Driveway removal

[chandasz]

Anyone have any tips, advice, recommendations?

I want to take out the driveway at our house and increase our yard size. We have egress to the garage from the alley and could still use the side drive for parking.

Any codes I need to know about? How can I get this done? How much might it cost?

I'm a new homeowner!

[hvychev]

Chand....my building had a side drive for 75 years befor it was removed. I personally would liked to still have it but it is nice now because I have sliding glass doors that go out to a 30 foot deck now that looks stunning instead of an entire back yard that is just concrete. If you want to look at how it was done I could PM you my address so you can go and have a look.

[Robert Pauly]

My house has a side driveway, and I used to contemplate removing it in favor of some more green spaces.  That's until I was graced with young children.  My three year-old will ride his bike for hours in the driveway - without the driveway, I'd have to watch him like a hawk on the sidewalk.  The driveway is also great for kiddie pools and the like, and it serves as my patio and basketball court.  It keeps our cars off the street (our garage is crammed with junk), and will hold 4 or 5 cars when we have a party.  I'd think twice about removing it.

[chandasz]

I do have a toddler and find that the cement is not the friendliest of play spaces. I would much rather have green space for her to play on. We plan to keep the side drive and she'll be able to peddle there to her heart's content (with supervision).

I'm just wondering how you actually go about having the cement removed. Who does this sort of work and how much it costs to break it up and haul it away and if there are any city ordinences that you guys may be aware of that would prohibit me from doing this.

[pkd50]

We all will have opinions, but you should call City Hall for the correct answers.  That's what they get paid for.