Concrete Pouring and Flatwork

Concrete Pouring and Flatwork in Cincinnati, OH

A slab fails long before anyone mixes concrete. It fails when the subgrade is not compacted, when the reinforcement sits on the ground instead of in the middle of the pour, and when nobody cut the control joints deep enough or soon enough. River City Restoration builds from the dirt up, because that is where the job is actually won.

Ian Mann has been pouring flatwork across Greater Cincinnati since 2009. Every slab we place is a 4,000 PSI fiber-reinforced mix as standard, set on compacted and proof-rolled base stone, with rebar or mesh chaired to the correct depth. We cut control joints within the first day at one quarter of the slab thickness, spaced so the concrete cracks where we put the joint instead of across the middle of your garage.

You get a written estimate that names the thickness, the mix design, the reinforcement, the joint layout and the cure schedule. If another bid is cheaper, compare those five lines before you decide.

Flatwork we pour across Greater Cincinnati

• Garage floors and shop slabs
• Driveways, aprons and parking pads
• Sidewalks, walkways and ADA ramps
• Patios, porches and stoops
• Basement floors and slab replacements
• Equipment pads, dumpster pads and generator bases
• Shed, barn and outbuilding foundations
• Curb, gutter and sidewalk replacement
• Stamped, broom, and exposed aggregate finishes

We handle it all, from a single pad to a full tear-out and repour

Small jobs and large jobs run the same sequence. We saw and remove the failed concrete, haul it off, then excavate to the depth the new slab actually needs rather than the depth that is already there. Undercut soft spots get dug out and replaced with compacted stone, not backfilled with the same material that failed.

Forms go in on grade and on line, checked with a laser rather than a string. Reinforcement is chaired off the base so it ends up in the middle third of the slab where it does something. For exterior work we pitch the slab away from the structure, which is the single most common thing missing from the driveways and patios we get called out to replace.

On pour day we place, screed, bull float, and then wait. Finishing concrete before the bleed water has left the surface is what causes the scaling and dusting you see on so many local driveways. We wait for the surface to set, then float and finish, cut joints the same day or the next morning, and apply a cure and seal. In cold weather we blanket. In hot weather we place early and mist. That patience is most of the difference between a slab that lasts thirty years and one that spalls in three.

Frequently asked about concrete pouring and flatwork