Find out what concrete driveway thickness suits your car, ute, caravan or truck, and the concrete grade and mesh each needs. Advice from Andy Concreting.
Concrete driveway thickness is one of the first things we’ll talk through with you when you plan a new driveway. The right depth depends on what you’ll drive and park on it, from a small hatchback to a loaded caravan.
How Thick Should a Concrete Driveway Be for the Vehicles You Park?
The right concrete driveway thickness depends on the heaviest vehicle that will regularly use it. The Housing Industry Association’s guide to AS 3727.1, the Australian Standard for residential pavements, lists different minimums for different loads. Here’s how that applies to common vehicles:
- Paths with foot traffic only: a minimum of 75mm with N20 concrete, which suits a side path but not a driveway.
- Cars, SUVs and everyday utes: these are generally treated as light vehicles, so the minimum is 100mm with N25 concrete and SL72 mesh where control joints sit at 4.5m centres.
- Caravans, boats and trailers: that guidance doesn’t list these as a separate category, so we look at the weight and where it will sit before deciding on a thicker section or heavier reinforcement.
- Trucks under 10 tonnes: the guidance for commercial vehicles of this size steps up to 150mm, N32 concrete and SL82 mesh. Anything heavier sits outside this guidance.
If a delivery truck or large motorhome will come onto your property regularly, tell us early so the slab is planned for it rather than for your car alone.
Why a Loaded Caravan Asks More of Your Driveway Than a Car
Once it’s loaded with water, gas and gear, your caravan can weigh a good deal more than your car. When it’s parked, that weight rests on a few small points: the tyres, the jockey wheel and the stabiliser legs. It also stays in the same spot for weeks or months.
To size the slab properly, we’ll ask for the ATM on your van’s compliance plate, where you plan to store it and how you’ll reverse it in, since turning a heavy van over the slab can stress the edges and corners. When we plan your concrete driveway, we may only need to thicken the slab or add heavier reinforcement where your van parks beside the house, rather than across the whole area.
Accurate Measurements and the Right Materials Behind Your Concrete Driveway Thickness
We measure your driveway on site, check the finished levels against surrounding areas and set the formwork to the agreed slab thickness. Our driveway excavation work prepares the compacted base, so the concrete driveway thickness you pay for can be poured evenly across the whole area.
The concrete grade, reinforcement mesh and control joints all need to suit your driveway and vehicle loads. Mesh must be correctly positioned, while highly reactive clay may require engineering advice, as AS 3727.1 only covers soil classes A, S and M. No driveway is crack-proof, but proper materials and preparation can help it last longer.
Get the Right Concrete Thickness for Your Driveway
When you request a driveway quote, tell us what you drive, any caravan, trailer or truck that will use the driveway, and roughly how big the area is. A few photos help too. We’ll check the ground and access, then talk you through the thickness, concrete grade and mesh that suit your vehicles.
Optimized by: Netwizard SEO