Concrete sidewalk building in Tacoma WA - a walk that sheds water and stays even

Most people call when the old walk has broken into pieces, sunk at one end or started holding puddles by the front door, and by then the dirt underneath is usually the real problem. The price moves with the size of the walk, how much old concrete we haul out, how deep we dig to reach firm ground and whether the walk runs along the street, because street-side work brings the city in. The schedule turns on that same street question and on the cure, the stretch where the new concrete hardens before you walk on it. If your walk ties into concrete steps at the porch, tell me, and I'll look at both when I come out and give you the estimate in writing so you can take your time with it.

The first thing I find out is whether your walk runs along the street, because that brings the city into the job and changes what we plan for. Then we check where the water runs so the new walk falls away from your house, and I tell you up front that a new walk can show a few small cracks, so nothing catches you off guard later. On the job we break out and haul off the old concrete, then dig down to firm ground and pack the subgrade, the soil and gravel the slab sits on, because a walk poured over raked dirt settles right along with it. We set the forms and pour early in the day, since midday heat can leave a weak, dusty top. Then we give it a broom finish, a light texture that gives your shoes grip when it's wet. We cut control joints while the concrete is still young. Those are shallow grooves that give the slab a straight line to crack along, and joints cut late or skipped leave cracks wherever the slab wants them. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather keep the money in the base than in a fancy surface, because you only see the base on day one but you live with it every year after.

A sidewalk usually runs right up to other concrete, so it makes sense to look at the whole path while we're there. If the walk ends at a cracked or pitted slab in the garage, our garage floor concrete work can be planned alongside it. If you'd like color, a border or a pattern on the walk itself, ask about decorative concrete early, because that has to be settled before the concrete goes in.

A walk along the street usually sits in the public right-of-way, the strip the city controls. For smaller jobs there, including sidewalk repair and replacement, the City of Tacoma issues right-of-way construction permits. The city also keeps a design manual for work in the right-of-way, and it applies to private jobs as well as the city's own, so the walk out there has to meet the city's requirements. Most of these permits go only to applicants who meet the city's bonding requirements, though in some cases a property owner can get one without meeting them. Before work starts we check which office covers your address and what it will want to see. When the job calls for a permit we handle the paperwork, and if it's one you have to get, we tell you what to bring.

A lot of the older front walks we tear out were poured on raked dirt or got pushed up by a tree root. We dig past the problem instead of pouring new concrete over it, and we talk with you about the tree before anything gets cut. We see the same tired walks on jobs in Lakewood and University Place, and we build those the same way.