Concrete Contractors in Racine, WI

Racine is a dense, older city, and concrete contractors here spend a lot of time on replacements rather than new pours. The city counted 77,816 residents in 2020 on just 15.47 square miles of land, which is more than 5,000 people per square mile. Its 33,871 housing units sit close together, and many of them have narrow driveways, alley garages and front steps rising from the sidewalk.

A long building history

Gilbert Knapp settled the area as Port Gilbert in 1834. Racine became a village in 1841 and a city in 1848. It grew as an industrial center, home to J. I. Case, Horlicks and S. C. Johnson & Son, whose 1936 headquarters was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The city has historic districts, including Old Main Street and the Southside Historic District.

A city with that much history has concrete of every age. Some walks and steps here have been patched for decades. Some garage slabs were poured long before anyone used air entrainment or a stone base.

Common Racine jobs

1. Front steps and stoops. Many homes sit a few feet above the sidewalk. Old steps crack, tilt and pull away from the house. We remove them and pour new steps with even rises and a solid footing. 2. Narrow driveway replacement. We plan tear-out and pours in tight spaces next to the house and the neighbor's lot line. 3. Alley and detached garage slabs. Old garage floors often crack and sink. We can replace the slab, sometimes with the garage still standing, or pour a new one for a rebuild. 4. Walks and side yards between closely spaced homes. 5. Small backyard patios, including stamped concrete for a finished look in a small space.

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Lake weather, salt and snow

Racine sits on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Climate normals for the city list about 41 inches of snow a year, with most of it in January and February, and a mean January low of 14.5°F. That means a long season of freezing and thawing and a lot of road salt. Salt and freeze-thaw together cause the flaking and scaling you see on many older Racine steps and drives.

We use air-entrained concrete for all outdoor work, finish and cure it properly, and recommend sealing. We also tell you which deicers to avoid on new concrete.

What pour day looks like on a tight lot

On a Racine lot, pour day takes planning. Here is how it usually goes: 1. Tear-out. We break out the old concrete and haul it away. On a narrow drive, we may use smaller equipment. 2. Base. We remove soft soil, add stone and compact it. This is the step most old slabs skipped. 3. Forms and steel. Forms set the shape and slope. Reinforcement goes in on supports. 4. The pour. The truck parks on the street or in the alley. If it cannot reach, we use a pump or wheelbarrows. 5. Finish. We screed, float and finish the surface, then broom or stamp it. 6. Joints and curing. We cut joints and apply a curing method.

We let neighbors know when the truck is coming when the job is close to their property, and we clean the street and sidewalk when we leave.

Small projects count too

In a dense city, many jobs are small: one section of walk, a single stoop, a pad for trash cans by the alley, or a short apron. We take those on with the same care as a full driveway, and the same written estimate.

Before we start

Work that touches the public sidewalk or the apron at the street may need city approval. We check whether the City of Racine requires a permit for your address before scheduling. In a dense city, we also plan where the truck will park and how we will protect your neighbor's property during the pour.