How to Edge a Concrete Driveway

A well-poured concrete driveway has crisp clear edges that form a definitive boundary between the driveway and the surrounding landscape. This edge is created during the forming of the driveway, soon after the concrete is poured into place. The edge on the driveway isn’t merely for appearance. A clean, smoothed edge keeps your vehicle from incurring tire damage if it should slip from the driveway’s surface, keeps the concrete slab from cracking due to expansion and contraction, and also helps with maintenance of the landscape surrounding the driveway.

Concrete screed
Steel trowel
Bull float
Concrete edger
Concrete groover

Instructions

- 1
  Drag a screed along the surface of the freshly poured concrete in order to level the concrete. Use a screed long enough to span the width of the concrete, extending slightly over the forms holding the slab in place. Have a helper hold the other end and use a back and forth sawing motion to move the concrete on the surface of the slab, spreading it evenly against the forms. Start from the top of the driveway and work towards the street.
- 2
  Pass a bull float along the surface of the driveway to smooth the surface and to push the aggregate particles in the concrete lower into the slab. This also pulls water from the slab towards the top, which will help the slab cure without drying out prematurely.
- 3
  Check the slab’s surface with the flat of your thumb. Press lightly onto the surface of the concrete. When the surface is firm enough that only a slight impression is made, you can begin edging the driveway.
- 4
  Run a steel trowel along the edge of the wood forms at the sides of the concrete slab to separate the concrete from the wood.
- 5
  Place a concrete edging tool between the wood form and the driveway. The rounded portion of the edging tool should be placed at the edge of the concrete, with the flat of the tool resting lightly on the driveway’s surface. Run the edging tool down the edge of the concrete along the inside of the form. A light line should be left on the surface of the concrete where the flat of the tool passes along the top of the slab. As the tool moves down the edge of the driveway, the edge should be rounded to the radius of the edging tool. Run the tool along both edges of the driveway.
- 6
  Remove the tool and then run the float across the surface of the concrete slab again to remove the light lines created by the edging tool.
- 7
  Cut a series of expansion joints across the width of the slab using a concrete groover. Place a joint about every 12 feet to keep the concrete from cracking as the weather changes.
- 8
  Allow the concrete driveway to cure completely according to the time suggested by the concrete manufacturer.

How to Make a Concrete Slab Driveway

How to Remove Scratches in a Concrete Driveway

Driveways