[kingcire]

I am getting mixed results from 3 different people I got advice for my driveway. Over a period of 20 years my driveway has sunk about a foot or so and I decided to just lay dirt and some gravel on top. Now I am ready to get someone to pour some concrete to make a sturdier driveway. I asked a few people and here is the top 3 things I was told.

1. If the original drive way had a few cracks in it then the new driveway will be fine.

2. You need to take up all that dirt/gravel and crack up that entire driveway then put the dirt back on top.

3. You need to take all of that old drive way completely out.

So I am confused on what to do. The driveway is 17ft by 22ft. If I do not rip out or crack up the old driveway what is the worse that can happen?

 

[downunder]

Why has it sunk?

 

[jomama45]

Why has it sunk?

Exactly my thoughts. There's no reason for a driveway to ever sink that far, unless it was sitting on 3-4' ,or more, of fill.

 

[kingcire]

I beleive this was the reason it sunk in the first place. I live near New Orleans so when everything was swamp land they just threw in river sand and built on top of that. Over time say every 10 to 20 years everything sunk a foot or two. I beleive it was never compacted or givin time to settle. It was not just the driveway that sunk it was about 1' lower all the way around and under the house. I am luck the house has pilons. Was hoping the old driveway would act as a flat pilon for the new driveway.