Colouring Driveway - Best Option?

Hi guys,

If I want to pour a new driveway and want it to be coloured (e.g. Gunmetal) I understand there are two options.

1. Pour regular (grey) concrete then apply a coloured sealer on top
2. Use a colour mix with the regular concrete and pour that.

What are the pros and cons for each and which do you recommend?

I'm certainly no expert but I've been recommended having the colour all the way through the concrete, as if the top sealer bit ever wears off anywhere you'd have an odd patch. It costs a bit more but not much more in my experience, and you can still have a clear sealer put on top.

Great, I will do this. Thank you.

Check out the colours on this page. We are going to do our rear concrete with one of these colours. We have exposed aggregate from Midway on our path and driveway.
http://www.midwayminimix.com.au/concret ... ealers.php

Color through is the best option IMO

more expensive but worth the money.

You should end up with a consistent finish (color wise) and if it does get damaged it won't show grey through

my concreter said that by mixing the colour, concrete gets weakened. not sure if it's true...

That could be true

But if the concreter is worth the money they are charging, they should now this and specify the mix to allow an adequate strength (specify a different/stronger mix) and compensate.

Adding reo and placing control joints correctly would also help I imagine.

I was told there are 2 types of colour that gets added to the mix - powder and liquid.

Apparently, if they use liquid colours, there is no problem with strength. But ... I can't remember which of the "colour" companies makes these liquid colours

adding anything to the the concrete mix will change its strength, its just a matter of whether it strengthens it or weakens it.

Like I said, if the concreter is any good and knows what they are talking about, then they will be able to specify what changes need to be made to the recipe/formula so that it has a minimal effect.

If you are concerned, perhaps extra thickness would be an option?

It would mean more concrete and thus more cost, but I think they recommend 150mm for heavy vehicle parking so perhaps that would compensate for any weakening of the mix?