Building a new driveway for your home is a job that should only be done by professionals. Every step, from digging the foundation to building the house itself, should be done according to industry standards and with the right tools and materials.
Your driveway can look and be made in many different ways, depending on what you like. Depending on how you want it to work and look, you might need different kinds of building work. For example, you might want to build a slope to an underground garage or put up retaining walls before building and paving the driveway.
Find out what driveway excavation is and why it’s so important by reading:
What is Driveway Excavation?
For your driveway to be good, you must do excavation work before you build it. To make a durable, long-lasting driveway that is easy to keep up, the excavation must be done correctly and the ground must be levelled. Contractors have to think about the slope’s angle, a way to drain water, and other structures like retaining walls.
This kind of work is needed to get the site ready for putting down concrete or pavers. For the new driveway to last longer and be the best place to drive over the years, it needs a strong, smooth base. This step is very important when building a new driveway or fixing up an old one.
How Terrain Effects Excavation
Before starting to dig out the old driveway or the area where you want to build a new one, experts in excavation must first look at how good the ground is. They look for big rocks, old pipes, air gaps, and other things that don’t make sense. If that’s the case, the land must be levelled and strengthened with gravel or other materials.
If the layers of soil under the driveway have different soil densities, water seepage, or big rocks that haven’t been removed, you may have bumps or sunken areas. Also, you’ll need to fix your driveway much sooner than you thought.
When doing excavation work, a good contractor will look at the situation carefully. They won’t try to save money by putting the whole project at risk. To do this, they need to know about the kind of soil they are working on and how to build a driveway.
Why Driveway Excavation Is Important
As was already said, a team that knows how to do excavation work makes the base of a strong and stable driveway. If there are any structural problems with the driveway at this point, they will still be there when the work is done. Also, the quality of your driveway as a whole will be greatly decreased.
Here are four important reasons why you should hire a good land excavation team:
Ensuring Excavations Are Safe
Work at an excavation site can be dangerous for both the people doing the work and the people who live nearby. Dangers include toxic gas leaks, water damage, soil falling on workers in the hole, machinery falling into the excavation site, and being close to electric lines.
An experienced contractor carefully follows safety rules and makes sure that residents and their property are not damaged during or after construction. They will also have safety tickets from places like OSHA and other health and safety groups that have given them certification.
Choosing The Correct Materials
If a driveway is built on top of the existing soil without first digging it up, it is easy to waste the materials and work that went into the project. Cracks in cement or concrete can be caused by uneven soil deposits or by leaving things on the ground under the driveway. These things can also cause paver stones to lift up and move. It’s hard to fix this problem without making the driveway look bad or making it less stable.
Experts in excavation will decide what to put below and how thick each layer must be. They think about the type of top layer, the finish, and other things.
Driveway Drainage
If water is not handled properly, it can cause a lot of damage to property. Soil erosion, ground subsidence, and structural shifts can all cause damage. This can show up as cracks in a finished driveway.
One of the most significant reasons to have a professional excavation company dig up your driveway is to make sure water flows off of it properly. The goal is to make sure water doesn’t pool on or under your driveway. Water pooling could damage the top layers or cause the soil to collapse over time.
Installing Retaining Walls
If you need retaining walls for your driveway, excavation work might be done to help the walls stay in place. When you need a bigger wall and the slopes next to your driveway are steep, you have to dig down. This is because trenches must be dug to specific depths so that the walls can be properly grounded.
What Can Go Wrong When Excavations Are Done Wrong?
Many homeowners want to save money but are tempted to skip excavation work or hire a team with less experience. Instead of saving money, they end up with more problems that make the overall cost much higher.
Here are three of the most prevalent problems that can happen if you don’t dig the driveway hole right:
- Drainage problems. If rainwater doesn’t go to the sewer, it can do a lot of damage to the driveway or nearby buildings.
- Sinkholes and bumps are common in driveways with a bad base when the ground gives way.
- Cracks in concrete driveways. In the long run, a poured concrete driveway is not practical or affordable if cracks are caused by poor excavation. In this case, you need to pay for a lot of repairs much sooner than you thought you would
The Right Way To Do Driveways: Get The Experts To Help You
Planning the building of your driveway involves more than just picking the type of pavement and shape you want. If you hire a professional to prepare the site, you can avoid expensive repairs.
It is best to hire a construction company in your area that knows how to work with the soil and materials there. When you hire someone locally, you can also be sure that they have the right licenses from your city.
If you want to build a driveway, choose Boulder Ridge as your excavation expert. You’ll get great service at a price you can afford. We focus on building structures that will last for a long time and are of high quality. Contact us right away if you need to dig!