Concrete Contractor in Norfolk, VA

Concrete flatwork for Norfolk homes and businesses

Brotherly Love Concrete pours flatwork, the concrete that sits at ground level around a house or a building. That covers driveways, patios, sidewalks and walkways, steps and stoops, slabs and pads, pool decks, and curb and gutter, plus removal and replacement when an old section has failed. The full list is on the concrete services overview. The business is based in Norfolk and takes work across Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore and the surrounding Hampton Roads cities.

A homeowner with a cracked driveway and a general contractor with a site package are asking for the same trade. The difference is in how the job starts. A homeowner usually starts with a description and a rough size. A general contractor starts with plans and a bid due date, and small commercial flatwork has its own bid request form for that. Either way, the job comes down to the same three things: grade, base and finish.

How a flatwork job runs, from estimate to pour

It starts with the estimate. Send the location, what you want poured and a rough size through the form, or call (757) 944-8142. A description is enough to start the conversation. The final number depends on things a description cannot always show: how close a ready mix truck can get, the condition of the ground, and whether old concrete has to come out first.

Before any concrete is ordered, the area is laid out and the grade is set so water runs away from the house rather than toward it. Then comes excavation, a compacted stone base, and forms set to the finished height and slope. Reinforcement goes in where the job calls for it.

On pour day the concrete is placed, struck off, floated and finished, then jointed so it cracks along the joints instead of at random. Curing follows. Concrete keeps gaining strength for weeks after the pour, and keeping it from drying out too fast in the first days makes a real difference to the surface. A new driveway needs more time before it carries a car than a walkway needs before it carries foot traffic, so plan on parking somewhere else for a while after the pour.

Base and drainage on coastal ground

Hampton Roads sits on Virginia's Coastal Plain, where the ground is unconsolidated sand, silt and clay. Ground like that carries a slab well when it is compacted and kept dry, and it settles when it is loose or wet. That is why the base under a slab gets as much attention as the concrete on top of it.

Water is the other half of the problem. Norfolk is low and largely surrounded by water, and some areas already flood regularly at high tide. Concrete that holds water against a foundation, or sits in a low spot where water collects, wears out sooner than concrete that sheds it. The slope on a backyard patio or a front walk is a small detail on paper and a large one after a week of rain.

Where the soil stays wet or soft, the fix is usually more excavation and more compacted base, not a thicker slab over the same soft ground. Extra concrete on a poor base cracks along with the base.

Repair or replace?

Not every crack means a driveway has to come out. Fine surface cracks are common in concrete and are often cosmetic. Sections that have sunk, heaved, or broken into pieces that rock under a car are a different story, because the problem is usually underneath. A patch over a failed base tends to fail again.

When a section does need to go, removal and replacement means breaking out the old concrete, hauling it off, correcting the base and pouring new. Replacing only the failed panels of a walk or driveway is often possible, as long as the new work is set to the same grade and jointed to match. Steps are a common case: a stoop that has settled or pulled away from the house usually needs to be rebuilt rather than patched.

Choosing a finish

A broom finish is the standard for outdoor flatwork because the texture holds traction when it is wet. A smoother troweled finish suits garage floors, shed slabs and covered areas, where slipping is less of a concern. Edges are usually tooled so they do not chip.

Decorative and stamped finishes are available for patios, walks and the concrete around a pool. Stamped concrete is pressed with a pattern while it is still workable, and color can be mixed in or applied to the surface. Around a pool, texture and surface heat matter as much as looks, so pick the finish with bare feet in mind. Settle on a decorative finish before the job is scheduled, since it changes how the pour is planned.

Scheduling around the weather

Concrete can be poured through most of the year in Hampton Roads, but the weather sets the plan for each day. Summers here are hot and humid, and heat speeds up setting, which shortens the time available to finish the surface. Hot weather pours tend to start early in the morning.

In cold weather concrete sets slowly and has to be kept from freezing while it gains strength. Heavy rain is the other variable, since rain on fresh concrete damages the finish, so a pour can move when a storm is in the forecast. Booking early in the season leaves the most room to work around the weather.