Decorative concrete in Peoria IL - a look you've seen on your own slab first

Most calls start with a patio, walk or driveway that's solid but plain, or a newer house where the gray concrete looks like an afterthought. Price turns on the size of the area, whether we can work over your old slab or have to tear it out, and how much color, pattern or texture you want, with stamped concrete and multi-color work at the busier end. The schedule mostly turns on the weather, the curing wait while new concrete hardens before you use it, and whether the work reaches the sidewalk or street, where the city gets involved. The estimate I write after seeing your slab gives you the figure for your own job.

I start by walking the slab with you and checking the parts nobody looks at, like the subgrade it sits on, where the water runs and whether anything has settled, because a decorative finish only looks as good as the concrete holding it up. If your slab is sound, we'll talk about an overlay before anyone mentions tearing it out. Before we color the whole area, we try your color or stain on a small spot so you see the real look on your own concrete, not on a phone screen. On a new pour, we dig out and pack the base, pour, add the color or texture, and cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a planned place to crack instead of a random one, then let it cure. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather you pick a plainer pattern than skimp on the base, because nobody sees the base on day one, nobody brags about it at a cookout, and it's the one part you can't redo once the color is down.

Decorative work often comes with a neighbor project. A colored patio on a sloped yard may need one of our concrete retaining walls to hold the grade, and if you like the stained look enough to bring it inside, concrete floor installation for a basement or addition lets us plan that finish from the first pour.

Most decorative work stays on your own lot, but a stamped walk or colored driveway often runs out to the public sidewalk or the drive approach, the stretch of driveway between the sidewalk and the street. That strip is the city's right-of-way, and the City of Peoria Public Works Department approves and permits any new or replacement sidewalk or approach there, issuing those permits only to contractors it licenses for right-of-way work, a license that takes proof of a $10,000 bond. The city also inspects before the concrete goes in, and right-of-way work done without the permits and inspections can be ordered torn out and replaced, and the city won't be paying for it. Before we schedule, we look into what the city or village wants for your job, handle the paperwork when it's ours to file, and tell you plainly if anything falls on your end.

Winter is the other thing that decides how decorative concrete holds up here. Freeze-and-thaw damage is held back mainly by entrained air, tiny round bubbles built into the mix and spaced so freezing water has somewhere to push, so on outdoor work it's fair to ask any contractor, us included, how their mix gets it. We see the same winter wear on patios and walks in Morton and Pekin, and it's why I talk mix before I talk color.