Concrete Sidewalk Building in Kirkland WA - a walk that drains and stays flat

Most calls start with a walk that's cracked, lifted by roots or holding a puddle by the front step, or with a yard that's never had a real path. The price moves with the walk's length and width, whether an old walk has to come out, how easy the spot is to reach with equipment, and whether anything will drive on it. If it meets a concrete driveway, that joint matters too. The schedule turns on the season, the weather on pour day and the curing wait afterward. We're based in Kirkland and work across the cities around it, inside city limits and out in the county areas too. I'll give you your own figure after a look at the site, and if the walk needs a permit, I'll tell you then.

Before we price anything, tell us if a car, a trailer or anything else will drive or park on the walk, because that changes how thick we build that part and whether we add rebar, the steel bars that hold a slab together if it cracks. On the job, we check where the water runs first so the walk falls away from your house. Then we dig out the old walk or the sod down to firm subgrade, the soil the slab sits on, and pack a gravel base in layers so it won't settle with the dirt. We set forms, place steel where it's needed and pour in the cooler part of the day, because concrete that sets too fast in midday heat can leave a weak, dusty top. After that comes a broom finish, a light ridged texture that gives your shoes grip when it's wet, and control joints, shallow grooves that tell the slab where to crack so it doesn't pick its own spot.

A new walk often ends at the garage, and if that slab is your next problem, our garage floor concrete work can be planned at the same visit. If you want color, a pattern or a border along the edges, that's decorative concrete, and I'll steer you toward a surface that still grips in the rain.

Where the walk sits on your lot decides the paperwork. Any work in the public right of way, the strip along the street, goes through the city's Public Works permit process, and you can apply and check review status online through MyBuildingPermit.com. City staff review each application, how long that takes depends on their workload, and city inspectors check the work afterward. For a walk on private ground, the city's permit guide lists sidewalks 30 inches or less above grade among work that's exempt from a building permit, but that exemption doesn't apply in flood hazard, wetland, steep slope, shoreline or other critical areas. A Parcel Report from the city's Property Search Tool shows whether any of those apply to your address. Even without a permit, zoning still applies, and the Planning division at 425-587-3600 can confirm setbacks from property lines and lot coverage limits. When a job needs a permit, I tell you at the estimate and take care of the application or walk you through it, so you know where it stands.

Western Washington's rain is the other thing we plan around. With this much water, a packed gravel base under the walk matters more because it gives water somewhere to go besides under the slab, and on sloped lots we watch where runoff heads before we set a single form. We see the same wet winters and soggy yards on jobs in Redmond and Bothell.