Shed bases, pads and side-yard slabs
Alsip Concrete Flatwork for Pads, Bases and Side Slabs
Why let a shed or generator settle crooked? A gravel-bedded slab keeps it level for years.
What Separates a Good Pad From a Tilted One?
Ask anyone who has watched a shed door start to stick, or a generator lean a little more each spring, and they will tell you the slab moved. Small slabs get treated as afterthoughts. A bag-mix pad poured straight onto sod looks fine for a season, then the clay underneath swells, shrinks, and drags one corner down. In Alsip, where so many backyards sit on flat, moisture-holding soil, that happens a lot. Our flatwork is estimated and built like a larger job. We ask what will sit on the slab and how heavy it is. We check which direction the ground already drains. Then we strip the sod and soft topsoil, spread crushed gravel and run a plate compactor over it in passes. Forms are staked with a small measured fall so water slides off one edge instead of ringing the base of your equipment. The concrete is struck off, floated, broomed and edged, and joints are tooled at the spacing the slab size calls for. Generator pads, shed bases, trash enclosures, side-yard slabs between houses and driveway aprons all go through those steps.
Line Items on a Flatwork Estimate
Which of these show up depends on the slab, but most estimates list all six.
Grade reading
A level check to see where water currently runs and how much fall the slab needs.
Sod and topsoil removal
Organic soil dug out because it compresses and holds water under a slab.
Gravel bed
Crushed stone placed and compacted in passes to a stated depth.
Forms with fall
Boards staked so the finished surface tilts slightly toward open ground.
Reinforcement if needed
Wire or bar added for heavier equipment or where the soil is especially soft.
Finish and joints
Broom texture, rounded edges and control joints tooled at proper intervals.
Phone, Measure, Pour
What is the slab for?
On the first call we ask about size, purpose and weight. Then we visit to measure and read the grade around the spot.
Itemized estimate
Excavation, gravel, thickness, any steel and finish each get a line. You know the total before agreeing to anything.
Build day
Dig, compact, form, pour and finish. Forms are stripped after setting and the edges are backfilled with soil.
Reasons Small Slabs Come Out Right Here
No sod-top pours
Organic soil is always removed before gravel goes down, even on a small pad.
Fall measured, not eyeballed
A level and a string set the pitch so runoff leaves cleanly.
Weight considered
Heavier equipment gets a thicker slab, and steel where it helps.
- Organic soil removed
- Compacted gravel bed
- Measured fall
- Itemized estimate
Got Equipment That Needs a Level Home?
Shed kit on order, a standby generator coming, or a muddy strip beside the house? Give us the dimensions and we will work out the slab.