Concrete Driveways in Augusta & Aiken
Poured concrete driveways for homes and commercial property, on a base we grade and drain ourselves. Full tear-out and replacement of failed driveways.
- New concrete driveways
- Full driveway replacement
- Base preparation and grading
- Drainage correction
- Reinforcement and control joints
- Aprons and turnarounds
A concrete driveway is the most visible piece of hardscape on most properties and the one people notice when it goes wrong. Done properly it will outlast the roof. Done on a base nobody prepared, it will crack within a few winters, and no amount of surface work will put that right.
Pave-Way has been pouring concrete across the CSRA since 1978. We work Augusta, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, Hephzibah, Aiken and North Augusta, residential and commercial.
We build the base, then we pour on it
This is the part that separates jobs that last from jobs that don’t, and it is the reason we do the whole sequence ourselves.
Most concrete contractors arrive to a driveway location that someone else prepared — or that nobody prepared. They form it, pour it, finish it and leave. If the ground underneath was never compacted properly, or water runs across it and washes material out from below, the concrete has nothing solid to sit on. Concrete carries enormous load when it is supported evenly and breaks readily when it has to span a void. That is the whole story behind most failed driveways in this area.
We clear, we grade, we correct the drainage, and then we pour — same company, same crews. When we hand a driveway over, nobody can tell us the base was somebody else’s responsibility, because it wasn’t.
On a typical residential job that means: strip topsoil and organic material, cut to grade, build and compact the base, set falls so water leaves rather than pools, form the edges, place reinforcement, pour, finish, and cut control joints at the right spacing so the concrete cracks where we tell it to instead of where it wants to.
Replacement, not patching
We replace, we don’t repair. If your driveway is cracking, sinking or holding water, something underneath it has already failed, and covering the surface does not touch the cause. An overlay on a bad base fails again, usually in the same place, usually within two or three winters. We won’t put our name on that.
What we do instead is remove the old concrete entirely, look at what is under it, fix the reason it failed — compaction, drainage, a downspout discharging in the wrong place, roots — rebuild the base properly, and pour new.
It is a bigger job than a patch and we are straightforward about that. It is also the only version that is still there in twenty years.
Where a failure is genuinely confined to one section and the rest of the drive is sound and draining, we will take out and replace just that section. We will not pour over a base we already know is bad in order to keep a number down.
What we pour
Residential driveways, aprons and turnarounds · commercial and multi-family driveways and access lanes · sidewalks, walkways and ADA access routes · curb and gutter, valley gutter and ribbon curb · parking areas
We also install asphalt and gravel drives. Because we do all three, we have no incentive to talk you into the one we happen to sell. On a long rural approach in Aiken County, asphalt or crush-and-run is very often the sensible answer and we will say so.
Work we don’t take on
Our concrete work is flatwork and infrastructure — driveways, sidewalks, walkways, curb and gutter, parking lots and the drainage underneath them.
We do not do decorative or stamped finishes, staining or sealing, epoxy or garage floor coatings, retaining walls, pools or pool decks, masonry, or interlocking pavers and brick. We would rather tell you now than send a crew out to look at something we don’t do.
Getting a number
Every driveway is priced off the actual site: dimensions, what is there now, what has to come out, how the ground drains, access for trucks, and whether the base needs correcting or rebuilding. That last one is the biggest variable and it is not something anyone can quote over the phone.
Call whichever office is closer and we will come look at it. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.
Common questions
- Concrete or asphalt driveway — which is right for my property?
- Length and slope usually decide it. Concrete lasts longer and asks for almost nothing once down, which suits shorter residential drives. Asphalt costs less, tolerates ground movement better and can be resurfaced later, which suits long rural approaches. We install both, plus gravel, so we have no reason to steer you either way. Our guide comparing concrete and asphalt driveways works through the trade-offs and how local ground conditions affect the call.
- How long before I can drive on a new concrete driveway?
- Stay off it entirely for the first day or so while it sets. Foot traffic is usually fine after a couple of days. Passenger vehicles generally after a week. Anything heavy — a loaded truck, a dumpster, a moving van — should wait a month, because concrete keeps gaining strength well past the point where it looks finished. We will give you specific timings for your pour, since weather during curing changes them.
- My concrete driveway is cracked and sinking. Can you fix it?
- We replace rather than patch. If a driveway is cracking and settling, the concrete is not usually the problem — the ground under it is. Something was never compacted, or water is getting beneath it and washing material out. Resurfacing over that hides the cause for a season and then the same crack comes back in the same place. What we do is tear out the old concrete, find and correct what caused the failure, rebuild the base, and pour new. It costs more up front than a patch and it is the only version that lasts.
- Do you have to remove the whole driveway?
- Not always. If the failure is confined to one section and the rest is sound and draining properly, we can take out and replace that section. What we will not do is pour over a base we know is bad just to keep the price down. We will tell you honestly which situation you are in after looking at it.
- Why does the base matter so much?
- Because concrete is strong in compression and weak in bending. Sitting on ground that supports it evenly, it will carry far more than a car. Once water erodes a void underneath, that same concrete has to span the gap unsupported, and it breaks. Nearly every failed driveway we are called out to look at failed this way. It is the reason we grade and drain the base ourselves rather than pouring on someone else's prep.
Questions we get asked about this
Related work
Free estimates, either office
Tell us about the site and we’ll come look at it. No obligation, and no charge for the estimate.