A note on Beckley's past
Beckley is the county seat and largest town of Raleigh County, on a high plateau at about 2,400 feet; mining of the county's bituminous coal began in the 1890s, and a branch of the C&O railroad reached Beckley in 1901.
What NOAA's station at Beckley Memorial records
NOAA's station at Beckley Memorial stands at an elevation of 2,513 feet. For that station, NOAA's engineering weather data gives a 1% summer design temperature of 82°F, with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 69°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of 8°F.
Beckley's drinking water
Beckley Water Company's Glade Creek Water Treatment Plant draws surface water from the Glade Creek Reservoir, which holds about 1.3 billion gallons.
What each slab will be asked to carry
Concrete is priced and built around its job. Before you call anyone, walk the property and give each surface a short job description. A walk to the mailbox carries people and a snow shovel. A patio carries chairs, a table, a grill and perhaps a heavy planter or a hot tub. A garage floor carries parked cars and whatever drips off them. A driveway may see a delivery truck, a camper or a trailer, even if only now and then.
Write down the heaviest thing each surface will ever hold, along with its rough size and the look you hope for. Contractors can then talk about thickness, base and reinforcement for that load, and you can hold every bid against the same list.
Finished height at doors and edges
Where the top of a new slab ends up matters too. Ask each contractor to mark the finished height on the house, the garage and any existing walk before forming starts. Questions worth raising:
- How far below the door threshold will the patio or landing sit, and is there a step down?
- Where the driveway meets the garage floor, will the two surfaces line up?
- How will the edge of the slab meet the lawn, a planting bed or an existing walk?
- Will the edges be thickened, and why or why not?
Getting heights settled on paper first can spare an awkward lip at a doorway that nobody intended.
Getting the truck to the pour
A ready-mix truck is heavy and its chute reaches only so far. Ask where the truck will park and whether it will cross your lawn, a curb or an older driveway to get there. If the chute cannot reach every corner, ask whether the crew will use a pump, wheelbarrows or a motorized buggy, and whether that changes the price.
Ask, too, where the crew will rinse the chute and tools once the pour is done. Washout water carries cement and can leave a gray crust on grass and pavement. Ask whether it will be caught in a lined pit or a container and hauled away, and who cleans up any spill on the street.
The ground beneath
Whatever sits under the slab carries everything above it. Ask how deep the crew will dig below the finished surface, what they do if they reach soft soil, roots or old fill, and what base material goes in. Ask how thick the base will be, how it is compacted, and whether it runs a little past the slab edges. Ask who calls in the utility locate before digging, and how close to the marks the crew will work.
Steel and joints, drawn together
Reinforcement and joints are easier to judge when they appear on the same sketch. Ask each contractor to draw your slab with the control joints marked, the spacing between them, and how deep each joint will be cut or tooled. On the same drawing, ask them to show any rebar, wire or fiber in the mix, and how the steel will be held up off the base while the concrete is placed. Where new concrete meets the house, a step or an older slab, ask whether an isolation strip will keep the two apart.
Texture and color samples
Photos on a phone can make every finish look the same. Ask whether the contractor can show you a sample board, a finished job you can visit, or a small test area before the main pour. That is the moment to settle broom direction and coarseness, whether color is mixed in or spread on top, and whether a stamped pattern or exposed stone will be part of the job. Ask what upkeep each finish will ask of you later.
Pour day at home
Placing and finishing concrete is a tight, busy stretch of work. Ask how many people will be on site, who does the finishing, and whether you need to be home. Plan to move cars out of the way the night before, keep pets and children inside, and leave a clear path for the crew. Ask where the crew will park and whether they will need water or power from the house.
The hands-off period
Fresh concrete keeps gaining strength for some time after the crew leaves. Ask how the slab will be cured: wet coverings, plastic sheeting, a curing compound or a mix of these. Ask what forecast would make them reschedule the pour, how they protect a slab that has just been placed, and when you can walk on it, roll a wheelbarrow across it and park on it. Ask when, if ever, they suggest a sealer, and which products they would keep off new concrete.
Paperwork and coverage questions
- What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?
- Which city permits does the job need, and who pulls them?
- Will an inspector look at the forms or the base before the pour?
- Can you provide proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation?
Reading the bids
Spread the written proposals out together and read them for the same job, not the same total. Each one should name the size and thickness of every surface, the tear-out and haul-away, how deep the crew will dig and what goes into the base, the strength of the mix and whether it is air-entrained, the reinforcement, the joint sketch, the slope and where runoff goes, the finish and color, how the slab will be cured, washout and cleanup, permits and locates, the payment schedule and the written warranty with what it excludes. If one proposal comes in far under the others, ask which of those pieces it leaves out.