Concrete Contractor in Aberdeen, SD - Driveways and Slabs That Sit Flat Through Winter

Check with the city's Building Inspection Department before you pour, because it issues permits to build, alter or repair a structure or property, and its examples, like garages, sheds and fencing, don't spell out driveways or patios. You apply at its office on the 3rd floor of City Hall and pay a fee. When a job does need a permit, we take care of the application and keep you posted on where it stands.

The city's Engineering Department checks for a regulated floodplain when you apply for a building permit, so that's usually where you'll find out. Any work in the regulated floodplain on FEMA's flood maps needs a Floodplain Development Permit, along with other requirements. The city levee keeps large parts of Aberdeen out of the floodplain, but it's worth knowing before we plan a pour.

Aberdeen normally sees about 179 nights a year at or below freezing and about 38 at or below zero, and that much freeze and thaw pushes hard on any slab sitting on soft or wet ground. That's why we dig out and pack the subgrade, the dirt and gravel the slab rests on, and slope the slab so water runs away from your house. We also time pours around the weather, because concrete has to cure, or harden slowly, before it's used, and a pour that gets too cold or too hot early on ends up weak and dusty on top.

Size, how much old concrete has to come out and how much base work your ground needs move the price the most. Thickness, rebar, the steel that holds the slab together if it cracks, and the finish add to it, and a plain broom finish, the light texture that gives tires and boots grip, costs less than stamped or decorative work. Your on-site estimate lays out exactly what's included.

Most cracks in a new slab come from a base that settles, water getting underneath or joints that were cut late or skipped. Concrete shrinks as it dries and moves when the ground freezes, so we cut control joints, straight grooves that give the slab a planned place to crack, early enough to do their job. A hairline crack can still show up, but on a packed base with good joints it should stay in the joint lines instead of wandering across the middle.

You can usually walk on a new slab after a day or two and drive a car on it after about a week, though cold weather can stretch that out. Concrete keeps gaining strength for weeks after the pour, so I'll tell you when yours is ready based on the weather while it cures.