How Many Inches Thick Should A Concrete Driveway Be?

There are crucial requirements that your contractor can meet during construction to ensure that your concrete driveway looks nice for several years. The consistency of the workmanship and materials used in your driveway will determine how good it looks and works in the long run.

The thickness of a concrete driveway determines its strength. In short, the question of how thick should a concrete driveway be is a valid one. Concrete thickness for driveways decides how long the paving will last and how much maintenance will be needed in the future.

Obviously, the pavement would be subjected to noise, automobiles, temperature, and plant growth on a regular basis. It eventually contributes to pavement problems, necessitating the use of concrete paving facilities.

Concrete is, without a doubt, an excellent material for pavement construction. Concrete driveway thickness is also important for strength, longevity, and life.

The trick to avoiding cracking over time is to ensure an equal thickness across your concrete. Before beginning work on your driveway, your contractor will most likely ask you a few questions to decide the concrete thickness needed. 

To measure this, the contractor would need to know how many vehicles you expect to park on your driveway, as well as whether or not you want to park heavy, commercial vehicles like RVs on it.

Passenger Car Driveways

A standard single-car driveway is eight to nine feet wide, and a double-width driveway is 15 to 18 feet wide. 

For double-width driveways, the entrance may begin as a single-car width and gradually widen as it approaches the garage, as long as the distance from the street is sufficient. 

Turn-around zones and additional parking are other choices for plenty of space between the street and the home.

The normal thickness of non-reinforced paving for passenger car driveways is four inches. This means you can park your regular family cars on it without worrying about it breaking from the weight. 

It’s also worth noting that your driveway would most likely be slanted toward the street to allow for water drainage, which is particularly crucial in Louisiana driveways that see a lot of flooding. This hill, though, should not be too steep and is usually inclined at 18 inches per foot.

Your builder will mount joints to avoid cracking in addition to ensuring that your driveway has an even thickness. These joints are usually 10 feet apart and account for around one-fourth of the overall thickness of a regular 4-inch deep driveway.

Driveways for Industrial Vehicles

If you want to park your RV or other commercial vehicles on your driveway, it must be thicker than a typical passenger car driveway to accommodate the additional weight. Typically, these driveways need a thickness of around five inches. 

While this extra inch does not seem like much, it will raise the load-carrying capability of your driveway by nearly 50%. 

It’s also popular to apply an extra 1-2 inches of thickness to the sections of your driveway that are most likely to accommodate large vehicles for increased structural support. 

This can help avoid splitting and buckling, which can add years to the life of your driveway.