My drain pipe is under the driveway. After failing to remove the blockage in the drain, my plumber is going to cut a hole in the driveway and do the necessary repair. And he suggested a new driveway afterward. My driveway is cracked into several pieces and sunk in one area. Water forms a puddle there instead of sloping away from the garage. According to him, the drain pipe is damaged because the driveway gave in to the weight of the vehicles, resulting in the soil movement. This is where I would like to get your advice. Question 1: Which is more likely reason for drain pipe damage, uneven settling of soil or the vehicle load? Had the existing pad been thick 6" with rebars (assuming existing 4" non-rebar), would it withstand vehicle load even if the substrate soil settled unevenly? Question 2: If I do not put a new driveway, will the cracked pieces continue to sink under vehicle load, causing more damage to the drain pipe underneath? I will build up the low spot for good water drainage. This is the more pressing question for me. By the way, there was a large oak (trunk diameter more than 1 foot) that I cut down last year. Puddle in the driveway was noticed earlier than the tree removal. I cursorily checked the driveways in the neighborhood. None showed sinking. I am going to ask all my neighbors if they have experience a sunken driveway. I live in Dallas. Soil is expanding clay type, I was told. Our vehicles are an SUV and a pickup. Thank you.

Concrete walkway stained and chipped and cracked. The chips and cracks have been patched already but now they stick out like a sore thumb because of the color difference between new (bright almost white) and old (grey). I want to use concrete resurfacer for the whole walkway, it will look great, but I don't want stains etc to show up so easily on it from dirty shoes, grass stains, whatever. I was thinking to use a powder color additive to the resurfacer mix but even a SOLID dark color like grey or red or brown will show markings. Is there anything I can add that'll give it a sort of multi color where spots etc won't show up easily? I was thinking something like the chips that are added to garage floor paints but I don't want it looking like a garage floor plus I don't know how well it'll work mixing those chips to a masonry product instead of a paint/epoxy. I don't want to put any clear sealer on the walkway either, I want to keep it simply and not slippery when wet. I was thinking like a random swirling pattern or dark red and brown and grey color additives in random patterns but it might look ridiculous when finished. Ideally something like the garage floor paint chips mixed in with the resurfacer would look good but trying to avoid it looking like a garage floor.