My mother is having her ribbon (two strips of concrete) driveway replaced with a full width drive.
Also to be replaced is a sidewalk and a patio that will be enlarged from 11’ x 11’ to 11’ x 29’
The proposal she received from a company she likes wants to put in 6 inches of concrete.
Is 6 inches a bit excessive? It seems so to me. But then, the cost of concrete is really minimal. An extra yard or three is really not going to affect the price. For a little bit more money, might as well have it bomb proof.
The proposal does include wire mesh and they are going to put road base in and compact it.
Six inch is good for a drive-maybe minimal even. It gives a little room for error in the mesh placement,which should be in the bottom third.
Four inch is typical for walks and basement slabs 'round here.
Ain’t no bomb proof.
When was the last time you saw a 40 foot long fire truck in a 30 foot driveway? Says Me.
The driveway is off an alley. Nothing bigger than an SUV will ever use it. My mid-size SUV is tight. A larger vehicle may be able to use it if it can take off and land.
The more the better. I had a house on a big hill once–a hill so steep the concrete truck couldn’t get up there. So, we had to cast 15’ sections of the driveway, 6" thick with lots of rebar, 4000 lb strength using early-strength concrete. We cast one section every thirty days, so that the concrete would be hard enough to support the weight of the truck.
Needless to say, that’s been a very low-maintenance driveway. We’ve since sold the house–very probably, if you come back in a hundred years, the house will be gone, but the driveway will still be there.
