What Is the Process for Driveway or Sidewalk Removal and Replacement?

This article will review the steps needed for removing and replacing damaged concrete surfaces around your home. We will also offer estimated timelines and costs for a full replacement project so you can decide if you’re ready to get it handled.

Basic Steps to Remove and Replace Concrete Flatwork

Concrete flatwork is an all-inclusive industry term that refers to any sort of shallow exterior concrete surface like:

• Driveways, 
• Sidewalks, 
• Storage shed foundations, or 
• Some recreational courts. 

Saying “concrete flatwork” is way easier than rattling off that whole list sometimes. Sorry if I don’t specifically cite your particular kind of concrete surface every time. Just know what’s included when concrete flatwork is mentioned, mkay?

Most homeowners don’t ever see concrete flatwork being installed. It was probably done way before you ever bought your house. You weren’t there watching *live* as it happened for some reason . . . I can’t imagine why you missed something so exciting . . .

So you don’t really know what the concrete replacement process looks like or what it takes to complete this work.

Replacing concrete theoretically sounds fairly simple, but there are a lot of steps. Careful preparations and legwork are involved. You want people who are skilled in doing this major project for your home. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Here is the process for replacing exterior concrete surfaces around your home:

1. Remove the old concrete by jackhammering or other means
2. Haul away removed concrete by dump truck or smaller appropriate vehicle
3. Even out the dirt surface, add soil material if needed
4. Create tie-ins to any existing concrete sections to prevent horizontal slide
5. Insert control joints between panels to minimize cracking
6. Pour and finish concrete
7. Stay off the concrete surface while it cures
8. Return to normal concrete use

Even with listing out this 10-step process, it feels like some of the laborious nature of this process is not emphasized enough. But I assure you, this is *an endeavor* for those doing the work, especially for larger surfaces or whole driveways.

The most important thing for a homeowner is to stay out of the way and don’t disturb the work areas. It’s not a safe place to be walking or letting your kids play around the area. Someone could trip or mess up work in progress. You might have to take alternate routes to get in and out of your house or park your car down the street to keep it out of the construction zone.

How Long Does It Take to Replace a Driveway or Sidewalk?

So, how long does the process of replacing some of your exterior concrete take? The biggest determining factor is understandably how large is the piece of concrete we are talking about. Smaller flatwork will take less time and big sections or whole driveways will take much more time.

We’re not going to address DIY timeframes, only how long it would take an appropriately sized professional contracting team to do the job.

The replacement of a small section of concrete would take a day from start to finish for a professional to complete. If you’re just having one panel of a driveway replaced, it would probably take 1 day to demo and prep the project and half a day to pour the concrete. For a whole driveway, the estimated time would be 1 to 2 days for demo, 1 day to prep, and a half day to pour.

The timeframes above are just for the actual work to be completed. There is still downtime when you need to wait while the concrete cures. Concrete curing time for exterior flatwork ranges from 24 to 48 hours for walking surfaces, 5 to 7 days for vehicle/driving surfaces, and up to 28 days for massively heavy loads (probably non-residential).

Contact Atlanta Paving Solutions Today for all of your Atlanta Driveway Replacement need. Serving all of metro Atlanta.