Driveway resurfacing in Ballarat.
Most 1970s–1990s Ballarat driveways are scaled, crazed and tired-looking but still structurally sound. You don’t need to demolish them — you need to resurface them. We give you the honest replace-vs-resurface call before you spend money.
Two ways to resurface.
Option 1: Spray-on cementitious overlay (most common).
A 4–8mm layer of polymer-modified cementitious overlay applied over the existing slab. Comes in any colour, can be stencilled or finished smooth. Bonds to clean prepared concrete with structural strength approaching the original. The right choice when:
- Existing slab has surface scaling or crazing but is structurally sound
- No live cracks (cracks where the two sides move differentially)
- No rocking or differential settlement when you drive over it
- The existing edges and crossover are intact
Pricing: $60–$90/m² depending on colour, pattern, sealer.
Option 2: Full grind-and-repour.
We grind off the top 20–30mm of the existing slab to create a clean bonding surface, lay a fresh layer of mesh-reinforced concrete on top, finish to spec. Effectively a new driveway over the old base. The right choice when:
- Cracks are live (movement at the crack faces, edges out of plane)
- Slab is heaving or has dropped at one corner
- Surface scaling has gone too deep for an overlay (>15mm loss)
- You want a different finish (e.g. converting plain to exposed aggregate)
Pricing: $80–$110/m² depending on grind depth and final finish.
When neither option works (full demo + repour).
Roughly 1 in 5 quotes we do for “resurfacing” in Sebastopol, Mount Pleasant or Ballarat North end up needing full demo and repour because the underlying slab has failed structurally. The signs we look for: dropped-corner settlement > 25mm, slab rocking under foot pressure, root intrusion at edges, or alligator cracking patterns suggesting base failure. We’ll tell you which option you actually need, in writing, with the cost difference.
Why your driveway is failing.
Three Ballarat-specific failure mechanisms:
- Surface scaling — freeze-thaw lifting the cement paste off the aggregate. Worst on north-facing driveways that get sun-thaw cycles. The most common 1970s–1990s failure.
- Crazing (map cracks) — shrinkage during initial cure. Mostly cosmetic. An overlay will fix it.
- Heaving / cracking — reactive clay or tree roots forcing the slab to move. An overlay will telegraph the cracks back through within 18 months. Needs grind-and-repour or full demo.
The honest test.
Before we quote, we walk the slab end to end, tap it with a 1.5kg hammer (hollow areas suggest delamination), measure crack widths with a feeler gauge, and check for movement by stepping each panel. If there’s any doubt, we core-drill a 50mm sample for visual inspection of slab thickness and base condition. The assessment is included in the quote — not an extra.
Where we work.
Free driveway assessment.
Honest replace-vs-resurface call. Fixed-price written quote in 48 hours.