Concrete floor installation in Round Rock TX - a floor built on a solid base

A concrete slab or pad in Round Rock usually costs about $5 to $11 per square foot, before any staining or stamping. That's the going rate around here, not our quote, and a reinforced slab sits higher in that range than a plain pad. Your figure depends on the size and how much base work the ground needs, and I'll give it to you once I've seen the site.

If the floor is part of a building or other structure, yes, because Round Rock requires a building permit for work on any building or structure, including in the Chandler Creek and Vista Oaks districts. For your exact project, the city's Development Technicians at 512-218-5550 can tell you whether you need one. Before we set a date, we check which office covers your address, and when a permit is needed we handle the application and keep it moving. We're licensed and fully insured, and the city only issues a permit once every contractor on the job is registered with it and named on the application. The permit lapses if work doesn't start within six months, so it pays to schedule the pour soon after it's issued.

Some, yes, because all concrete tends to crack and a completely crack-free slab isn't possible. Wire mesh and other reinforcement can't stop it, but set at the right depth in the slab it keeps cracks narrow, so that's where we set ours. We also cut control joints on time, which are shallow grooves that give the slab a straight line to crack along, because a joint cut late lets the slab pick its own spot.

You can usually walk on a new slab within 48 hours, but concrete takes 28 to 30 days to fully cure, which is the slow hardening that gives it strength. Many owners wait a week before putting heavier loads on it, just to be safe. National trade guidance says to keep the slab moist from the start with a sprayed curing compound or damp burlap for at least 3 days, because a slab that dries too fast ends up weaker.

A plastic vapor retarder, a sheet laid right against the underside of the slab, gives the most protection for floor coverings and coatings, according to national trade guidance. The catch is that a sheet directly under the slab greatly raises the chance of cracking, and the top can only be finished once all the bleed water, the water that rises to the surface, is gone. That's why I ask what's going over your floor first, since that decides how we handle the sheet, the reinforcement and the finishing.

Usually a weak base, where the dirt was raked level instead of dug out and packed, so the slab settles right along with it. We take out the topsoil and soft spots, pack the soil or fill, and slope the ground so water runs away from the house instead of under the slab. Clay makes that groundwork matter more, since the Blackland Prairie clays that run from north of Dallas south to San Antonio shrink and swell a lot as they wet and dry.