Placing Joints in Concrete Driveways—Choose Wisely

Install joints at the proper spacing and depth
To help prevent random cracking, control joints should be placed at a maximum spacing of 10 feet for a 4-inch-thick driveway slab. While random cracks are generally not a structural problem and will not reduce the service life of the driveway, they can be an eyesore. Also avoid joint patterns that produce rectangular or triangular sections. The depth of control joints is also critical. Your concrete installer should hand tool or sawcut them to a depth equaling one-fourth the slab thickness (or 1 inch for a 4-inch slab).

In addition to control joints, an isolation joint should be installed where the driveway meets a sidewalk, garage floor slab, and other existing pavements. Ask your contractor to provide a jointing plan as part of his written proposal.

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