by Teresa
(UK)
My driveway is concrete and had a few cracks so I got a local guy to repair it. I didn't realise that he would drill out the concrete and fill it in. Now the driveway looks worse than before as the original driveway had pebbles in the concrete and the repaired part doesn't - plus the new concrete is grey and the original isn't.
I don't want to spend a lot of money as I am selling the house but what can I do to make the driveway look more presentable?
What a shame this contractor left you such a mess to clean up. Do you have any recourse with him? It sounds like your original driveway is exposed aggregate concrete. The contractor repaired the cracks with regular, gray concrete. A big mistake on his part. Concrete always looks patched when repaired because of the different appearance of old versus new concrete, but he should have used the same type of concrete.
The best and most economical way of trying to blend the colors is to use concrete stain. I use a concrete stain contractor that does beautiful work. Check with local brick masons and concrete contractors to find someone that is experienced and reputable. There will still be a texture difference between the two types of concrete, but hopefully it won't be as noticable. Good Luck!