Garage floor concrete in Duluth MN - a solid floor built on a well-packed base

Most people call us when the old floor is cracked across, sunk near the door, chipping on top or holding a puddle of meltwater every winter. The price moves with the size of the garage, whether the old slab has to be broken out and hauled away, how much soft dirt has to come out before we build the base and how much steel the slab needs. The schedule moves with the city's paperwork and the temperature, because a cold-season pour needs protection planned in. When the old floor has to come out but the driveway apron should stay, we use concrete cutting to separate the two along a straight line at the door. I'll walk you through all of it at the estimate, so you know what you're paying for before we start.

I start by asking when you want the garage back, because if you have a date in mind, the city paperwork needs time before we can book the pour. On site, we break out the old floor, dig down to the subgrade, the dirt the slab sits on, pull out anything soft and bring in gravel that we pack in layers so it won't settle later. We check where the water runs and set the forms so the floor falls toward the door, not toward the back wall or the house. The steel goes in, we pour early in the day instead of in midday heat that can leave a weak, dusty top, and soon after we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a straight line to crack along instead of a random one. Then we keep it covered while it cures, the slow hardening that gives concrete its strength, and if the season is turning cold, protection for the fresh slab is part of the plan from the first day. If the budget gets tight, I'll steer you toward a plainer finish before I'll skimp on the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but you live with it every winter after.

Some garage jobs lead into others. If you'd like the floor or the apron to look like more than plain gray, our decorative concrete work adds color and texture in the same pour. If the garage is cut into a hillside and the dirt beside it keeps sliding toward the door, concrete retaining walls hold that grade back so it stops washing onto your new slab.

The city of Duluth requires a building permit to build, enlarge, alter or repair a building, and a garage is a building, so we plan your floor around one and confirm the details with the city before we book anything. Applications go in through the city's ePlace system, and the city asks for them two weeks to a month before you want the work to start, which is why I say call early. You or the contractor doing the work can get the permit, but anyone besides the owner has to be a licensed contractor under Minnesota rules. When a job needs a permit, we pull it and book the inspections, and if you'd rather apply yourself, I'll tell you what the city will want to see from us.

On a new garage, the city wants the footing inspection done before any concrete goes in, with the forms and the required steel in place, and in St. Louis County the state rules put footings at least five feet down for frost unless an engineer who knows soils decides otherwise. What we see most here are older garages with floors tipped toward the back wall, and the same slush-and-meltwater trouble shows up on our jobs in Hermantown and Cloquet.