Concrete floor installation in Monrovia CA - a level floor on a packed base

Most calls start with a floor that's cracked, sunk at one corner or holding water, or a room that has no floor yet. The price moves with the floor's size and thickness, how much old concrete we break out and haul away, how much base work the ground needs and whether the truck can get close. The schedule turns on what the city decides, the weather on pour day and how long the slab has to sit before flooring goes in. When I walk the job for Monrovia Concrete, I measure it and write down what's included, like removal and hauling, so you know what the price covers.

I start by checking where water runs, because a floor that tips toward a wall or a door will hold a puddle for as long as it's there. Our crew digs out to firm ground and packs the subgrade, the soil the slab sits on, so it doesn't settle later the way raked-level dirt does. We set the forms and the rebar, steel that keeps cracks from pulling apart, then pour, finish and cut control joints, shallow lines that give the concrete a planned place to crack, before it gets too hard to cut. We plan the pour around hot, windy days ahead of time instead of fixing the mix with extra water at the truck, and then the slab cures, a stretch where it gains strength and needs to be left alone. If tile, wood or another floor goes on top, we make sure you know to give the slab time before that crew comes in. The base is the part you never see and the first thing people want to cut, and it's the part I won't skimp on, because most bad concrete I've torn out failed underneath, not on top.

A new floor often ties into work just outside it. Where the floor changes the height at an outside door, we can pour concrete steps so the way in stays even, and if the yard is getting redone too, the same crew builds concrete pool decks with the same care for base and drainage.

Monrovia's Building Division oversees the construction of all buildings and structures in the city, and its Building & Safety staff decide whether your floor needs plan review, so that answer has to come before the pour date does. They're the ones who can tell you what your specific floor needs. We check with the city or county office that covers your address before we set a date, and if the job needs a permit, we sort out who pulls it and have it in hand before work starts. If your house sits inside one of the state's mapped liquefaction zones, areas where loose, wet ground can go soft in a strong quake, state law has cities and counties use those maps when they issue permits and requires the soil under buildings people live in to be investigated, which can add a step before the pour.

We're based in Monrovia and work across the San Gabriel Valley. A lot of the floors we pour go into converted garages, additions and backyard shops where the truck can't pull right up, so I plan the pump or wheelbarrow route when I walk the job, the same as we do on jobs in Pasadena and Arcadia.