Huntington/Tri-State wet-bulb hours
NOAA's engineering weather data lists a station named Huntington/Tri-State, about 8 miles west of downtown Huntington. In an average year there, NOAA counts about 483 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 1,699 hours above 67°F.
Households in Census QuickFacts
For 2020-2024, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts lists 19,753 households in Huntington, with 2.14 persons per household, and an owner-occupied housing unit rate of 53.3%.
A checklist sorted by surface
Each slab around a house takes a different kind of wear. A driveway carries weight, a walk carries feet and shovels, a patio holds furniture and grills, steps take impact at their edges, and a garage floor collects whatever drips off the car. So this list goes surface by surface, with seasonal notes under each. Read the section for each slab you own and skip the rest.
Driveway
Through the year
- Before a dumpster or a heavy delivery arrives, ask whether the driveway was poured thick enough for it; if nobody knows, have it set on the street or on plywood sheets.
- Slip a square of scrap wood beneath anything that rests its weight on a small point, such as a camper jack or a kickstand.
Cold months
- Shovel before snow is packed down by tires.
- Before buying a melt product, read its label and ask your installer which ones suit a slab of this age.
- If someone plows for you, stake the edges and ask them to raise the blade a touch so it rides over the joints.
Warm months
- Blot oil drips with cat litter, then scrub with a cleaner sold for concrete.
- Look along the edges for soil washing out or a gap opening beside the slab.
Walks
Cold months
- Use a plastic shovel or one with a rubber edge.
- Spread sand for grip where meltwater refreezes across a walk, and note where that happens for a spring look.
Warm months
- Pull grass and weeds out of the joints, and refill gaps with a flexible joint filler.
- Check whether any panel has lifted at a joint, enough to catch a toe.
- Scrub off moss or algae in shady stretches with a concrete-safe cleaner, then rinse.
Patio
Spring
- Sweep, wash with a hose and a stiff brush, and look for fine surface cracks and flaking.
- Splash a little water on a sealed patio and watch it. When the surface darkens and drinks it in, ask your installer whether resealing is due and which product will bond with the old coat.
Summer
- Set a heat mat under the grill and a tray under planters, so grease and rust do not stain the surface.
- Rinse fertilizer and pool chemicals off promptly.
Fall
- Clear leaves before they mat down and stain.
- Make sure soil and mulch along the edge fall away from the patio.
Steps
Any season
- Check each tread edge and corner for chips.
- Look for a gap where the steps meet the porch or the house, and photograph it so you can compare next year.
- Test any handrail anchor set in the concrete by pushing on the rail firmly.
Cold months
- Clear snow promptly, since packed snow can turn to ice on a tread.
- Keep metal shovel edges off the nosing.
Garage floor
Cold months
- Sweep or squeegee out the slush and road grime that cars carry in.
- Rinse the floor on a mild day when salty water has dried into a white film.
Warm months
- Clean oil and antifreeze spots right away. Keep pets away from antifreeze.
- Check the joint where the garage floor meets the driveway apron for widening or one side dropping.
A small tool kit
- a plastic or rubber-edged shovel;
- a stiff push broom;
- cat litter or another absorbent for spills;
- a tube of flexible joint and crack filler;
- a tape measure and a phone for dated photos.
After heavy rain or high wind
- Walk each surface once it is safe and look for undermined edges, new puddles and silt in the joints.
- Check that downspout extensions are still in place and still pointed away from the slabs.
- Look for limbs or debris that chipped a step or a corner.
- Photograph anything new before cleaning up.
Signs that call for a contractor
- a crack you can slip a coin into, or one that has grown since your last dated photo;
- a crack whose two sides no longer line up, so a toe or a wheel catches on it;
- a panel that shifts underfoot, or gives a dull, hollow note when a broom handle taps it;
- a section that has sunk and now sends rain back toward the foundation;
- surface flaking that has spread across much of a slab;
- a widening gap between the steps and the porch.
Questions before a repair
- Looking at this damage, what started it, and does your fix stop that from happening again?
- Of the options, mudjacking or foam lifting, a resurfacing coat, a patch or full replacement, which do you suggest here, and why?
- What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?
- Does the repair need a city permit, and who would get it?
- Would you send a certificate showing liability coverage and workers' compensation?
- How long does your written warranty on the repair run, and what does it leave out?
Keep a slab record
Keep one folder, paper or on your phone, for every concrete surface: who poured it and when, thickness and reinforcement if you know them, each sealing date and product, dated crack photos, and every invoice. The next contractor gets a running start, and the record can go with the house if you sell.