A concrete floor is the slab under a garage, a basement, a workshop, a home addition or a ground-floor shop, and we pour each one for the load it will actually carry. In Sandy Springs the median home was built in 1988, so much of our residential work is on houses with some years behind them. That means replacing a cracked garage slab, finishing a basement floor that was left rough, or tying a new addition into an existing foundation. We pour commercial floors too, for offices near Perimeter Center and for retail and mixed-use space along Roswell Road. The finish can be plain gray, or a polished, stained or decorative surface left exposed as the floor itself.
Most floor failures start underneath. Rion soil, which drains well, is the dominant type in Fulton County, but it varies from lot to lot, so we test every site on its own before a form goes down. We grade and compact the base, lay a vapor barrier wherever the slab sits under living space, and hold the reinforcement at the right depth instead of letting it sink to the bottom of the pour. Control joints get cut where concrete wants to crack anyway. With about 50 inches of rain a year, the water moving around a slab deserves as much thought as the slab. Call us for a free estimate.
Every slab gets priced from the site itself, measured and walked, not from a chart. Thickness moves it most: a 4-inch patio slab on compacted gravel is a lighter job than a 6-inch pad carrying a car or a workshop. Rebar or wire mesh, how much grade has to come out, and whether the truck reaches the forms or we pump the pour all appear on the written estimate. Call for a free estimate.
A driveway carries far more weight than a patio, so we pour it thicker, over a compacted gravel base, with rebar set on chairs so the steel sits in the middle of the slab instead of lying in the dirt. Control joints go in early, before the concrete decides where to crack on its own. On a drive with any pitch, a broom finish across the slope gives tires and shoes something to grip.
Garage floors, basements, workshops and additions all start the same way: a sound base and a 10-mil vapor barrier under the pour. Skip that barrier and ground moisture wicks up, lifting epoxy coatings and staining finished flooring. Garage floors get a hard steel-trowel finish. Living spaces can be polished, sealed or stained as a decorative surface. We cure the slab properly and keep traffic off it until it has strength.
With the median home here built in 1988, plenty of slabs have been working for decades, and around 60" of rain a year finds every weak spot. We look for the cause before touching the crack: a downspout emptying against the edge, a washed-out base, a joint that was never cut. Hairline shrinkage cracks get routed and sealed. Sunken sections get cut out and repoured, doweled into the old concrete so they move together.
The median house in Sandy Springs was built in 1988, so many of the floors we work on sit in garages, basements and additions that have carried decades of use. Some have settled. Some were poured without enough reinforcement to begin with. We take the old surface out when it has to go and keep it when it can stay, and we tell you which is which. The same care goes into commercial floors along the Roswell Road corridor, where a retail or mixed-use space needs a slab that holds up to daily traffic.
Getting a floor right starts underneath it. Rion soil, which drains well, is the dominant type in Fulton County, but it shifts from lot to lot, so we test every site on its own before any forms go down. With about 50 inches of rain a year, moisture is what we plan around: a proper base, a vapor barrier, and a surface finished to shed water where it should. Reinforcement goes where the load will sit. The slab cures on its schedule, not ours. A floor that cracks in its first year is not a finished job.
We walk the space first with a level, a moisture meter and a tape. On an existing slab we look for cracks that have moved, settled sections and low spots where water sits. Rion soil, which drains well, is the dominant type in Fulton County, but it changes across the county, so every site gets tested on its own. We ask what the floor has to carry. If the work needs a permit, we handle the permit.
Old concrete comes out first, broken up and hauled off. We dig to depth, cut the grade flat and compact the subgrade in lifts with a plate compactor, not all at once. A crushed stone base goes on top and gets compacted again. Fulton County is gently rolling, and ground can change from one end of a lot to the other, so each site is graded to its own conditions. Indoors, a heavy poly vapor barrier goes down last, seams taped.
Forms set the height and edges of the finished floor, so we string them, stake them and check them with a transit before any steel goes in. Most residential floors take a four-inch slab. Garages holding heavy trucks, or a shop with equipment, go thicker. For reinforcement we tie rebar in a grid and lift it on chairs so it sits in the middle of the slab. Steel lying on the base does almost nothing.
At the truck, we check the mix and slump against what we ordered for this slab before any of it goes down. Adding water on site so the concrete pushes easier is how weak, dusty floors get made. We don't do it. The pour runs continuously, worked into the corners and around the steel, then screeded flat off the forms. A stalled pour leaves a cold joint, so crew and trucks are lined up beforehand.
