Much of Newcastle’s housing was built when a driveway was two strips or a thin slab meant for one small car. Decades of heavier vehicles, tree roots and clay that swells and shrinks have done the rest. When a slab has cracked through, dropped at the joints or lifted at the edges, patching buys a season. Replacement fixes it.
What removal involves
The old concrete is cut at the limits of the job, broken out with an excavator or a breaker, loaded and carted to a recycling yard. Saw cuts at the boundary and against anything being kept, such as a garage slab or a neighbour’s driveway, give a clean edge to pour against. Services are located first. Both councils leave the Before You Dig enquiry with the owner or the contractor, and it matters most on old streets where pipes are shallow and unrecorded.
Fix the cause, not only the surface
Removing the slab is the chance to see why it failed. Soft spots are dug out and the base rebuilt where the ground calls for it. Roots are dealt with, by an arborist where a tree is protected. Levels are reset so water runs to the street or a drain instead of the garage. Then the new slab is poured to the specification, with mesh inside the concrete and joints where they belong.
The crossing comes out too
If the council crossing is part of the failure, it is replaced under the same approval a new one needs, and an old layback that is no longer used has to be removed and the kerb reinstated. The Section 138 guide explains how each council handles it.
Choosing what goes back
Replacement is the moment to get the driveway you would have chosen: wider, in exposed aggregate or coloured concrete, with a path to the door poured at the same time. See concrete driveways for the three finishes.
Removal adds about $35 per m² to the new concrete. The cost guide and the calculator include it as a tick box. When you are ready, request a measure.
Published rates are a guide for budgeting. The price for your job is the one on the written quote after a site measure.