How to Level Uneven Concrete

LESLIE: Next up we have a call from Zeibel in Tennessee.

Zeibel, how can we help you?

ZEIBEL: Yes, ma’am. I have an area in the driveway that my husband had to tear up some and replace. And when the concrete man finished it, they left sort of a low place. It’s approximately, at the longest, probably 8-foot long and it’s over and against the outside wall which is about 3-foot off of the grass and the dirt. OK, there’s this low area there and what I want to know if there is some way that I can fill in with some kind of a compound and bring that concrete up to where it would stay and wash on down the driveway like it’s supposed to.

TOM: What you’re going to have to do, Zeibel, is use an epoxy patching compound. That’s the only kind of compound that’s going to stick to the old concrete without freezing and chipping off in the wintertime. So if you get an epoxy compound, you can probably build that area up. You might have to do the whole section, though, because there’s going to be a different coloration between that and the concrete that’s surrounding it.

ZEIBEL: OK. Is there some way that I should prepare the surface before I put it on there?

TOM: Absolutely. You want to follow the label directions but always a good idea to start with a pressure washing so you get all of that dirt and grime off. And make sure the surface is really dry. You might wash one day, wait a couple of days, and then apply the compound.

LESLIE: Yeah, because the slightest bit of dirt is really going to hesitate the adhesion process.