Repairing A Neglected Driveway Crack | The Ultimate Solution!

Anyone who has a concrete driveway most likely also has one or more concrete cracks in that driveway. There is a method to repair these cracks which do not include hauling around bags of concrete or hours of back-breaking work. I will walk you through this DIY-friendly project which has served me well over the years.

Chapter
0:00 Intro
0:38 Prep Work
1:36 Why You Need To Repair These Cracks
2:26 Filling In The Cracks and Voids
3:40 The Better Solution For Filling Concrete Cracks
5:17 Applying Vulkem 45 SSL
6:07 Avoid This Issue And How To Blend In The Sealtant
8:07 What To Do For Larger Cracks

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DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.

[benjaminwells]

Two additional tips when working with the 45 SSL: you can fill the crack to almost over filling it because it does shrink a bit when it dries. Second: I ended up dumping a large amount of sand over the entire crack once it was filled and then came back the next day and swept/ blew the excess off. It ends up blending much better and does a good job hiding any over fill pointa

[B]

I live up here in the northwest. The big problem about cracks in sidewalks or driveways is water getting in the cracks and freezing. The frozen water expands the crack further damaging the area. I use 45 psi compressed air to clean out the debris. I enjoy your videos. Thank you.

[gagelindell]

Solid video for a busy dad who is clueless on this stuff and needs to fix about 4 cracks lol. Thanks Man.

[brianc]

You can buy a concrete cutting/grinding blade for your angle grinder to open and clean the crack for prep. Also you can grind down the high side to prevent tripping hazards by rounding the edge.

[steved]

Hey man pretty good tutorial. A few tips from a guy that has owned a caulking company for 30 years. If you use a 2 part polyurethane caulk you stop a lot of bubbling issues because it cures all at once. Instead of the top curing first. Another tip, Sonneborn, now Masterseal SL-2 Slope grade works way better. You can over shoot it, then back tool excess and you have a perfect joint. That material would have also bridged the height difference of the crack at that one end. There are way more colors with the SL-2 too.

[carlbussmann]

Another very comprehensive but easily understood video. He seems never to miss important details and explains how to work around them. Keep up the fine work !!

[baxtermullins]

I have multiple very small cracks. I first slightly enlarged the cracks, then cleaned edges and add sealant! Final step was to add small sand/gravel to match but can adhere to the sealant. It is a 24-year old driveway in the Texas heat and cold and still looks good!

[YTS]

I had to use the "pool noodle" method! I've got some areas which I forgot to prep . . . and needless to say, the sealant kept going down and I will have to go back and prep it and then add some more sealant. Funny thing . . . my wife question the "pool noodle" method and said, "Where did you learn that, YouTube?" LOL! Thank you for your videos, they have save me a bunch of mistakes and money. On the end, where the crack really opened up, I used an aluminium, square blank that I had from other projects (4X4) piece and tapped it into the ground next to the end of my front porch. It served as a rigid dam at the end. Worked really good.

[shizzledesign]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon your video. I have almost an identical crack near my garage and need to address it as soon as it warms up. Thanks so much for taking the time to film this process!!

[aldawgd]

I think this was a great video. But if you going to do all that work I would of taken a expanding spray foam such as “Great stuff” (not the most rigid out there once it dries but the original formula is actually pretty stout) and sprayed it down into the crack. If you have a crack larger than a quarter inch or 6-12 months old you most likely have under washing beneath the driveway. Some subsurface erosion. If driveway had proper gavel, tamping, and installation. Only roots or water erosion will cause uneven heights in concrete.
So the expanding foam will fill in all the holes and gaps left over from water erosion. And prevent for an extra extended period of time the sinking concrete sinking farther. Can’t be the extra soft cell stuff for like around windows and doors though. Then trim it 48 hours later and it will also act as your backer rod. Then seal it with any quality sealant like you used in video.
Using the foam should buy you at least few years before any additional slab sinking and sealing the crack prevents future water erosion buying you at least a few years also.
Lastly I would dig to and chop the roots 2’ back from the driveway. They should be only 4”-12” deep and close to in line with crack if it was involved.
Well that was a fun book to write lol. Thank you to the 1 person that eventually reads this whole thing ha

[sae]

Great video and prep technique. I can say this is the most effective long term solution, as over 20 years ago I repaired my concrete parking lot using multiple methods (some areas used quikcrete other areas used Solonlastic SL1 with backer rod) the ladder method has held up for 20+ years. All the quikcrete repairs broke up after a few years. Of course a professional would know that would happen, but for me at the time it was an experiment…

[xordoom]

When I would do this, I always hated the filler not blending into the concrete and thus contrasting colors as an obvious repair. To fix that issue once I would add the filler to level it with the surrounding concrete, I would use either sand or pulverized concrete and add it as a light topper to blend it in, and what a HUGE difference that made as the sand\concrete would adhere to the filler and would be almost impossible to remove and would make the whole job look a million times better.

[cancerking]

I did the same thing to my driveway two days ago but used the Sika self leveling sealant from Home Depot. So far it looks good. (I’m a diy person with little experience so I watch lots of videos on YouTube. Thanks for your video.

[gyamlj]

One trick for matching concrete would be to pulverize the chips you remove and sprinkle that on the top instead of sand.

[tycox]

A better solution occurred to me that I used for a relative’s driveway. His didn’t contain cracks. However, the individual pads had lifted or sunk over the years, creating trip hazards and interfering with water drainage. He hired a contractor to inject expansion foam that re-leveled the pads. Afterwards, I filled the gaps between the pads with POLYMERIC SAND. It has performed well. Unlike mortar, it allows for movement. Unlike caulk, it blends perfectly with the concrete. I’m going to fill cracks in my driveway with it.

[robertarguello]

Hello Scott, When a crack on a sidewalk has different elevations, I'll take a grinder with a concrete grinding wheel and I'll grind the higher elevation so that there is a taper that levels where the crack is and gradually gets higher (a six inches taper in total). This way, when water travels across the sidewalk, it won't collect where the crack is & I've eliminated a trip-hazard. .... Then, I'll proceed with similar steps as you've shown in this video to seal the crack. 👍

[jamesherman]

I use a 5 in 1 tool for digging around in the cracks. Myself, I have several of these, and use my older beat up ones because it will take the edge off the tool. Also, I make sure I keep the tubes warm so they flow easier causing less hand fatigue.

[davefoc]

The expansion joints had rotted out on our patio. When I fixed that the first time I used the backer rod. Using that technique on larger cracks can lead to problems when the backer rod shifts under the sealant. IMO, a much better technique was to fill the crack with sand, pound it in using a board that was just smaller than the crack and a hammer. Then use a self made wooden scraper that left about 3/8 of an inch of sand in the crack. That produced a nice looking long lasting patch. One thing he might have mentioned, that was at least true of the sealant I used, that stuff sticks like mad. He alluded to the problem when he talked about having something to lay the caulk gun down on was a good idea. Absolutely, if you are using full self leveling compound a lot of care is necessary to keep from getting the sealant in the wrong place. It is hard to get off.

One other thing I learned in that project was how to remove sealant from a crack if it needs to be removed: Oscillating saws work very well for cutting the old sealant free.

[chrissupport]

GREAT video. I like the prep work to ensure it sticks and lasts. I didn't know about SSL, and have only used the thinner stuff. I've got some gaps over 1" after slabs shifted when ground was saturated due to a neighbor blocking drainage (with my driveway on a berm). Using backer rod is the trick. Problem here (near St. Louis) is water/melting snow gets down in cracks and freezes/expands in winter, and pushes slabs apart and pops up more concrete

[yeltsin]

I recently did moms drive. She had same issue. I put polymeric sand in first then watered it as
Per instructions then did the SLC and did the sand trick on top to blend it in. She couldn’t believe how good it was