Merrillville Indiana Concrete Slabs – Shed Pads

A shed door that won’t shut is usually a slab problem. So is a parking pad with a puddle in one corner. We’ve pulled up pads in Merrillville that sat on grass or on loose fill. After a winter of freeze and thaw, one corner dropped and water sat under the floor. Concrete Slabs in Merrillville need a real base under them. So we tear out a sunk pad and pour again on a new base.

Concrete Slabs in Merrillville for Shed Pads and Side-Yard Parking

Merrillville, Indiana has plenty of single-family houses with a driveway and a side yard that still has room. So that side yard is where a shed pad or a second parking spot usually goes. We pour that work as residential concrete, and we size the slab to the load. A truck parked there every night means a thicker pour and more stone.

When people call, it’s often about a shed pad or one more parking spot. Some want the concrete down before the shed arrives. Others already have the building on blocks and want a floor under it.

After the first cold week, the garage fills up with the second car. Then the mower and the bins need a place out back. So the shed goes near the back lot line, where the yard is still open. Merrillville sits along I-65, and the driveway that came with the house is often already full.

Extra parking and backyard sheds are common on the single-family lots here. When we dig past the sod on Merrillville lots, we often hit clay. But a new slab on that clay will settle unless we build the base for that ground. We’ve seen pads that looked fine the week we poured them. Then they tipped after a wet spring.

How We Build Concrete Slabs in Merrillville, Indiana on Clay

We stake the pad and set the forms so water runs off the slab. It runs away from the shed and the house. Then we compact the stone in layers until it stops shifting under the plate. On a parking pad we meet the new concrete to the driveway so the joint stays tight. We can pour a service walk from the back door to the shed on that same visit. That’s how we build Concrete Slabs in Merrillville when the yard is clay.

Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company, and we’ve poured flatwork in northwest Indiana since 2006. So the clay under Merrillville lots is ground we already know how to build on. You can read about the company on our About Us page. On a quote we write each line out, with hours and material separate. We don’t inflate the price of the concrete to make a few extra dollars. When a bid loses, it’s often because we priced more hours into the base.

Concrete Slabs in Merrillville, Indiana When an Old Pad Must Come Out

Sometimes the old pad is already in the yard and it has sunk. We handle concrete removal and a full tear out and replace. After we haul the broken concrete off, we rebuild the stone base. We build it the same way we would for a new pad. Then we pour. Concrete Slabs in Merrillville that replace a failed pad still depend on that base. The new concrete won’t stay level if the soft clay stays underneath.

Most of these jobs stay in the backyard. We will add an upper walk or a short run of curb only when the lot needs it. Photos of finished pads and other flatwork are in the Photo Gallery. The wider list of pours we do sits on our concrete slabs work page. We leave the forms in place until the edge will hold. Then we tell you when the pad in Merrillville, Indiana can take the shed or a parked car.