Garage floor concrete in Kirkland WA - a slab that sits flat and holds up

Most people call us when the old floor has cracked across, chipped at the door, gone dusty on top or settled so water pools in the low spots. The price mostly moves with the size of the garage, whether the old slab has to be cut out and hauled away, and how much work the ground under it needs, while the schedule turns on the weather and the curing wait before you can use it. I give you your own number after I've walked the garage, and if the job needs a permit, I'll tell you then.

I start by walking the garage with you to see how the floor meets the driveway and which way water runs off the tires, because a floor that falls toward the back wall holds every puddle you drive in. Then we break out the old slab if there is one, dig out the soft material and pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, so it doesn't settle later the way a raked-flat base does. Before the pour I mark where each control joint will go, the shallow cuts that give the slab a planned place to crack, and walk you through why each one sits where it does. We pour early in the day instead of in the midday heat, finish the top, cut the joints on time and keep the slab covered while it cures, the wait while it gains strength, because a slab that dries out too fast ends up weak and dusty on top. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather you spend on the base than on a fancy finish, because the base is buried by pour day and it's what decides whether the floor stays flat.

Some jobs go further than a plain gray floor. If you'd like color, a sealed sheen or a pattern, that's decorative concrete, and it's easiest to plan before we pour. On garages tucked into a slope, the dirt beside the driveway sometimes needs holding back, and we build concrete retaining walls for that too.

The City of Kirkland requires a permit before anyone builds, alters, repairs or changes a building, and its Public Works department requires one for replacing a driveway or working in the public right of way along the street. A garage floor isn't named on its own, so whether yours needs a permit isn't settled until we know exactly what's being done. The city's exemptions also only apply outside flood hazard, wetland, steep slope, shoreline and other critical areas, and you can check your address with a Parcel Report from its Property Search Tool. If the driveway apron is part of the job, the city points owners to Public Works at 425-587-3800. When a permit is needed, I tell you at the estimate and we take care of the application or walk you through it, so you know where it stands.

Rain is the other thing that shapes these jobs. One Washington contractor directory notes that rain can damage fresh concrete, so crews use covers, that curing takes longer in cool, wet weather, and that a gravel base matters more with western Washington's rainfall. Even under a roof, an open garage door lets weather in, so we watch the forecast and keep covers ready. We're based in Kirkland and work across the cities around it, inside city limits and out in the county areas, and we plan the same way on jobs in Bellevue and Redmond.