Concrete Contractor in Norfolk, NE - Slabs Built for Frost and Spring Melt

Norfolk's permit list doesn't name driveways or patios, so the way to know for your job is to ask the city's Planning & Development office at 402-844-2280. The list does cover decks, fences and demolition, and the city says curb grind permits, for cutting the curb at a new driveway entrance, will be added to its online permit system. If your house is outside city limits in unincorporated Madison or Pierce County, the Madison County planning department issues zoning permits and does inspections. We check with the office for your address before we start, and when a permit's needed we handle the paperwork with you.

Search the contractor's name on the Nebraska Department of Labor contractor search, because every contractor working on property that isn't their own, subcontractors included, has to register with the department before working in Nebraska. Contractors with employees also have to keep current workers' comp insurance on file, and the state drops them from the list if it lapses. The department says registration isn't proof of good work or protection from fraud, so treat it as one check among several. We're fully licensed and insured, and you're welcome to look us up.

The price comes down to the size of the driveway, how much old concrete we break out and haul off, and how much digging and packed base your ground needs, so I don't give a number until I've seen the site. Rebar, a decorative finish and any curb cut add to it, while a plain finish keeps it down. Call (402) 844-1238 or send the form and I'll come out to price your job.

You can walk on a new slab well before you can drive on it, because curing, the slow hardening that goes on after the pour, has to build enough strength to carry a car. Cool weather slows it down, so the wait changes with the season. When we schedule your job, I'll tell you when you can walk on it and when you can park on it, so you can plan around being without the driveway.

Concrete shrinks as it cures and moves with the frost, so some cracking is normal, and the aim is to keep cracks small and in places we choose. We cut control joints, grooves that give a crack a straight place to form, before the slab picks its own line, and we set rebar where the job calls for it to hold the pieces together. When an old driveway here has cracked badly, it's usually because the base settled or the joints were cut late or skipped.

Look up your area on the state's floodplain interactive map, which shows FEMA's flood hazard data, flood awareness areas and community floodplain information. It's worth a look before a new slab or foundation near the river, because low, wet ground changes how deep we dig and how we plan the drainage.