Greetings- This concrete pitting and surface lifting has just occurred over the last week, we have been living in this new house since last June and the driveway was poured late during the prevoius summer. Basically, this driveway has seen it's second winter and I'm not impressed. I bought this house off a small builder and we haven't had any conversations regarding the ramafications of this as he is on vacation. Pictures tell a thousand words so here you go, as mentioned, this occurred during a winters melt which had exposure to freezing temperatures during the night and melting during the day.

Secon time a charm...

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Contractors who are pouring concrete in the late summer and there is a danger of it freezing will us an antifreeze mixture in the concrete, too much will cause what is happening to yours.

I know that sounds crazy but in some parts of Texas we can have nice autumn days followed by ice and snow. So that is why I referred to that.

But I actually think that you have the problem that you seemed to be thinking about, that is moisture soaking into the concrete and then freezing, this results in places popping up in the concrete. I think this is sometime cause by not getting a burnished finish to the concrete.

A few more... seems like everwhere there is a pit, there is a rock exposed usually 1/8"-1/4" below the surface

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Do you use salt on your driveway (or could road salt be coming off your car)? Salt is very bad for concrete and will cause exactly the problem you see.

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Originally Posted by ;

this occured during a winters melt which had exposure to freezing temperatures during the night and melting during the day.

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That's what all concrete goes through in the winter in many states. That in its self is not an issue for concrete, even if the top wasn't hard troweled finished and wet or dry broomed that's a lot of spawling. The only time Ive seen spawling that bad is after a lot of "Rock Salt" was used for de-iceing.

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Originally Posted by rtw_travel

Do you use salt on your driveway (or could road salt be coming off your car)? Salt is very bad for concrete and will cause exactly the problem you see.

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I used salt two, maybe three times. I have used salt on concrete for years, never seen it react this way. Funny thing is there is a sidewalk dividing my driveway which was put in by the developer and it's pristine.

Thanks for your post, I hope you are incorrect:)

How well did the walk drain compared to the driveway? The longer the salt sits in water and soaks in the concrete the more damage it can create.

It really takes one time to salt out a concrete surface. It the Time it sits and melts refreezes and the "Size" of the salt crystals

Hello:

It could be the result of over finishing the concrete. It could be because the concrete was not covered with plastic and dried to quickly. Rock salt on concrete will give you this damage. A concrete sealer may help protect you if it is applied properly.

Good Luck!

Looks like contractor added too much water to mix. Slump too high?
If spalling started all of a sudden over a 2-3 month period.
We suspect concrete had been weakend be adding too much water.
Concrete Truck could have been on the road too long.
After 90 min. in there drum... the concrete is pretty much junk because of the use of water to keep the mix workable.

Getting that same pitting on a porch area that is about 5 years old. What maybe the cause of that. It has had salt applied & never showed up until a few weeks ago after a snow storm. Any ideas what may have caused that.