Slab foundation building in Montrose CO - a floor planned for the ground it sits on

Most calls start the same way. You've got a house, garage or shop planned, a bare lot, and a worry that the floor will crack like so many others around here. The price moves with the size of the slab, how much digging and base your lot needs, what the soil review calls for, and whether glued-down flooring means a vapor barrier underneath. The schedule turns mostly on getting that soil review back, checking with the office that covers your address, and decent weather on pour day. Your estimate shows what I see on your lot and what we'd do about it, so you get your own number instead of a guess.

We start with the soil. I want your lot reviewed before we plan the slab, because the plan for stable ground and the plan for clay that swells aren't the same, and where the ground calls for it we build in room for the floor to move. Then we dig down to firm subgrade, the native ground the slab sits on, and pack a base that drains and holds up under trucks and boots, because a base that's only raked level settles right along with the dirt under it. We set rebar, the steel inside the slab that holds it together if it does crack, and we plan the pour around the heat so the top doesn't come out weak and dusty. Once it's finished, we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the concrete a planned place to crack before it picks its own. If you'll be gluing down flooring, we'll talk ahead of time about how we protect the vapor barrier during the pour. And if you're looking for somewhere to trim the budget, I'll steer you away from the base, because nobody sees it on day one but it decides how that floor holds up for as long as you own the building.

A slab is often one piece of a bigger build. If your plans call for footings and foundation walls rather than a floor poured on the ground, that's our foundation installation work. If you need room for vehicles around a shop or building, we handle concrete parking lot building with the same attention to what's underneath.

State geologists rank swelling clay as Colorado's biggest geologic hazard, and where it's known to be in the ground, building a floor with no room to move is one of the most common ways property gets damaged. That's why the soil review comes before the plan, and why the ground matters during the build too, since clay that dries out too much before the pour, or water left ponding near the foundation, makes the problem worse. The same clay questions come up on our jobs in Montrose and Delta, so it's the first thing I ask about on any lot.

In Montrose, the city's Building Services issues building permits and does plan checks and inspections for the work on its list, which includes structural, plumbing and insulation work. Whether your slab falls on that list, and whether your address is under the city or the county, is something we confirm before we schedule. Where a permit is needed, we help you sort out the paperwork and keep you posted.