Concrete contractor in Normal, IL - driveways and steps built for long winters

Winter is what wears concrete out in Normal. Weather records from a station just northeast of town count about 135 days a year below freezing, and every time water that's soaked into a slab or the ground under it freezes, it pushes. That's how a driveway ends up with one panel sitting higher than the next and a crack running across it. All concrete cracks a little as it shrinks, and there's no talking it out of that, so we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the crack a straight line to follow, while the slab is fresh. Then we keep it from drying out too fast while it cures, which is the stretch when it's still gaining strength and needs to be left alone.

The other thing we run into here is flat ground. Plenty of yards barely fall away from the house, so rain off the roof and the driveway sits right where it lands. I ask where water stands after a storm and look for it myself, and we slope every new slab away from the house so it doesn't end up pooling against your foundation.

Permits in Normal come from the Town of Normal's Building Inspection Division, which also handles the plan review and field inspections on new construction and remodeling. That's why I find out what the Town wants for your job before we pick a pour date, because a permit or an inspection, if your job needs one, has to fit into the schedule instead of getting squeezed in once the forms are set. The Town also registers general contractors and several trades, and its clerk takes business license applications, so it's fair to ask anyone you're thinking of hiring how they're set up with the Town. We're licensed and insured, and we handle the permit paperwork when it's ours to file. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.

What moves the price here is mostly what's under the old concrete and how easy it is to get to. Breaking out a worn slab and hauling it off, digging out soft fill and packing a new base all happen before any new concrete shows up, and then size, thickness and finish do the rest, whether that's a broom finish, the light texture that gives your shoes some grip, or something stamped. A tight driveway off one of the older streets can mean more wheelbarrow trips than anyone enjoys, the weather decides pour dates more than we do, and your own number comes from the estimate once I've walked the job. We come out from Peoria for this work, and since Normal runs right into Bloomington, we often have jobs going on both sides of the line.

Normal feels busier than its size, mostly because of Uptown, where locally owned shops and restaurants, the Historic Normal Theatre and the three-story Children's Discovery Museum sit within a few blocks of each other. Constitution Trail, a joint project of Normal and Bloomington laid largely along an old railroad line, brings joggers, walkers and cyclists across the city all day. On jobs near either one, we work out where the concrete truck parks and when it shows up well before pour day, so we're not blocking anybody's street.

Away from Uptown you'll find older houses with narrow driveways and front steps that have seen a lot of winters, and newer subdivisions with wide driveways and attached garages. On the drive over from Peoria we pass Morton, and whatever the house, the job here comes down to the same two things, solid ground under the slab and somewhere for the water to go.