Timing decides the finish. We bull float right after screeding, then wait for bleed water to leave the surface before touching it again (troweling it back in is why some floors flake later). Interior floors get a hard steel-trowel finish. Garages get a light broom texture for grip under wet tires. Decorative stains are planned here too. Control joints are saw cut the next morning, so the slab cracks where we chose.
Most of a floor's strength comes in its first week, and only if the slab stays wet. Fresh concrete that dries out early leaves a soft top layer that wears fast and curls at the joints. We keep the surface damp under covers or spray on a curing compound the day of the pour. Foot traffic is fine after a day or two. Vehicles wait longer, and the concrete keeps gaining strength for about a month.
Once the slab has dried enough to take it, the sealer goes on, not before. For garage and basement floors we usually use a penetrating silane or siloxane, which soaks in, keeps water and oil out and does not turn slick. Anyone wanting a sheen or deeper color gets an acrylic, and floors that see chemical spills get an epoxy coating. Sandy Springs sees about 50 inches of rain a year, so keeping water out of the slab is worth the step.
Most of the price of a concrete floor is decided before the first truck arrives. Removal, base preparation, reinforcement and access matter far more than the finish, and nearly all of it is something you can check yourself with a walk around the property.
| What changes the price | Which way | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Old slab, tile or carpet glue that has to come out first | costs more | Breaking out and hauling concrete is its own day of work, and adhesive has to be ground off before anything new will bond. |
| An existing slab that is sound and close to level | costs less | A good slab can often be ground, polished or resurfaced instead of torn out and replaced. |
| No clear path for a truck to reach the work | costs more | If the chute cannot reach the forms, we bring in a pump or move the concrete by buggy. |
| Heavier thickness and reinforcement | costs more | A garage floor that carries vehicles needs more depth and more steel than a basement floor that carries furniture. |
| Water that sits against the house or under the floor | costs more | With about 50 inches of rain a year, a floor on wet ground needs a vapor barrier, better base stone and sometimes a drain. |
| A subgrade that is out of level or sits on loose fill | costs more | Low spots get built up with compacted stone before we pour, and every site is graded on its own. |
| Floor drains, plumbing or radiant tubing cast into the slab | costs more | Anything set in the concrete has to be placed, checked and protected before the pour. |
| Stamped, stained or decorative finishes | costs more | These take extra material and extra hands while the surface is still workable. |
When you line up bids, check that each one names the same slab thickness, the same reinforcement and the same base preparation, and that a vapor barrier is included where the floor needs one. Ask whether removal and haul-off are in the number. A bid that leaves any of those out is pricing a different floor.
Yes, in all three, with different prep for each. Kitchens and living areas get a sealer that stands up to spills and foot traffic, and the color sits in the surface rather than on top of it, so there is no coating to peel. Garages need a tougher seal against hot tires and oil. Stain shows the slab exactly as it is, so we look at the existing concrete before recommending it.
There is no honest single number for it. A retail bay off Roswell Road and an office floor near Perimeter Center can share a square footage and still price very differently, because slab condition, thickness, reinforcement, finish and working hours all move the figure. The real number comes from walking the property, measuring, and checking the existing surface, which is what a free estimate is for. Call and we will set one up.
Warehouse floors are priced by what they carry. A slab that takes forklift traffic and racking loads needs more thickness and heavier reinforcement than one where boxes are moved by hand, and joint layout matters more than most owners expect. Finish choice (polished, sealed or coated) and whether the building stays open during the work also shift the total. Tell us what the floor has to hold and we can price it properly from there.
Polished concrete suits most retail and office space: it wears hard, cleans easily and throws light back into the room. We also install stained and sealed floors, epoxy and other resin coatings for kitchens, back-of-house areas and service bays, and plain troweled slabs for storage and utility rooms. New structural slabs and overlays on existing concrete are both part of the work. Traffic and cleaning routine decide which one fits.
That turns on what failed. Surface scaling, a few hairline cracks or a worn finish can usually be repaired or resurfaced. Cracks that have shifted out of level, sections that have sunk, or a slab that holds water all point to a problem underneath. Patching over that only buys time. With about 50 inches of rain a year here, drainage around a patio matters, so we check the base and the slope before recommending either.
We plan the work in sections so part of the floor stays in use while the rest is poured, cured or polished. Where a business cannot close, the loud and dusty stages can be scheduled outside operating hours. Work zones are fenced and signed, walkways stay clearly marked, and dust is held down with wet cutting and vacuum-equipped grinders. Each day ends with the site cleaned and anything still curing barricaded off.