Clean the Driveway
To start, you’ll need to thoroughly clean the areas of the driveway you’ll be repairing. That means removing weeds, grass, and moss. You can pull weeds by hand (wear gloves!) or use a small garden tool or screwdriver to uproot them. Here’s how to get rid of moss on your driveway if it’s becoming a problem.
Remove large debris from the surface of your driveway with a leaf blower or push broom. Next, take a garden hose or, for dirtier driveways, a pressure washer to thoroughly clean the concrete or asphalt, removing smaller debris. Renting a pressure washer costs about $90 a day, but there are some pros and cons of DIY pressure washing to consider before trying to use such a powerful tool as a beginner. If you’re nervous about using a pressure washer, call a pro or stick with a garden hose with a nozzle on the jet setting.
Start by spraying the center of the driveway and washing debris outward toward the sides. If your driveway is on a slant, start at the highest point and then move downhill. After the entire driveway area is wet, apply a thin layer of eco-friendly driveway detergent, then work the cleaner into the surface of the concrete with a push broom. Follow up with a final washing using the hose or pressure washer.
You can also use a shop vacuum to remove remaining debris from larger cracks before filling them.
Fix the Cracks Based on the Material and Type of Crack
The size of the crack will impact how you approach the problem. Fixing large cracks in a driveway, for instance, is more involved than repairing a hairline crack. The material of the driveway—concrete vs. asphalt driveways, for instance—will also have some bearing on how you fix driveway cracks.
Note: We recommend wearing long sleeves and pants, a dust max, gloves, and eye goggles when handling cement products.
How to Fix Hairline Cracks in Driveways
Hairline cracks may appear shortly after your driveway is installed, especially if the concrete doesn’t cure properly. They can also appear over time from natural wear and tear from vehicles.
Fixing hairline cracks in your driveway is fortunately easy. Just purchase a refiller for hairline cracks at a home improvement store or online and apply to the cracks according to the instructions on the product packaging.
That said, if your entire driveway is covered in hairline cracks, it may be easier to reseal the entire driveway:
How to Fix Small Cracks in Driveways
Small cracks under ¼ of an inch wide—yet larger than hairline cracks—require extra work. For concrete cracks, purchase a concrete filler and apply it with a caulking gun. Use a pointing trowel or putty knife to work the filler deeper into the crack to ensure it’s filled completely.
Alternatively, you can make a cement mixture (1 part cement to 3 parts sand) to fill small cracks. Mix it in a bucket with a little water to form a paste. You’ll also want to make cement paint (cement plus a little water) in a separate bucket. Apply the cement paint inside the crack, let it sit for roughly an hour, and then apply the cement and sand mixture over top of the crack, using a putting knife to pack it in and level the mixture. Make circular motions with the trowel to blend the cement mixture with the existing concrete surface.
For an asphalt driveway with thin cracks, you can buy a patching product that is self-leveling. Apply it as directed by the bottle (they’re usually squeezable). Apply it on a dry morning, let it set up for the day, and seal it in the evening.
How to Fix Medium-Sized Cracks in Driveways
Larger concrete cracks—between ¼ and ½ inches require a vinyl concrete patching compound. Follow the instructions for the compound to prepare it correctly, then pour it directly into the cracks.
Use your putting knife to work the compound in deeper, adding more of the mixture as necessary. Once the crack is filled, smooth out the surface with the putty knife.
How to Fix Large Cracks in Driveways
If your concrete driveway has cracks that are wider than half an inch, you’ll need to take a different approach. Purchase a concrete backer rod and install it into the crack. This cuts down on the amount of filler you’ll have to apply in the gap.
After forcing the flexible backer rod into the crack, patch the crack as you would a small or medium-sized crack, with either concrete filler, a cement mixture, or a vinyl concrete patching compound. Level and smooth the surface with your trowel, let it cure the appropriate amount of time (depending on the mixture used), and then seal the crack.
For asphalt driveways with large cracks, you can follow a similar process, using a foam backer rod and a water-based acrylic filler. Let it cure for a day, then seal the asphalt.
If your driveway has potholes, we recommend calling a professional driveway repair company near you to tackle the project.
Make a Plan for Future Driveway Maintenance
You might have fixed the cracks in your driveway, but your work is not done. After the filler has cured, we recommend sealing your driveway. More importantly, make a plan for ongoing driveway maintenance to minimize cracks and chips in the future.
For starters, check out our driveway cleaning guide, and make a point to regularly seal your driveway. How often you seal your driveway depends on various factors, but to stay on the proactive side, you could do it every other year.
Just pay attention to the weather and time of year before tackling this project—here are the best times to seal your driveway. While it’s a totally doable DIY task (here’s how to seal your driveway on your own), you might want to leave this one to the pros if you’re not experienced in sealing an entire driveway surface.
Here are a couple of other helpful resources, depending on what type of driveway surface you have:
