Currently visiting my inlaws in a retirement community in Ocala, FL. I took my dog for a walk this morning and was struck by how many of the houses had their driveways painted to match the house color or trim. Is it a Florida thing? A retirement community thing? A quirk of this neighborhood?
To me, it’s nothing but an added expense and maintenance issue and I don’t see the point. Fortunately, it’s not an HOA requirement, tho I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of communities where it was. I suppose it looks nice when it’s fresh and new, but eventually, like any driveway, it gets dirty from cars and falling leaves and weather. Whatever rocks your world, I guess.
I’ve never heard of painted driveways before now. One house in the neighborhood has a driveway with a fancy stone-like texture, after Googling it sounds like that’s the stamping aceplace57 mentioned (I didn’t know that’s what it was called until now). Most just have plain concrete driveways.
I’ve never heard of painted driveways either, until now. Where I live, the cool thing to do with your driveway is to put fresh rock on it. And you have to mow the grass on the sides before summer fire season.
A bit of googling seems to indicate that it’s a Florida retiree thing, and some people spend a lot of money for really ornate drives. My inlaws don’t live in one of the high-end retirement communities, so the percentage of painted drives is small. And from one forum I read, some HOAs prohibit it.
So I guess unless you live in FL, it’s not a thing.
I’ve never seen this. But I do want to add that I’m disappointed to discover that the OP means painting the driveway a single color that matches the house. I was imagining portraits or scenery or kaleidoscope effects and so on, each neighbor trying to outdo the next with a bright idea for Interesting Things To Paint On The Driveway.
Yes, painted driveways are common (at least, not uncommon) where I live.
I just assumed it was another element of rich people signalling. They seem to relish demonstrating they can waste money modifying utility objects in such a way as to reduce their usability. See also 2-seat cars*, pedestal sinks, and fur clothing.
*I realize there are enthusiasts for whom sports cars provide a different use, and their “utility” is their maneuverability and speed. But I’m pretty sure many of the Porsches and Ferraris I see around my neighborhood have never seen the sweet side of 70.
I think that the concrete is actually dyed the color of the house. The dye is added to the cement at the same time as the aggregate is. I first saw this done in the PNW in 1972 or so.
I have never seen a painted drive over here, although it would not surprise me.
Concrete is not allowed these days as it messes up the water table. Drives have to be porous, so concrete block or porous tarmac is the norm. We do have those ‘stamped’ finishes but they are not common and how they areporous escapes me.
Here it’s not dyed - it’s paint. It’s especially obvious when it’s fresh color over large cracks, and you can see where the roller may not have made it all the way to the edge or if it was an older job, you can see spots where it’s worn away.
I’ve seen stamped, dyed finishes in other places, but here, there are no designs, altho a couple of places have a contrasting color along the edge. It doesn’t look like stone or brick or mosiac - it’s just paint.
I’m guessing that it’s not a water table issue–it’s a drainage issue.
The goal is to keep rainwater on the property where it falls, and not flow into the street where the city has to pay for larger pipes to carry it away.
Never seen painted. I suspect it’s a matter of time though.
Around here I’ve seen many people buy a brand new house in a subdivision and within a couple years they will tear up the asphalt the house came with and replace it with a new concrete or stamped concrete driveway.
All fine & well, but why wouldn’t these people wait until they actually need a new driveway before tearing up a perfectly good one? Granted concrete may be better but in these instances is purely for esthetic reasons, or to keep up with the neighbours, People have too much money.
It’s kinda both- if rain can’t soak away into the ground, you increase the flood risk, but you also decrease the renewal rate of the groundwater, potentially causing droughts in summer. Bear in mind how dense the population is over here.
The problem of excessive impermeable surfaces is beginning to be addressed in a lot of places. And yes, it has to do both with groundwater recharge and with flooding problems; in some areas one may be more of an issue, in other areas it may be more of the other.
