Slabs and Pads
Concrete Slabs and Pads in Burlington, WI
Garage slabs, pole barn and outbuilding slabs, and pads for sheds and hot tubs, poured across Burlington and Racine County. The ground is prepared before anything is formed, and an old slab, if there is one, is broken out and hauled away. The estimate is free and comes in writing.
A slab is the plainest concrete we pour and the one asked to carry the most. A car, a workbench, a loaded tractor, a few thousand pounds of water in a hot tub: whatever sits on it sits there every day for decades, and the slab gets exactly one chance to be built for that.
What we pour
- Garage slabs, under a new detached garage or in place of a cracked, sunken slab in the one you have.
- Pole barn and outbuilding slabs, plus the footings, sequenced around whoever is putting the building up.
- Shed pads, sized to the shed with a little to spare at the door.
- Hot-tub pads, where the weight sits in one place and the slab is built for that rather than for foot traffic.
- Slab replacement, where the old one has broken through or dropped and has to come out.
We pour footings and slabs. We do not raise the building, and a slab that is sound but has settled is a lifting job for another trade - you will hear that from us before any price.
Three steps
1. Tell us what is going on it
A shed, a car, a tractor, a hot tub. That one answer decides more about the slab than its size does, which is why the form asks it first.
2. We look at the ground and write a price
Where the slab will sit, how the yard drains, and whether a truck can reach the spot or the concrete has to travel further. The figure is itemised and stays with you.
3. Base, pour, then build on it
Stone goes in and is compacted, forms and reinforcement go down, and the pour waits for a forecast worth trusting. You are told when it can take the building and when it can take a vehicle.
What decides whether a slab lasts
- The base, not the concrete. Stone brought up in layers and compacted is invisible the day we leave and decides whether the slab stays flat.
- Thickness and reinforcement matched to the load. A garden shed and a pickup do not need the same slab, and a slab carrying walls needs an edge detail that a patio never does.
- Where the water goes. A slab that sheds toward the door and away from its edges stays dry underneath. One that holds water against an edge is the usual reason a slab fails in one corner and nowhere else.
What Burlington asks of a garage or shed slab
Inside the City, putting up any building, a detached garage or a shed included, needs a building permit from the Building Inspector first (Municipal Code s. 115-9(A)). The same chapter spells out what a detached garage or accessory building may stand on:
- A continuous floating slab of reinforced concrete, at least four inches thick, with No. 10 six-by-six wire mesh as the minimum reinforcement (s. 115-16(D)). An attached garage is treated differently and takes the same footings and foundations as the house.
- A thickened edge all the way round, eight inches wide and eight inches below the top of the slab, carrying two No. 4 bars.
- A concrete curb at least four inches above the finished ground beside the building, with anchor bolts set into it eight feet apart.
- A concrete surface that falls toward the exterior door, with no pits or openings other than for drainage (s. 115-16(E)).
Size is capped as well. An accessory building can cover from 720 square feet on a lot of up to 10,000 square feet to 900 on the largest lots, or 20% of the required rear yard if that is smaller (s. 115-16(C)), and the zoning setbacks in Chapter 315 apply on top. Worth knowing before the building is ordered rather than after.
Outside the City - the Town of Burlington around the lakes, Rochester, Waterford, Union Grove, Lyons - a different office issues the permit, so check with that town or village before you buy a kit. If the pad is for a hot tub or equipment with no building over it, ask the Building Inspector whether a permit applies rather than assuming either way.
Questions people ask
Can a detached garage go on a floating slab here?
Inside the City of Burlington, yes. The building code lets a detached garage or accessory building sit on a continuous floating slab of reinforced concrete with a thickened edge. An attached garage is different: it takes the same footings and foundations as the house.
Do you put up the pole barn as well?
No. We pour the footings and the slab, laid out to the builder's drawings. Raising the building is the builder's job.
My garage slab is cracked. Does it have to come out?
Not always. If it has broken up or the ground beneath it has washed out, replacement is the fix. If it is in one piece and has only sunk, lifting it is the cheaper answer, and we will say so even though lifting is not something we do.
How far out do you pour slabs?
Burlington and the lakes at Browns Lake and Bohners Lake, plus Rochester, Waterford, Union Grove and Lyons. A little beyond that, ask anyway.
Reading for slab owners
- what a concrete slab costs in Racine County
- how water underneath shortens a slab's life
- looking after a new slab in its first month
- whether a slab needs a vapor barrier under it
A drive to go with it? We price a concrete driveway on the same visit.
Free on-site estimate
A few quick questions, then a local concrete contractor gets in touch to arrange a free look at the spot. Nothing is booked until you say so.
Free Estimate
Get your free, on-site estimate.
Tell us about your project and we'll call you back the same day to set up a free measure and price.