Concrete in Mountain Home, ID

It is priced by the square foot of finished surface, and what moves the number most is thickness, base preparation and finish. A driveway carrying vehicles is a thicker slab with heavier reinforcement than a garden path of the same area, and a site that needs poor fill excavated costs more than one that does not. Demolition and haulage of an existing slab is a real line item, charged by weight. Rather than publish a range that would not survive contact with your actual site, the useful step is a quote against it.

Foot traffic is usually about a day, vehicles considerably longer. Concrete gains most of its strength over the first weeks rather than the first days, and it cures by chemical reaction rather than by drying out — which is why a slab that is protected and kept damp ends up stronger than one left in the sun. Exact timing depends on the mix, the thickness and the weather during the pour, so it is given for your specific job.

It cannot be prevented, only controlled. Concrete shrinks as it cures and moves with temperature, so it will crack somewhere. Control joints are cut at planned spacing so the slab relieves that stress along a straight line instead of wherever it likes. Fine, tight, evenly spaced cracking is normal. Cracks that widen over time, or where the two sides sit at different heights, mean something is moving underneath and are a different conversation.

Often, and it is usually a fraction of the cost. A slab that has dropped has rarely failed as concrete — what failed is the base under it. If the slab is still sound and in one piece, material can be injected through small holes to fill the void and raise it back to level. If it has broken into fragments it will not lift as one piece, and replacement is the honest answer. Either way the reason it dropped has to be dealt with, or the void simply forms again.

It depends which part. The valley floor is Boise River alluvium — sand and gravel that carries load well and drains freely, which is favorable ground. The Bench and the Foothills sit on loess, a windblown silt that is competent while dry and can settle once it is thoroughly wetted, so drainage and irrigation management matter a great deal more there. Two decades of rapid growth also mean a lot of lots are on engineered fill. Which of those applies to your address is worth establishing before design, not after.

For a driveway, patio or walkway on your own property, frequently not — but it depends on the jurisdiction and on what the work involves. Anything structural, anything in the public right of way, and anything that changes drainage is more likely to need one. Ada County and Canyon County run separate permit offices with their own requirements, so which applies to your address gets confirmed before the work is scheduled rather than assumed.

The main season runs through the warmer months, because concrete placed in freezing conditions needs protection and heating to cure properly, which adds cost and risk. Very hot, dry, windy days are their own problem at the other end — the surface can dry faster than the slab cures, which causes surface cracking. Neither rules the work out; both change how it is placed, protected and cured.

Longer than most people expect when the base, the mix and the drainage are right, and a great deal less when any one of those is wrong. Rather than a number, the useful way to think about it is what shortens it: water sitting against or under the slab, freeze-thaw acting on a mix without adequate air entrainment, de-icing salt, loads heavier than the slab was designed for, and a base that was never properly compacted. A driveway that avoids those is a long-term asset. One that does not can need attention within a few seasons, which is why the questions asked before pouring matter more than the concrete itself.

New concrete should be sealed, but only after it has cured — sealing too early traps moisture in the slab and can cause exactly the surface damage the sealer exists to prevent. After that it is an interval rather than a one-off, and how long depends on the sealer, the exposure and whether the surface gets de-icing salt through winter. The interval for what was applied is stated at handover so it is a known commitment.