Concrete Installation and Repair
Pads, walks, and the trip edge at the garage. We do this across Monmouth and Ocean County from Ocean Township. Call and we come look before we write the scope.
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Concrete Installation and Repair, on one written scope.
Pads, walks, and the trip edge at the garage.
What’s included on a concrete installation and repair visit.
We inspect the cause, check what else it touched, and leave a written scope with materials and timing. The visit is free and there is no obligation to book the work.
What to know before the visit.
Have ready
Mark the area you want and tell us what will sit on it, because a pad for a trash can and a pad for a generator or a hot tub are not the same pour. Keep the hose and the downspouts clear of the work zone. We check three things first: the subgrade, meaning whether it is compacted soil or fill that will settle, the fall of the existing grade away from the house, and the edge of any existing slab we are tying into. A soft spot under a thin pour is a crack waiting.
- Form and pour small slabs
- Stable crack repair
- Step noses
- Pitch away from the house
The visit
A pad gets formed, pitched away from the house, and placed at a thickness that matches the use — a trash-can pad is not a driveway apron. We cut a control joint where the slab wants to crack instead of pretending it will not.
Trip edges at garage entries are usually a settled section, not a whole driveway. If the slab is still stable we grind or patch the lip. If it rocks, grinding it just makes a thinner rocker.
Permit
A small walkway or a pad on private property usually needs no permit in New Jersey. A permit and an inspection come into play for a footing, a structural slab, or work in the right of way, such as a driveway apron at the curb or a sidewalk in the township strip. If the pour is a footing for a deck or a structure, that is inspected. We do not guess at the town's requirement for a curb cut.
On the Shore
Freeze-thaw is the enemy of flatwork here, and so is salt. Water gets into a porous surface, freezes, and spalls the top layer off a step or an apron. A slab that does not pitch away from the house traps that water against the foundation and pushes it into the basement. We want air-entrained concrete for exterior work, a pitch that sheds, and a finish that is not overworked at the surface, because a hard-troweled exterior slab is a spalling slab.
When we leave
We finish and then we protect. The surface gets its finish, tooled edges, and control joints cut at the right spacing, then it is covered and kept damp so it cures rather than dries out too fast. Foot traffic can usually go on the next day in mild weather, but a vehicle needs much longer, and a pour in cold weather needs blankets or a wait. We leave you the cure time and the note about not de-icing the new surface in the first winter.
Built with
Exterior concrete with air entrainment for freeze-thaw resistance, placed at a thickness that matches the use and on a compacted, drained base of stone and sand. Formwork is staked square and true, with a control joint cut or formed where the slab wants to move. Reinforcement is mesh or rebar depending on the slab and its use, set on chairs so it sits in the middle rather than on the ground. Edges are tooled, and the finish is broom or a light texture for grip.
Do you pour footings for a deck?
Yes, below frost, sized to the deck. That is a different pour from a walkway.
Can you match an existing broom finish?
Close. A patch always reads as a patch until it weathers. We will not promise invisible.
What about salt on a step?
Salt and freeze-thaw spall the surface. We can resurface a sound step. A step that rocks gets rebuilt.
Do you break out the old slab?
When it is heaved or hollow. A bonded topping on a moving slab cracks on the same line.
How soon can we walk on it?
The next day for foot traffic in mild weather, longer for a car. Cold nights in January change that, and we will not pour into a freeze.
Will you set bolts for a railing?
Yes, while the concrete is fresh if we know the layout. Drilling after the cure is the backup, not the plan.
Can you patch just the trip edge at my garage?
Yes, if the slab is stable. We grind or patch the lip so the transition is smooth. If the section rocks when you step on it, grinding it just makes a thinner rocker, and the honest fix is to remove and repour that section.
Will a new slab crack?
Concrete shrinks as it cures, so the goal is to control where it cracks with joints rather than prevent every crack. We space the control joints correctly and cure the slab properly. A crack that opens wide is a base problem.
How do you keep water out of my basement?
By pitching the new surface away from the house and keeping the finished grade below the siding and the sill. Water that sheets toward the foundation finds the seam. We check the fall with a level before the pour, because you cannot add pitch after the concrete sets.
Can you pour in cold weather?
Sometimes, with the right protection: heated water in the mix, blankets over the new slab, and no pour into a hard freeze. Concrete that freezes before it cures loses strength and spalls. If the forecast is wrong for it, we reschedule rather than pour and hope.
Other masonry jobs we handle
Pavers
Walks and patios pitched away from the house, on a base that will not settle by spring.
Brick and Block Repair
Spalling brick, cracked block, and the joints that freeze open.
Concrete Slabs and Walks
Pads, walkways, and steps poured on a proper base and pitched away from the house.
Steps, Stoops, and Chimney Repair
Rocking steps, cracked stoops, and chimney crowns that wash water into the flue.
Tell us what is wrong. We will tell you what it takes.
(732) 333-7800- Call24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Shop7 Brook Dr, Ocean Township, NJ 07712
- EmailInfo@wedoitallhandyman.com
- EstimateFree on-site look. Written scope before work starts.
Licensed & insured · NJ HIC # 13VH09886800
Free on-site look · No obligation