‘Finally feel proud,’ homeowner says after transforming driveway from ‘ugly’ to beautiful with everyday cleaner and sun
A HOMEOWNER has revived their driveway without a contractor, saying the previous job was 'embarrassing' to look so bad.
Going from an HOA-controlled neighborhood to being a homeowner can be difficult, especially when new responsibilities crop up.
Carrie, the founder and creative mind behind , authored a to show the driveway makeover she'd done shortly after moving into her mid-century Virginia ranch house in 2015.
Before she'd bought her house, though, she wrote that her and her husband John had lived in a townhouse that had regular landscaping as part of the HOA fees.
Therefore, there wasn't much exterior care the couple had to think about - but was suddenly made aware of when they'd bought their home.
"The maintenance crew also routinely stained our deck for us, as well as a couple other odds and ends," she wrote.
"I had no idea just how much work was going to be involved in maintaining a yard and other exterior jobs, and all of this on top of the things inside the house that ultimately needed to be done since it’s a 50+-year-old house."
The first thing the couple noticed, aside from the beautiful home, was their black, uneven driveway.
"There were a few chips in the finish, but we figured it would be years and years before the chips spread and we’d need to address a full driveway makeover," wrote Carrie.
"Unfortunately, we were very wrong. The blacktop started chipping off in huge chunks within a year of us living here, and pretty soon it was a patchy mess."
Most read in Motors
What they thought was a pavement job was actually more of a black paint that the previous owners had slathered onto the surface, and without any information, the couple was left scratching their heads.
It only took a year of regular use before something had to be done.
As Carrie pointed out, their driveway was the only disheveled looking driveway in the entire neighborhood, making them stick out like sore thumbs.
"It was, frankly, embarrassing to have the drive looking the way it did, but we just didn’t know what to do," she said.
"I had a paving company come out about two years ago to talk about repaving the driveway, but the person who came encouraged us to think of a different option. He said we actually had a really, really nice concrete driveway on our hands, and that we should find a way to preserve it."
The couple figured that if it was already coming off in patches, all they needed to do was continue to drive on it and then eventually, the concrete underneath will be uncovered for them.
Another year's worth of use did remove the paint, but not completely - making the driveway look disheveled, so the couple got to work with a plan.
The black top was so fragile that it could be peeled away with a finger, so the two decided to try their luck with a pressure washer, though that proved unsuccessful.
Carrie called in a professional power washing team, and after paying $1,300 for under an hour's worth of work, all of the black paint had been washed away.
She noticed that the areas that were covered by the black, tarry paint had become dull and gray while covered, but some areas that were uncovered had shined brighter.
Read More on The Sun
Time and sunlight eventually brightened up the entire driveway, and the couples' confidence in their curb appeal was finally restored.
"What’s done is done, and we can finally feel proud of the exterior of our retro ranch," she wrote.