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2 Suggestions To Keep In Mind When Adding A Concrete Driveway To Your Property

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Here are two suggestions to keep in mind when adding a concrete driveway to your property. 

Consider opting for decorative concrete if you want to make the driveway easier to maintain

While concrete driveways are, in general, fairly low-maintenance, it's possible to make this structure even easier to maintain if you opt for decorative concrete. The reason for this is that a driveway made of decorative concrete will usually have a patterned surface. This busy-looking pattern can help to hide the small flecks of dirt and drops of oil that come from the vehicles you park on the driveway. This, in turn, can allow you to get away with washing the driveway less frequently, without having to be concerned that it will look unsightly as a result of this.

It should be noted, however, that it might take the concrete contractor a bit longer to lay a driveway that features decorative concrete (particularly if you've requested a very ornate pattern that has lots of small-sized concrete pavers), so you should only opt for this if you're happy to do without a driveway for a few extra days or weeks (depending on the size of your driveway and the intricacy of the design you've opted for). If, however, you're happy to wait a little longer for the driveway to be constructed, using decorative concrete to build it will not only make it that much more attractive but could save you lots of time in the future, by allowing you to wash it less often than you would need to if you had chosen plain concrete.

Talk to your contractor about using coloured concrete

It might also be a good idea to talk to the concrete contractor about the possibility of using coloured concrete for your driveway. Coloured concrete comes in a range of muted reds, blues, greens and greys, and is not much more expensive than plain concrete. While the natural greyish hue of concrete can look good in many properties, coloured concrete can be a better choice in some situations.

If, for example, your house is painted a bright colour, or if your front gardens that your new driveway will be integrated into feature lots of vivid-coloured flowerbeds, then a plain grey concrete driveway might not be the best choice from an aesthetic point of view. This is since its relative dullness will not complement the existing bright colours. Coloured concrete might also work well if you want to highlight the colour of a certain exterior feature of your home. For example, if you have blue-coloured external window shutters, opting for a blueish concrete driveway will accentuate these shutters.


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