Plain gray driveway or walk? We help you pick a decorative finish that looks right, stays sure-footed and won't be hard to keep up.
Decorative concrete in Post Falls is a driveway, sidewalk or patio given a texture or finish so it looks like more than a plain gray slab. It's a good fit when the texture and sealer are picked so the surface stays safe to walk on and easy to care for.
Most calls start with concrete that looks tired and gray, or with a new driveway or walk the owner wants to match the house. Picking the look is the fun part, but the texture, the sealer and how you treat it that first winter decide how it holds up, so I walk you through all three before we pour.
The price moves with the size of the area, the finish you pick, whether old concrete has to come out and how much work the ground under it needs. The schedule turns on the weather, the ground and the permit check, and your estimate puts a number on your job. The same thinking goes into concrete retaining walls and concrete floor installation if those are on your list too.
Ring (208) 981-9070 or fill out the form, and we'll get back to you to set up a visit. I come out to every job myself, so you're talking with the person who'll be there for the pour.
I look at the ground, where the water runs and how you'll use the space, and we talk through the textures and sealers that fit it. Then I put together your estimate, so you can see what the finish and the prep will run before you decide anything.
Before we schedule, we check with the building office for your address and handle the applications for our part when one's needed, and in Post Falls that's the city's Building Division. The city books inspections by the day, not by morning or afternoon, so we have the work ready that morning and give them our pour time so the inspector can try to work around it.
We pick a pour day the weather and ground allow, and I stay on site with our crew through the finish, then the slab has to cure, the slow hardening that gives it its strength. You get a sealer plan you can keep up with before we leave.
Good decorative concrete starts underneath, so we dig out and pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, and set the forms so water runs away from the house. I'll help you pick a texture that suits your place, and I steer folks away from a rock salt finish, where salt pressed into the fresh surface leaves small pits, anywhere water can sit in those pits and freeze.
We cut control joints, shallow grooves that tell the slab where to crack, as soon as it will take the saw, so cracks land in a line we chose. If your new driveway connects to a road the Post Falls Highway District looks after, the district wants a site plan of your lot and driveway before it approves an approach permit, so it pays to have that drawing ready early.
What goes into a decorative job:
If the slab is solid and only the top looks worn, a good cleaning and a fresh coat of sealer can bring it back, and that's where I'd start. When it's cracked through, sinking or holding water against the house, the trouble is usually the base underneath, and anything laid over it inherits the same problem. That's when tearing out and pouring again on a dug-out, packed base is the money better spent.
Size is the big one, then the finish, since a detailed texture takes more hands and more time than a plain broom finish, the light dragged texture that gives shoes and tires some grip. Tearing out old concrete, hauling it off and fixing soft or badly drained ground all add to the bill. When budgets get tight, people want to trim the base work because nobody sees it on day one. I'd rather trim the finish, because a fancy top over a weak base usually ends up cracking and settling anyway.
I started Post Falls Concrete in 2020, and I still come out to look at every job myself and stay on site with our crew while we work. We keep the trucks off your lawn where we can, clean up when the pour's done and let you know if the weather moves the day. Our work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
We're known for explaining a job before we pour it. I want you to understand yours well enough to ask good questions, of us or anybody else bidding it, like what's going under the slab and where the water goes. If something isn't settled yet, I'll tell you I need to check on it.
Call (208) 981-9070 and tell us the area, the look you like and whether the driveway meets a road, so I come out ready.
Tell us where the concrete goes and the finish you like. We reply within one business day to set a time for me to come out, and the estimate is free, no obligation.
Your price comes from the size of the area, the finish you choose and how much tear-out and ground work the job needs, so a real number has to come from looking at your spot. That's why I come out first and build your estimate around what I find. Give us a call at (208) 981-9070 to set that up.
For outdoor concrete that sees freeze and thaw and deicing salt, one sealer maker's guide calls a penetrating sealer the preferred choice. It keeps the natural look with no added gloss and keeps the grip underfoot, so you give up shine for traction, and that's the trade I'd make on a driveway or walk. A Michigan concrete group's driveway guide says it can go on 30 days after the pour, so the first coat comes about a month later.
A penetrating sealer usually lasts somewhere from 3 to 10 years, depending on whose guide you read. One sealer maker says it typically protects for 5 to 10 years when it's put on right, while the Michigan guide says to plan on reapplying every 3 to 5 years. I'd plan on the shorter span and look the surface over each fall.
It's best not to, because one sealer maker's guide says to skip deicing salt the first winter since deicers speed up scaling, the flaking of the top layer, and other surface wear. Use sand for traction that first season instead, and we'll go over it with your sealer plan.
A Michigan concrete group's driveway and sidewalk guide says a new driveway may open to traffic after 7 days of curing. Walking on it usually comes sooner, and I'll tell you when for your slab, since the weather while it cures makes a difference.
Yes, Idaho requires contractor registration for anyone taking on a construction job over $2,000 in materials and labor, unless an exemption applies. A registered contractor has to show the registration number at the jobsite and on ads, contracts and building permits, and a general contractor has to give you a disclosure statement before a home improvement contract over $2,000, so look for both on any bid. We're licensed and insured, and glad to walk you through either one.
We're based in Post Falls and pour decorative concrete in Coeur d'Alene, Spokane Valley and the cities around them. Pick your area below, or call if yours isn't listed.
