Concrete Driveway Resurfacing

[john donson]

live in a moo baan with houses going from 12 to 40 million... every driveway seem to be redone every few years... do they all use the same bad contractor? 

[chiang mai]

2 minutes ago, john donson said:

live in a moo baan with houses going from 12 to 40 million... every driveway seem to be redone every few years... do they all use the same bad contractor? 

Cement is the expensive component in concrete so everyone tries to use as little as possible, that's why nothing concrete ever lasts long.

[steven100]

just do stamped concrete ....  it's not expensive and looks great ..

 

[chiang mai]

29 minutes ago, steven100 said:

just do stamped concrete ....  it's not expensive and looks great ..

 

Yes it does. Except, I only want to paint my existing driveway, I don't want to replace it.

[Yellowtail]

Did you say you already bought the paint? 

[chiang mai]

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Did you say you already bought the paint? 

Yup. It's perfectly good concrete that just needs a surface refinishing. I could probably take a hand grinder and smooth the worst patches and then paint and there'd probably be nothing to worry about. But I was looking to see if there was a better or easier solution but I don't think there is.

[cdnvic]

If someone is asking for help or advice on a particular project, don't start recommending completely different projects then getting upset when they don't take your advice. I've removed one off-topic argument and don't want to return.

[rwill]

One problem here is that I have never seen them tamp the wet concrete to push the gravel down so it isn't on the surface.

[Luuk Chaai]

[chiang mai]

1 hour ago, Luuk Chaai said:

This looks interesting, have you used it before? I'll be grateful for feedback from anyone who has.

 

Having done some more research, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, thank you so much Luuk Chai, I owe you, big time. 1-2 mm thick means I can use a concrete grinder to clear of the top surface/crumbling patches/dirt first then return the drive to its previous level. Perfect! 

[chiang mai]

2 hours ago, rwill said:

One problem here is that I have never seen them tamp the wet concrete to push the gravel down so it isn't on the surface.

Same here, I can see granite pieces peeking through the surface of mine, time to get the grinder out.

[chiang mai]

5 hours ago, cdnvic said:

If someone is asking for help or advice on a particular project, don't start recommending completely different projects then getting upset when they don't take your advice. I've removed one off-topic argument and don't want to return.

Thank you for leaving it open, the correct answer showed up shortly afterwards.

[carlyai]

19 hours ago, chiang mai said:

We already have driveway/traffic paint and the undercoat. Epoxy paint is what you refer to but it's not very good for outside because of UV. We had engineers from SIKA come take a look and they strongly advised against epoxy paint outdoors, The purpose of their visit was because I was looking for a  patching product to fill small pin holes etc. They said just go ahead and paint it as is and didn't have a solution for a smoother surface apart from resurfacing, which is not possible because of the height. We didn't have the discussion about concrete grinding because they were too busy trying to sell me their products.

 

From what I've read, a concrete grinder will remove about one sixteenth in a single pass and 50 square meters should take about 2 hours.

 

 

New rules for bathrooms in Aus, so my son had to grind down the slab already laid with the concrete grinder. Did a good job. Not sure how much (mm) he had to grind down.

[Yellowtail]

4 hours ago, chiang mai said:

This looks interesting, have you used it before? I'll be grateful for feedback from anyone who has.

 

Having done some more research, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, thank you so much Luuk Chai, I owe you, big time. 1-2 mm thick means I can use a concrete grinder to clear of the top surface/crumbling patches/dirt first then return the drive to its previous level. Perfect! 

I have not used this product, but I have used a number of Crocodile products, ann they have been great, as well as economical. 

 

The product "floor smooth patch" looks like plastic cement, which should be perfect. Be sure the concrete is clean.

[brianthainess]

5 hours ago, rwill said:

One problem here is that I have never seen them tamp the wet concrete to push the gravel down so it isn't on the surface.

They used their bare feet when they laid my garage floor. 

[Yellowtail]

The last concrete work I had done (an equipment pad) they used a vibratory screed. What do you guys do, hire the motorcycle taxi guys? 

[chiang mai]

14 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

The last concrete work I had done (an equipment pad) they used a vibratory screed. What do you guys do, hire the motorcycle taxi guys? 

Is there anyone else and if so, where do you find them?

 

I've contacted crocodile and asked them if they can recommend some one to do my driveway. The last time I contacted a product supplier they sent a team round to try and sell me products but no help with the labour. Another product supplier gave me the name of an engineering company to paint the driveway. They  wanted 90k to paint 50 square meters with undercoat and top coat, no grinding, no levelling, no nothing.....taking the p*ss if you ask me. 

 

If anyone knows where to find reputable tradespeople in Chiang Mai/Mae Rim, please let me know. I've been here over 20 years and have had no consistent success on this front, everyone is self taught, slightly trained and lacking common sense.

[impulse]

Best of luck whatever the OP decides.  But I wouldn't go anywhere near that driveway with a paint or any other coating.

