[Spirit]

Hey all,

What are the suggestions for covering a concrete driveway with stone? This particular project is for a driveway that is 15' x 35', good watershed from the home, but not even steep enough to say it is downhill. Concrete is in good shape. Which stone is good to use, and what thickness of stone? What are the different processes for laying the stone. Would a person use larger stone or smaller stone? If stone is not the answer what pavers work really well. This jobsite is in central Texas, so not much freezing goes on here. Should the concrete be roughed up a bit? What mix of concrete/mortar should be used? Thanks all.

[Bamboo]

Whats the budget? (sky is the limit)

[Spirit]

Can't get too pricey. These people dont need gold brick to drive their 2001 Mitsubishi on. lol... Just asking for different pricing ranges, ins and outs of doing this type of job, best stone or paver to use. thanks

[Stonehenge]

If the slab is already there, I would imagine it already meets a garage, a walkway, maybe even a door. If this is the case, I don't think anything could be added to the driveway without compromising it's use.

If it's not the case, my preference is pavers, either mortared soldier course w/ sand set field, or mud the whole thing in. The former would be much faster.

[Lanelle]

Remember to consider the thickness of where the concrete meets the garage floor or the walkway. Sometimes you can also do the walkway so they match up for height as well as material.

[Bill Schwab]

This is where stamped concrete would be cheaper than any of the above you suggest, and would solve the problem. Jack out the old drive and recycle it. Rail it up and pour. I don't know quantities here, but say you have 800 SF. You got a $2,400.00 demo/recycle fee, and a $7,200.00 driveway fee. So, for 9.6K, job complete. In contrast, it will cost a customer $12,000.00 to install flagstone. quartzite, it bluestone to the top of the same drive.

Pavers on that same job are going to run that same 12K for demo and all.

Just some perspective based on a hypothetical area. You space obviously will differ.

Anyway that customer looks at it, they are going to invest 10K, so if they are not on that same page, move along and don't waste anymore time on it.

[Spirit]

Thanks for the replies. Hardly a chance to match up to the house as I suspected. This client is not too sure about redoing the whole drive. They are somewhat convinced that stone can be added to the existing concrete and flared towards the house at a low angle to meet up with it. I don't think this is a good idea myself. They would still have a high spot at the house not matter what. Good time to say either remove the concrete pad and start over or leave it the way it is. Thanks for the input guys.

[Bill Schwab]

I have yet another solution for you....Take random flagstone, lay it across parts of the drive, perhaps even boarder it...Mark whewre each piece is to go, and saw cut the concrete and remove. then make a bed of concrete, dump it into the cut hole, butter the bottom of the flagstone with thinset, then slam it into place. The effect will leave you with a wild kind of free flowing path of flagstone through the drive and or edges at a fraction of the cost of a complete demo. It looks great, and I guarantee it will be a one of a kind.

[Stone Art, Inc.]

Remove the concrete back from the garage entrance around 10 foot, drill and place epoxy coated dowels into the existing slab, place expansion joint between the new slab and garage, ramp the new slab to accomodate the filter fabric, sand setting bed and pavers, 2 3/8" + 1" for sand (or so). Use type I/II portland to adhere your pavers to the edge of the concrete and sand set the rest. I'd probably even throw in a channel drain for good measure.