Should You Repair or Replace Your Concrete Driveway?

Short answer: Repair a concrete driveway when damage is limited to a few panels, cracks are under ¼ inch, and the slab is mostly level. Replace it when more than about a third of the panels are cracked, sunken or scaling. In Oklahoma City, repairs run $250 to $2,500 and replacement $8 to $13 per square foot.

OKC Driveway Repair Co. does both concrete driveway repair and full replacement across Oklahoma City, so there’s no reason to steer you toward the bigger job. Whether to repair or replace a concrete driveway comes down to how much of it has failed and why. Here are the cutoffs we use and the numbers behind them.

The quick rule

• Repair when fewer than about a third of the panels are damaged, the cracks are under ¼ inch, and the slab is mostly level.
• Level when panels have dropped but are still in one piece.
• Resurface when the slab is sound and level but the surface is flaking or pitted.
• Replace when more than about a third has failed, damage is spread across the drive, or repairs keep failing.

The free driveway damage assessment applies these cutoffs to your drive in about two minutes.

What each option costs in Oklahoma City

The ten-year math

Take a 480 sq ft two-car drive with 16 panels.

• Three broken panels: replacing them runs about $2,400 to $3,900, plus about $400 to seal the remaining cracks and joints. The other 13 panels have years left. Repair wins.
• Seven broken or sunken panels, cracks everywhere: panel repairs alone approach $6,000 to $9,000, and the remaining panels are next. A full replacement at $3,800 to $6,200 comes with a new base and a fresh 20- to 35-year life. Replacement wins.

The crossover is usually around a third of the drive. Below it, repair. Above it, the repairs start costing as much as replacement while leaving an old slab in place.

Questions that tip the decision

1. Why did it fail? If the base is soft clay or the drainage is wrong, repairs on top of it keep failing. Replacement lets the base be rebuilt.
2. How old is it? LawnStarter puts concrete driveway life at 20 to 35 years. A 35-year-old drive with spreading damage is near the end.
3. How thick is it? Many older metro drives are 4 inches or less with no reinforcement. Thin slabs break faster after repairs.
4. Are you selling soon? A few clean panel repairs and sealed joints may be the better spend before a sale.
5. Does it need to be wider? If you want more parking, replacement is the cheapest time to widen.

Bottom line

Repair while the damage is limited to a few panels; replace once about a third has failed or the base is the problem. For a written quote that prices both options side by side, call (405) 442-4044 or see concrete driveway repair and driveway replacement.