Advice on Correct Mixture of Concrete for Front Drive Repair Post your questions and get answers regarding all areas of drives, pathways and patios

[Kieron457]

Hi,

I need some advice on getting the right concrete mixture for repairing my front drive.

There's two small patches of the front drive that stick out like a sore thumb. I think someone just mixed sand & cement (mostly cement!) so the patches look a silvery grey or off white colour and have a smooth surface.

The rest of the drive however looks like what's in the attached photos ie slightly light brown/cream in colour with tiny (different colour) stones to make the surface rough to the touch.

I'd like to redo the two patches that stick out but need advise on the right concrete mixture so that this time the patches will match the rest of the front drive (in colour & texture) once they've hardened.

Many thanks

[thedoctor]

Hi

It looks like a kind of pebble dash effect on the original concrete e.g. concrete mixed with a multi mix gravel (there are many different types - barley corn gravel, buff quartz, golden gravel etc….) you would need to find a match for the original that was used.

You would then need to mixup your concrete using the gravel in with the mix, our mixing concrete project should help you: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/m ... ncrete.htm

Depending on what sand you used, this would affect the overall colour on the cement so you would need to find a close match sand colour, or through experimenting with mortar tone, you can add a dye in the mix to make the correct colour. It’s quite tricky to get an exact colour match so you would need to experiment with different tones and quantities to get the right colour. Our matching mortar project should help you with this: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/Matchmortar.htm

Hope this helps