Decorative concrete in Alabaster AL - color and texture on a slab that holds up

Most people call us because the slab out back works fine but looks worn, or because they're pouring a new patio and want more than plain gray. The price mostly comes down to the size, whether your old slab can take a topping or has to come out, and how many colors and textures you want. The schedule turns on the prep, the weather on pour day, how long the concrete has to cure and harden before you use it, and whether a permit is needed, which we check before we set a date. My estimate spells out what's included, so you can see where the money goes.

First I check whether your old slab is solid enough for a topping, because a pretty new face on a heaving slab just hides the problem. If it passes, we clean it, fix what needs fixing and lay the decorative layer over it. If it doesn't, we tear it out, dig down and pack the subgrade, which is the dirt and gravel the slab sits on, then set rebar so steel holds the slab together, pour, color and texture it, and cut control joints so any cracking follows lines we picked. We pour early rather than in midday heat, because a top that dries too fast turns weak and dusty, and anywhere the surface gets wet we add more texture so it doesn't turn slick. If the budget's tight, I'd rather you keep the color simple than cut the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides whether that pattern stays flat.

Decorative work often ties into other jobs. A colored patio on a sloped yard may need concrete retaining walls to hold the dirt back, and the same stains and polished finishes work indoors when we do concrete floor installation for a shop, basement or garage.

In Alabaster, the city's Building Official issues the permit required before anyone builds, alters, repairs or tears out a building or structure. Whether a patio, walk or overlay counts as a structure isn't spelled out, so before we set a date we check with the permit office over your address, and if a permit is needed we take care of the paperwork, or walk you through it if you're acting as your own contractor. New slabs that mean digging or grading can also need an erosion and sediment control plan first, when soil could wash off your lot into the street or nearby water. If a decorative driveway meets a state highway at the road edge, that turnout goes through the Alabama Department of Transportation's district office instead.

Around Alabaster we see a lot of patios and walks that people want dressed up, and plenty of them have a settled corner or a crack that runs clean through. We run into the same mix on jobs in Pelham and Helena, so the first visit always goes the same way: check the slab before we talk colors.