Expert advice for cleaning and repairing a concrete, brick, or asphalt driveway.
By Don Vandervort, HomeTips
Freeze-thaw cycles, rain, snow, and daily traffic can take their toll on a driveway, and the resulting cracks and stains can make it look worse for the wear. Fortunately, cleaning, repairing, and maintaining a driveway can make it look almost new again.The best methods to use depend on whether the driveway is made of concrete, brick, or asphalt. Cleaning & Repairing a Concrete or Brick Driveway
If a good cleaning is in the cards for your concrete or brick driveway, plan to rent or buy a power washer. After a thorough cleaning, you can remove any deeper stains, seal cracks, and then coat your driveway with a translucent masonry sealer.
If grease or oil stains still remain, soak up the offending substances with cat litter, fine sawdust, hydrated lime, or cement powder, and then brush away the residue.
For older, persistent stains, try applying a commercial degreaser, emulsifier, or 1:4 bleach-water mixture. You may find that certain stains cannot be completely removed but can be significantly lightened.
You can seal hairline cracks in the surface of a concrete driveway with concrete-patching compound (applied using a caulking gun). For any blemish wider than 1/4 inch, widen the crack with a mason’s hammer and cold chisel, sweep away the rubble, and trowel on concrete-patching compound.
When the compound starts to set, use a wet trowel to smooth over the patch so it is even with the surrounding concrete. Moisten the patch throughout the week to ensure the concrete dries slowly.
Cleaning an Asphalt Driveway
To clean an asphalt driveway, scour a mixture of detergent and water into the surface using a push broom with a coarse, stiff bristle. Hose off the solution once you are done.
Though oil stains on asphalt are difficult to remove, you can try to scrub them out with a detergent and bleach or, as an alternative, a commercial driveway cleaner.
If you buy a driveway cleaner, be sure to get one that is made for asphalt; a concrete cleaner can damage asphalt. Follow label directions explicitly. But first, try the household cleaner route:
1) Using a stiff, long-handled brush and a solution of tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) or phosphate-free substitute, scrub the stain.
2) Following label precautions and directions, scrub remaining spots with full-strength household bleach. Wear old clothes, rubber gloves, and safety glasses.
3) Rinse thoroughly with a hose.
To fix small cracks, sweep debris from the fissure, and, using a caulking gun, apply a compound formulated for asphalt repair. For more-sizable cracks, suction out dirt using a shop vacuum, and then fill in the gaps with cold-process asphalt-repair compound.Repairing Asphalt Cracks & Holes
To repair small cracks in asphalt, buy a tube of asphalt crack repair compound, sold in a tube that’s designed to fit into a caulking gun.
Sweep loose dirt and debris out of the crack. Then apply the asphalt repair compound according to the label directions. Press it deeply into the groove with an old putty knife.
For large cracks in asphalt:
1) Use a broom or stiff brush to sweep out the cracks. If you have a shop vacuum, use it to vacuum up loose dirt and debris.
2) Coat the surface of the hole with asphalt emulsion repair compound.
3) Use a bagged cold-process asphalt repair mix to patch holes and large cracks. 
Following the directions on the label, warm the bag of mix in the sun, and then break the bag open and fill the hole, slightly mounding the compound. Then tamp the mix solidly into the hole.
As an alternative, you can ask at your home improvement cemter whether it carries a self-adhesive polypropylene rubberized fabric, sold in rolled strips, that you just cut, peel, and stick over a crack or small hole.
