New concrete driveway - how many cracks are too many?

I had a concrete driveway put in on friday and this morning I noticed quite a few cracks in part of it and I'm wondering if I should be concerned or not.  The driveway is 15' wide and about 100' long and then opens up into a 30' wide by 50' long section near the house, and a walkway to the front door goes off the side of the 30x50 area. Friday night the guy doing the driveway made a cut between the narrow part and the wide part of the driveway, as well as between the wide driveway and the walkway.  Saturday afternoon he came back and cut everything into 7.5' wide by  7' long sections. 

This morning I noticed a lot of cracks in the 30x50 section.  Just about every 7.5'x7' section there has a lot of narrow cracks, a few of them have cracks that are noticeable from about 25' away.  Here's a pic of one of the sections, it's not the best as far as cracking goes but it's not the worst either.  I wet it down so that the cracks show up better.  So is this something I should be worried about or this normal?

The guy did driveways for a couple of friends last summer and they highly recommended him, but he's been kind of a E36 M3 show for me, so I wouldn't be surprised if he screwed up but I also wouldn't be surprised if I'm just looking for things to complain about after he hit a tree with a bobcat (three times), broke a window well cover, left a hose running in my yard for two days, disappeared for three weeks, splashed concrete all over the side of my pole barn, etc.

Sounds like this reputable contractor might have some drama or health concerns in his life that is taking his focus off his work.  The fact that he damaged things around the job sight kind of indicates something is going on.  That said, you should not have to pay for shoddy work.

Two questions. 

1) What was there before the driveway? As in was it old concrete - and new concrete was poured? Or did you pour it over dirt?

Reason I ask is - I did a concrete sunroom and new concrete backyard (there is like a 15 page thread of mine on this forum about it), and there I poured concrete over concrete. THere has been some "slight" cracks that appeared (I knew it would come) that isn't noticeable unless I showed you. 

2) The attached pics are a new backyard in a rental house I just bought, that I poured on Friday 8am. The pics are of 1 hour ago. I poured a 50x14 slab and did the side. No cracks at all. However, these were poured with no concrete previously. IT was all dirt. 
 

So you can compare mine to yours 

The driveway was gravel before this.  He had to bring in quite a bit more stone to get the grading right though its cracking in areas with lots of stone underneath (12") and areas with normal amounts (5"), he rented a heavier tamper than he normally uses because he said it got pretty deep in spots.  The time between when he compacted the stone and actually poured the concrete was more than 4 weeks.

When I had my pole barn put in a few years ago the concrete floor didn't crack at all, that's why I was wondering about this.

A concrete contractor I met once told me that he couldn't guarantee his concrete for anything other than flammability or theft.

Oh, the small slab I had poured in my garage spring 2019 for my lift cracked this summer.

My father always told me there are two types of concrete:  1) cracked,  2) is going to crack.  That being said, I had a floor poured in my 36 x 48 pole barn in 2002 and it is completely crack free.  There is only one joint, halfway along the 48' side so it is two 24' x 36' slabs.   It was poured over a gravel base and had 4" x 4" wire reinforcement.  It also was spec'd at 4500 psi and had a fiberglass fiber additive in the mix, so it wasn't run of the mill stuff.  Still, I am surprised it is intact.  On the otherhand, the apron and driveway leading up to the pole barn was poured by a different guy, wasn't rigidly spec'd and is cracked and split to pieces.  It is a complete mess. 

What does your contract say about cracks?

Are those actual cracks?  Or water diffusion patterns?

Concrete will start to get micro cracks within a few hours of being poured.  There are ways to minimize it by keeping it damp during the the cure process but its still going to happen.  It should be cut within the first 12 hrs or so but that almost never happens so the next day is the norm unless you are working for NASA or someone like that.

Fiber and wire in it just keep it together after it cracks.

Looks like it cured too quickly and shrank. As suggested above it should have been covered, or done on a cooler day if it was cooking hot when it was poured. 

I had a drive way poured about 8 yrs. ago.  No cracks today.   It was quite short so that may have helped.

That's called "crazing" it comes from the surface drying too fast or the guy pouring much too wet. 

It's not structural at all. It's not the best look for concrete though.

Thanks for the help, everybody.  My contractor says this is all just cosmetic and always happens but he stopped by and "filled a couple" while I was at work last week.  Just because I have it, here's a pic of the worst crack.

What should I do to keep this from getting worse?  We get lots of freeze/thaw cycles here so I'd like to minimize the growth of the cracks.  My plan all along was to seal the driveway because I'm sure one of my cars will leak oil all over it at some point, should I fill the cracks first or will a decent sealer fill the cracks and keep water out?

