound.
• Finally, spray down the driveway until it is fully saturated, then sweep up any remaining water with a broom. Which cools the slab and keeps the mixing water from evaporating from the damp concrete resurfacer you’re about to set flat.
• Temperatures must be above 50 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours and above freezing for 24 hours for the resurfacer to heal.

Make a syrup-like consistency for your concrete resurfacer.

Since hand-mixing always results in lumps, it’s preferred that you use a power drill with a paddle mixer rather than a barrel-type attachment.

• To begin, fill a five-gallon bucket with three and a half quarts of water.
• Then, ask your helper to gently pour in the resurfacer as you work the mixing paddle inside the bucket. 
• Continue mixing for at least five minutes after it’s all been applied. Just stop until the mixture has thickened to a lump-free, syrup-like consistency. 
• If the mixture appears to be too dense, add a little more water; if it appears to be too thin, add a little more resurfacer. 
• When you’re mixing, you’ll need an assistant who will install weatherstripping in the driveway’s expansion joints to keep the resurfacer from overflowing them.

Working easily, spread the concrete resurfacer over tiny portions of the driveway.

• A concrete resurfacer is workable for around 30 minutes in 73-degree heat. It hardens more easily in hotter conditions, but you can extend the working window by holding the bag in the shade and mixing it with cool water. 
• Is it time to resurface a big driveway? Working in bits, combining and applying resurfacer to one small area (no more than 144 square feet) at a time, could be preferable.
• Pour the resurfacer from the mixing bucket onto the driveway in strips about a foot wide until it’s primed. Spread the powder back and forth around the driveway with a long-handled squeegee, quickly scrubbing the resurfacer onto the asphalt.
• If you like, you can use a wide-head concrete broom to give the smooth new surface a nonslip finish after it has set for five minutes.
• Drive the broom around the work area without stopping for a uniform look, making sure to make each broom stroke in the same direction.

Since resurfacing a concrete driveway, wait six hours before walking on it and 24 hours before driving over it.

• That’s what it takes to keep the driveway looking fresh for the rest of its life. The resurfacer cures on its own in warm weather, so no additional measures are needed. 
• Experts suggest misting the driveway intermittently for up to 48 hours after application if it’s really hot—above 90 degrees.
• However, much of the time, the new surface will be ready for foot traffic in about six hours. After that, you can come back in and park in the driveway for another 24 hours.