 

Right now, you have a concrete drive with a nicely developing patina.  Slap a coat of paint on it and in a few months you'll have a peeling paint mess that you either have to touch up constantly, or just redo the whole thing.

 

You've already acknowledged that the base you'd be painting over isn't stable.  Paints and coatings aren't magic.

[chiang mai]

Just now, impulse said:

Best of luck whatever the OP decides.  But I wouldn't go anywhere near that driveway with a paint or any other coating.

 

Right now, you have a concrete drive with a nicely developing patina.  Slap a coat of paint on it and in a few months you'll have a peeling paint mess that you either have to touch up constantly, or just redo the whole thing.

 

You've already acknowledged that the base you'd be painting over isn't stable.  Paints and coatings aren't magic.

I did not say the base was not stable, the slab is entirely stable, just the surface can be improved.

[carlyai]

44 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

The last concrete work I had done (an equipment pad) they used a vibratory screed. What do you guys do, hire the motorcycle taxi guys? 

When we moved to Darwin as a whippersnapper, they gave us a choice of elevated new houses all built except for cement and lawn. So all of us working on the new Radio Australia Cox Peninsular commissioning took turn in house concreting and lawn planting.

We became very good concreters, lawn layers and drunks. 🙂

[Yellowtail]

5 minutes ago, carlyai said:

When we moved to Darwin as a whippersnapper, they gave us a choice of elevated new houses all built except for cement and lawn. So all of us working on the new Radio Australia Cox Peninsular commissioning took turn in house concreting and lawn planting.

We became very good concreters, lawn layers and drunks. 🙂

When I was a kid in Southern California, the street I grew up, my friend's parents included aerospace workers, a few engineers, auto workers, a couple contractors, a couple of restaurant owners, a bakery owner, a doctor, a few nurses, a fireman, a policeman, a county road worker, a teacher, a security guard a route driver and a few salesmen. 

 

When each house would add a den or redo a roof, most of the men (and a lot of boys) were involved. Virtually everyone fixed their own vehicles, often with help. Almost no one hired plumbers, electricians or gardeners. People took the tubes out of their TV down to the drug store where they had a test stand and a rack of tubes. 

 

In grades 7-12, boys generally took wood-shop, metal-shop, auto-shop and electronics. Those classes are no longer offered at most public schools in California. 

 

Virtually everyone took driver-ed when they were 15, got a driving permit at 15 1/2, got their license when they were 16, and got a job to buy a car, soon after. Most boys owned their own car and was wrenching on it before they graduated high school. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Luuk Chaai]

7 hours ago, chiang mai said:

This looks interesting, have you used it before? I'll be grateful for feedback from anyone who has.

 

Having done some more research, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, thank you so much Luuk Chai, I owe you, big time. 1-2 mm thick means I can use a concrete grinder to clear of the top surface/crumbling patches/dirt first then return the drive to its previous level. Perfect! 

i used something similar back in the US  it was a Mapei product

[Will B Good]

7 hours ago, chiang mai said:

This looks interesting, have you used it before? I'll be grateful for feedback from anyone who has.

 

Having done some more research, this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, thank you so much Luuk Chai, I owe you, big time. 1-2 mm thick means I can use a concrete grinder to clear of the top surface/crumbling patches/dirt first then return the drive to its previous level. Perfect! 

 

 

Just going off a comment someone else made....is it suitable for outdoors under the Thai sun?

[chiang mai]

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Just going off a comment someone else made....is it suitable for outdoors under the Thai sun?

A good point, often this stuff is OK indoors but not outside. I'll talk to the Help Line at Crocodile on Monday.

[Jeff Reinstad]

You could go with epoxy paint. Stuff is extremely durable, you can paint it yourself and it is thicker than normal paint, filling the gaps and smoothing surface a little bit.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/toa-100-2-epoxy-coating-toa-floorguard-100-part-ab-3785-i4378851938-s17443601159.html?

[chiang mai]

4 minutes ago, Jeff Reinstad said:

You could go with epoxy paint. Stuff is extremely durable, you can paint it yourself and it is thicker than normal paint, filling the gaps and smoothing surface a little bit.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/toa-100-2-epoxy-coating-toa-floorguard-100-part-ab-3785-i4378851938-s17443601159.html?

Oddly this isn't the case, epoxy paint is strongly advised against for outside use because of its poor resistance to ultra violet rays. This was reinforced to me two weeks ago when the SIKA engineering guys came by to do a site inspection.

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

Oddly this isn't the case, epoxy paint is strongly advised against for outside use because of its poor resistance to ultra violet rays. This was reinforced to me two weeks ago when the SIKA engineering guys came by to do a site inspection.

 

"Epoxy and polyurethane are often used interchangeably, because many people refer to anything catalytic as epoxy. The nice thing about catalytic coatings is that when they fill pits and whatnot, they cure good and hard. 

e-catalog-toa-floor-guard-english-update-202303.pdf (toagroup.com)