Stamped concrete services in Montrose CO - a patterned slab that holds up to winter

Most people call us because a patio or walk has gone plain, cracked or tired, and they want something that looks better and still stands up to winter. The price moves with the size of the area, the pattern and the number of colors, and most of all with how much digging out and base work the ground needs, since that's what keeps a pattern from cracking and settling. The schedule usually turns on the weather for pour day and the permit check we do before anything goes on the calendar, and when I come out, I go over all of it so the estimate shows your own number, line by line.

Stamped work comes down to choices made early, so before anything else I go over the pattern and color, the sealer and how water will run off the slab with you. Then our crew digs out to firm ground and packs a base, because the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, is what keeps it from settling with the dirt. We set forms with the slope we planned, lay in rebar, steel that holds the slab together, and pour early in the day so midday heat doesn't leave a weak, dusty top. We color it, press the mats while it's workable and cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the concrete a place we chose to crack, then let it cure, the wait while it gains strength before you use it. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather simplify the pattern than skimp on the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but everybody sees it once a slab starts to sink. Before we leave, I walk you through how to care for it.

Stamped work usually sits next to plain concrete, so we often pour the pieces around it too. A patio tends to connect to a front walk, and we handle concrete sidewalk building as well, matching the edges or carrying a stamped border onto the walk. Inside, garage floor concrete gets a smooth or broom finish instead of a pattern, a light brushed texture that gives tires and shoes some grip.

The city's permit office is City of Montrose Building Services, and its list names residential construction, accessory structures, fences, roofing and demolition, not stamped concrete, so the list alone doesn't settle whether your job needs a permit. The city also lists a right of way encroachment permit, and building, moving, closing or changing a driveway access onto a state highway takes an access permit application to CDOT or the local office that issues them. Building Services is the place to ask about your own project. Before we schedule, we check with the city or county office that covers your address, walk you through what it asks for and, where a permit is needed, help you sort out the paperwork and keep you posted.

On jobs in Montrose and Delta, most stamped work we see is a back patio or a front walk, and we ask early where your downspouts empty and where you'll pile snow, because one spot that takes all that water can wear hard even on a slab that drains well.