Concrete Contractors in Grand Junction, CO

Concrete contractors in Grand Junction work in conditions that are easy to underestimate. The city sits at about 4,646 feet where the Gunnison River flows into the Colorado, in a high desert valley that gets only about nine inches of rain a year. That sounds easy on concrete. It is not. The Colorado Geological Survey lists Grand Junction among the Western Slope towns underlain by Mancos or Lewis shale, bedrock it names for swelling potential, and most yards here are watered heavily all summer. Add hot, bright summers and winter nights in the teens, and you get slabs that crack, tip and flake when they are poured on a thin base or finished in a hurry. We plan every driveway, patio, walkway and slab for that ground and that weather.

What the soil and weather do to concrete

In a dry climate, the soil under a slab only gets wet where water is added: sprinklers, drip lines, downspouts, a leaking pipe or a low spot where snowmelt pools. The CGS notes that irrigation wetting is rarely even below ground and can start soil movement on its own. Clay and shale-derived soils swell where they get wet; some loose soils settle when they get wet. Either way, one side of a driveway or patio moves and the other does not, and the concrete cracks.

Then there is the temperature swing. Grand Junction's average January high is about 38 degrees and its average low about 17, so in winter the surface often freezes at night and thaws by afternoon. Water in cracks and in a weak top layer freezes, expands and pops off a little more each time. In July the average high is about 94 degrees and the valley sees around 68 days a year at 90 or above, which makes fresh concrete dry out and set fast if the crew is not ready for it.

Our answer to soil, sun and frost

• Trace the water. Before pricing, we check which way sprinkler heads, drip lines and gutters push water, and we pitch new concrete so runoff leaves the slab and heads away from the foundation.
• Firm ground under the slab. Topsoil and soft fill are dug out and replaced with gravel compacted a few inches at a time.
• Air in the mix. Exterior concrete is air-entrained. The microscopic bubbles give ice room to grow, which is what keeps a surface from scaling over the winter.
• Steel where loads justify it. Driveways and heavy pads get rebar raised on chairs to mid-depth instead of lying in the dirt.
• Joints drawn before the pour. Concrete shrinks and cracks. A planned joint layout gives those cracks straight, tidy places to form.
• Heat handled, not ignored. Summer pours start early, curing compound or wet curing goes on right after finishing, and nobody adds water at the chute to make the concrete flow easier.

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Older homes, newer subdivisions

Census survey data puts the median Grand Junction home at about 1988, but the mix is wide. About 16 percent of homes were built in the 1970s, during the oil shale boom that ended with Exxon's pullout on May 2, 1982, the day locals still call Black Sunday. Close to 9 percent date to 1939 or earlier, and about 18 percent went up between 2000 and 2009. A 1970s driveway is now around 50 years old, often narrow, sometimes poured without air entrainment, and often sunk where it meets the garage. Newer homes have their own trouble: driveways and patios that settle where they cross backfill around the foundation, or crack beside a sprinkler zone that has run every summer since the house was built.

Our six services

• Concrete driveways: removal and replacement, widening, and extra parking for campers and trailers.
• Concrete patios: broom-finished, colored or exposed aggregate slabs, and add-ons to the patio you already have.
• Stamped concrete: flagstone, slate and plank textures with color mixed through, sealed against UV and freeze-thaw.
• Sidewalks and walkways: front entries, side-yard paths, and public sidewalk panels under the City's right-of-way permit.
• Concrete slabs: garage and shop floors, shed bases, RV pads, spa pads and equipment pads.
• Concrete repair: crack and joint sealing, resurfacing, lifting sunken sections, or tear-out when nothing else makes sense.

Permits and the city strip

Grand Junction's permits page states that any work inside the public right-of-way needs a right-of-way permit, and its examples include driveway changes, sidewalks, and curb and gutter. Applications go to the City's Engineering Division with a fee, a map of the work and a traffic control plan prepared by a traffic control company. When an apron, curb cut or front sidewalk is in the scope, we flag it at the estimate and list it separately. For anything entirely on private property, we confirm the rules with the City or Mesa County, depending on your address, before booking a date.

Pricing in writing

Every estimate is in person. We look at the existing concrete, the soil beside it and where the water goes, and then put the scope on paper: thickness, base, reinforcement, finish, joint layout and sealer, each on its own line so you can hold it up against another bid. Sometimes the honest answer is a tube of crack sealant or lifting one sunken panel, and when that is the case you will hear it from us. Call (970) 367-1391 to book a time.

Our main area is Grand Junction and the rest of the Grand Valley: Fruita, Palisade, Clifton, Fruitvale, Orchard Mesa, the Redlands, Loma, Mack, Whitewater and Glade Park. Up the Colorado and Plateau Creek we also cover De Beque, Mesa and Collbran. To the south, we take on work in Delta, Orchard City, Cedaredge and Olathe, and over in the North Fork Valley in Hotchkiss and Paonia. Not sure if your address is in range? Call (970) 367-1391 and ask.