A driveway is the biggest slab most homeowners ever pour, and in West Lafayette, Indiana it has a hard life: snowplows, salt tracked in on tires, a high water table in late winter and freeze-thaw cycles from November to March. Built on a real base with the right mix and joints, it holds up to all of that. Built thin on a skimpy base, it cracks, heaves and flakes early.
We pour new driveways, tear out and replace old ones, and widen or extend what you have. Every estimate is free, done at your property, and written down with the thickness, base, reinforcement and joint layout listed, so you can compare it line by line with anyone else's.
New drives, replacements and widening
- New driveways for new homes, additions and gravel drives being converted to concrete.
- Tear-out and replacement of cracked, heaved, sunken or flaking driveways, including haul-off of the old concrete.
- Widening and extensions: a single drive made double, a parking pad beside the garage, a turnaround, or a pad for a trailer or camper.
- Aprons and approaches at the street, including the section through the public sidewalk, with the city's right-of-way permit.
- Section replacement when only a few panels have failed and the rest of the drive is sound. See removal and replacement.
How a driveway should be built here
This is standard practice, applied to our soil and winters. It's also where cheap driveways cut corners, so it's worth knowing what to look for on an estimate.
| Item | What to expect | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Thickness | 4 in. for cars and SUVs. 5 to 6 in. for heavy pickups, campers and trailers. | Going from 4 to 5 inches uses a quarter more concrete and carries roughly half again the load. |
| Base | Compacted crushed stone over compacted native soil, with soft spots dug out. | Water drains out of stone. It sits in silt and clay, then freezes. |
| Mix | Air-entrained, about 4,000 psi. | Holds up to freeze-thaw. Indiana's code rates this county's weathering as severe. |
| Joints | About every 10 ft on a 4-in. drive, cut at least a quarter of the slab's depth within hours of finishing. | Panels should be close to square and no more than 1.5 times as long as they are wide, so cracks land in the joints. |
| Reinforcement | Wire mesh or rebar on chairs at mid-depth, when specified. | Steel holds cracks tight. It only works if it's in the middle of the slab. |
| Slope and finish | Pitched away from the house and garage, broom finish across the slope. | Water leaves the slab, and the texture gives grip in rain and snow. |
The apron, the curb cut and the city
The part of your driveway between the street and your property line usually sits in the city's right-of-way, along with the public sidewalk it crosses. In West Lafayette, any work there needs a right-of-way permit from the City Engineering Department.
- Applications have been online-only since June 1, 2025. They include a drawing of the work, a traffic plan, and a certificate of insurance naming the city.
- Engineering allows up to 10 working days to review, and an incomplete application restarts the clock. Plan your start date around it.
- Closing the sidewalk or part of the street needs separate approval from the Board of Public Works and Safety.
- The city also requires contractors to have a bond on file before doing permitted work, and concrete is one of the trades it lists. It's a fair question to ask anyone you're getting a price from.
Engineering's number is (765) 807-8980. Outside city limits, a new drive onto a county road is permitted by the Tippecanoe County Highway Department. The county code keeps entrances at least 5 feet from the neighboring property line and calls for a drain pipe at least 12 inches across where one is needed.
What our soil means for a driveway
The most common soils in Tippecanoe County, Drummer, Starks, Crosby and their neighbors, are silty, poorly or somewhat poorly drained, and moderately prone to shrinking and swelling. On a lot of local ground the water table rises to within a foot or so of the surface in late winter and spring, right when freeze-thaw is at its worst.
That's why the base matters more than the concrete. Black topsoil and soft spots come out. The subgrade gets compacted. Crushed stone goes in and gets compacted too, and the slab is pitched so water runs off instead of soaking in at the edges. Downspouts that dump against the side of a driveway are a common reason a corner sinks, so we'll point them out if we see them.
What a driveway costs
Published cost data for Lafayette, IN puts a new concrete driveway at about $6 to $10 a square foot unreinforced and $7 to $11 reinforced, plus $1.20 to $1.90 a square foot to break out and haul away an old one. That range looks like on common sizes.
| Driveway | Area | New concrete | Plus tear-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single, 10 x 20 ft | 200 sq ft | $1,200 to $2,200 | $240 to $380 |
| Two-car, 20 x 24 ft | 480 sq ft | $2,880 to $5,280 | $576 to $912 |
| Long drive, 12 x 60 ft | 720 sq ft | $4,320 to $7,920 | $864 to $1,368 |
Published Lafayette-area ranges multiplied by the area. Your written estimate is the real number. Thickness, access for the truck, grading and the apron permit all move the number. The cost guide explains each one.
The first year with a new driveway
The short version is below. The full version is in caring for new concrete.
- Curing. Concrete keeps gaining strength for weeks. It should stay damp or covered for the first 3 to 7 days.
- Traffic. Common practice is foot traffic after about a day, cars after about a week, and heavy trucks or campers after 28 days.
- No salt the first winter. Shovel it and use sand for grip. Deicers on young concrete are a leading cause of the flaking called scaling.
- Edges. Keep heavy equipment and dumpsters off the edges, and send downspouts away from the slab.
Ready to get a number? Call (765) 508-4206 or use the form at the top of this page.
Removal and replacement
Sidewalks and steps
Stamped and colored