I had a new concrete driveway installed in July. It's 6 inches thick with wire mesh in it. It's a large driveway that was poured from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. It was cut the next morning around 8:00 am. The contractor used a soft-cut saw and cut the control joints 1 inch deep. The panels are about 7.5' x 7.5'. Are the saw cuts deep enough? Everything I'm reading says that an early entry saw has to be used within about 4 hours of finishing to be effective, otherwise you must cut the joints 1/4 to 1/3 the thickness of the slab. If the cuts aren't deep enough, can the joints be cut deeper? If so, is there benefit to doing so? Any advice is much appreciated!

My slabs are about the same size, 8 yrs. old, joints cut about 5/8" deep, no cracks yet. You can always cut the joints deeper, rent a wet saw and diamond blade or have a concrete sawing company do it.

Hi Ma0641. Were the joints cut within 4 hours of the concrete being finished or did the contractor wait until the next day to cut?

Don't know, wasn't there. However, I did see similar jobs in the neighborhood and they were done after floating and some set time so 4 hours would be reasonable, definitely not the next day. . BTW, Concrete sets pretty fast in the Atlanta area.