Concrete driveways, patios and repair in Elkhorn
Three-car garage, two-car driveway. If that's your house, you're not the only one out here who's called us about it.
Concrete work in Elkhorn, Nebraska
Elkhorn is really two places. There's the old town around Main and Glenn, with houses going back a hundred years and big trees, and there's everything that's gone up west and north of it since Omaha annexed it. The old part gets replacement and repair. The new part gets additions.
The call we get most out here is a driveway widening. Right behind it: patios and patio extensions, walkways, basketball pads, and a spot for the hot tub. In old town it swings back to tear-outs, sidewalk panels and tree roots.
West Omaha clay, and doing a widening right
The ground out here has a lot of clay in it. It swells up in a wet spring and shrinks in a dry August, sometimes enough to crack open a bare yard. A slab poured right on top of it moves with it. The fix is boring but it works: dig deeper, bring in crushed rock, pack it down, and let that layer soak up the movement instead of the concrete.
On widenings, the trick is the joint. The old driveway already did its settling twenty years ago and the new strip hasn't yet. Pour them tight together and they'll pull apart and leave a lip. We drill dowels into the old slab and put an isolation joint between them so they stay level. The color won't match exactly (new gray never matches old gray), but running the broom the same direction gets it close, and it blends in over a couple of years.
In old town, it's tree roots. A silver maple planted eighty years ago will find the damp ground under your sidewalk every time. Grinding the lip down works for a couple of years. Cutting the panel out, trimming the roots, putting in a barrier and repouring works for a lot longer.
Parts of Elkhorn we work in
Pretty much all of it, including Old Town Elkhorn, Elkhorn South area, Skyline Ranches, Indian Creek, 204th Street, West Dodge, Pacific Street and Elkhorn River valley. If you're in or near Elkhorn and don't see your street, call (531) 236-6623 and ask. It takes about thirty seconds.
Elkhorn questions
What does it cost to widen a driveway?
A single-stall strip usually runs $1,600 to $4,000 depending on how long it is, whether there's landscaping or old concrete in the way, and the doweling. It's normally a one-day pour.
Why is my patio already cracking?
Usually one of two things. It went down on clay with little or no rock under it, or the control joints were cut too shallow or too far apart. Concrete is going to crack. The joints decide where. They should be about a quarter of the slab's thickness deep and spaced roughly every eight to ten feet on a four-inch slab.
Can you fix a sidewalk the city sent me a letter about?
Yes. Elkhorn's in the City of Omaha, so the public sidewalk out front is right-of-way work with a permit and an inspection. Bring the notice when we come out and we'll price exactly what it asks for. Usually that's a couple of panels, not the whole run.