In reply to Schmidlap :

That's actually substantial and absolutely not crazing.

It usually happens because he not only poured much too wet, but he didn't densify the surface by finishing it enough ( did he use a Fresno with weights at all?) and he didn't put a curing compound on it to slow the curing process ( can also just be kept wet too).

This absolutely does not "always happen" and if it does to him.....he sucks a lot

jgrewe said:

Concrete will start to get micro cracks within a few hours of being poured.  There are ways to minimize it by keeping it damp during the the cure process but its still going to happen.  It should be cut within the first 12 hrs or so but that almost never happens so the next day is the norm unless you are working for NASA or someone like that.

Fiber and wire in it just keep it together after it cracks.

This is mostly true. 

One reason why it's cut later is because green concrete will unravel when cut pretty easily. It looks terrible but it's better structually.

I've seen concrete successfully cut at an hour old! I didn't think it could be done but these guys knew their E36 M3. A down cut saw is the best weapon(blade spinning away from you on the top, heading down into the cut being made) and the right green concrete diamond blade.

( I used to own a redi-mix company)

We call that spider cracking.  It is not acceptable in commercial construction.  It can happen when it is windy drying top too quickly, rocks were over tamped bringing too much 'cream' or 'butter' to the top making it easier to finish, but not as durable.  

Once had to pull 30,000sf out of a trailhead, 1/2 mile into a mountain due to it.  Not fun.  Is he licensed?  ROC around here would help enforce that they R&R if they want to keep licensed.  FYI, we pour in the summer (115*, Phoenix) and do not have these issues with proper planning.  

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

I had no idea what a Fresno was until I looked it up, I have no idea if he used one.  After he was done he bitched about how close a row of cedar trees was to my driveway (they're about 15-20 feet away) and he said that he couldn't use the tool he normally uses because the pole kept getting caught in the cedars and digging into the concrete.  He wasn't impressed when I pointed out that the cedars have been there for 20 years and shouldn't he have noticed them before he started. 

Here's a shot of the cedars and an example of the wonderful finish in the area that's cracking.  The changes in color aren't a trick of the camera or because of different rates of water drying, there's a definite change in texture there.  I'm guessing he started finishing it, got his tool caught in the trees, pulled the tool loose, tried again, got the tool caught in the trees again, yelled at the trees, threw the tool down, and then the concrete cured too much while he figured out a new tactic and by then things were screwed.  It would be kind of hilarious if it wasn't my own driveway. 

So what should I be looking at doing to fix the cracking problems (assuming things can be fixed)?

jgrewe said:

I've seen concrete successfully cut at an hour old! I didn't think it could be done but these guys knew their E36 M3. A down cut saw is the best weapon(blade spinning away from you on the top, heading down into the cut being made) and the right green concrete diamond blade.

( I used to own a redi-mix company)

Oh don't get me wrong, it can be done but it rarely does. Frankly I usually cut lines with a skilsaw now days as the newer ones are so neutered they don't do much. Also gets straighter lines.

I've been doing concrete for decades now, and I feel old saying that

In reply to Schmidlap :

If he didn't suck, those trees shouldn't be a total killer. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy but it totally doable with the right talent and tools.

I'm guessing no Fresno and no weights then so he probably crazy troweled it. Crazy trowels usually suck and don't densify the surface. If used by someone who can use them it can turnout well, but few can use them well. Personally I hate them.

Did he kneeboard it and crawl it then?

I wish I had a better answer but there's not a lot you can do for shrinkage cracks. Maybe you can make a cement slurry with moose milk( concrete adhesive) and brush it in but I doubt it'll do well. You would have to rush to do it while it's green though, and keep that section wet starting now.

I have zero real life experience here, it sounds like bragging but in the now thousands of slabs I've done I've never had to deal with this.

Concrete canoe?

I'm a huge concrete noob, but can you use one of those resurfacing compounds to smooth it out?

Curious what it's like now a few years later?

It's holding up fine so far. He put some sealant in the cracks and recommended sealing the entire driveway every couple of years, which I haven't done. I might be imagining it but I think the steps he poured to the front porch might be tipping over, the gap between the top of the steps and the porch just seems bigger than I remember. But I might be just be looking for something to complain about. There is a low spot conveniently located right in front of the garage door that creates a 6 foot diameter ice slick every time snow melts and refreezes, but as long as I remember to throw sand on it nobody wipes out on it.

The contractor went out of business a couple of months after finishing my driveway. My friend who recommended him said that he just wasn't cut out to run a business so he went back to working for the large paving company he worked at before going out on his own.