Does the concrete in your driveway and on your sidewalk look a little strange this spring?

We can blame all this crooked, cracked, concrete on the exceptionally hard winter we had here in the Sioux Empire this year.

As Dakota News Now reports, many people throughout the Sioux Falls area are confronted right now with cracks in their concrete.

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Cracks, pops, and missing pieces in sections of driveways, sidewalks, and seemingly almost every concrete street are a common problem this year not only in Sioux Falls but throughout most of South Dakota.

What caused all this cracked concrete?

Ray Brooks, President of Brooks Construction, told Dakota News Now, “The issues we are seeing around Sioux Falls has a lot to do with what happened last winter with the freeze, thaw process. Concrete is like a sponge, and it will absorb moisture even from twenty feet away so in the wintertime if you leave your snow there it freezes on there and becomes a part of the concrete. Then when it comes off it pulls the top right with it."

What's the solution to help try and prevent this problem in the future?

According to Brooks, do your best to shovel ALL the snow off your concrete surfaces whenever possible.

He also recommends never using rock salt on driveways and sidewalks. Salt will not only hurt your concrete throughout the freeze-thaw process, but it's also difficult to get off surfaces once it's on. Salt has a tendency to hang around on concrete surfaces for up to a month in many cases.

Brooks told Dakota News Now, two good alternatives to rock salt, are rock chips, and even birdseed.

There are two big advantages to using birdseed on sidewalks and driveways according to Brooks, it's good for birds, and it will not harm your yard.

Source: Dakota News Now