Flat concrete on low Gibsonton ground

Low ground and what it does to a slab

Gibsonton sits low. The Alafia River runs along the north edge of town, Bullfrog Creek cuts through the middle of it, and Tampa Bay is right there at the end of the road, so the water table is never far under your feet. Dig down a couple of spade lengths on some of these lots in August and the hole starts filling on its own. That matters for concrete because a slab is only as good as what is under it, and what is under it here is often sand over something softer.

Pour on loose fill and the slab ends up doing the compacting for you, slowly, over the first wet season. First a dip near the middle, then a crack that runs along the low line. Give it another summer and the edge has dropped away from the garage apron, so every rain pushes water toward the door instead of away from it. That is not a concrete problem. It is a base problem wearing a concrete face, and the only time to fix it is before the truck shows up.

So the first thing we do on a job here is read the dirt. Soft or organic pockets get dug out and replaced with fill that will pack, the base goes in and gets compacted before a form is set, and the pad is laid with enough fall that rain leaves on its own. Where the ground will not carry the load, the footing goes deeper until it finds something that will. Enrique wrote that Jose "took the time to find a solution to resolve some terrain problems, then water can flow without any problems". That is the part of the job that gets buried.

• Old slab broken out and hauled off, never poured over
• Base compacted in lifts before a form goes down
• Fall set so water runs off the pad
• Footings taken down until they find bearing
• Thickened edge where a truck or trailer parks

Old Gibtown lots and newer block houses

Gibsonton grew up as winter quarters for carnival and circus people, and you can still read that in the lots. Deep parcels off the side roads, a house near the front and a workshop or a row of trailers behind it, ground that has carried heavy equipment for longer than anybody has been counting. Mixed in with that are older frame and block houses from when the town was small, plus manufactured homes sitting on piers with skirting around them. Newer stucco over block subdivisions filled in the open land east of the highway.

Those lots ask different things of concrete. A driveway that a work truck and a loaded trailer live on needs more under it than a car pad, and it needs the apron and the edge built for that weight. A carport or barn pad wants to be dead level and square, with the finish set so a hose or a heavy rain drains off the front. Walkways around an older house usually need the old ones broken out first, because a path that roots have lifted cannot be leveled with a bag of patch.

Most of this work happens on a lot somebody is living on, with a car that has to come and go and a gate the dog uses. That is worth saying out loud when you plan a pour, because a driveway replacement means a day or two of no parking in the usual spot, and the crew tracking mud is the thing you remember. Jessica Gonzalez wrote about hers: "His crew arrived on time got the job done and made sure to leave everything cleaned up."

Summer storms and the pour window

From June into September the afternoon storm is a daily appointment on this side of the bay, and heat and humidity sit on top of it. Both change how a pour behaves. Concrete sets faster when it is hot, the surface skins over while the slab underneath is still wet, and you get hairline cracks in the finish before anybody has walked on it. Rain landing on a green slab is worse: it pits the surface and washes the cream off, and there is no sanding that out afterward.

That is why the day starts early here. Getting the concrete placed and finished before the heat peaks gives you a slab that cures instead of one that races, and it keeps the crew out of the worst of the afternoon. Joints get cut where we want the crack to go, because concrete cracks, and what you control is where it does it, on a line somebody chose or across the middle of your patio. Curing matters as much as the mix: water leaving too fast makes a surface that dusts under a broom.

Storm season brings the other half of it. Ground that is already wet cannot take a heavy rain, so water moves across the surface, and whatever you poured becomes part of where it goes. A pad set flat against a doorway will send that water inside. A step down at the threshold sends it away. Nicola Paille wrote: "Did a great job on my concrete pad for my barn! Even ensured step downs so water doesn't seep in!" Same idea at a slider or the back of a carport.

Getting a price in Gibsonton

Call (813) 812-1892 and tell us what you want poured and where it sits on the lot, or send the form on this page and we will come out and look. On a Gibsonton job the ground decides most of the work, so the estimate happens standing on the spot, not over the phone. You get it in writing with the work broken out, free, and nothing to sign on the spot. The shop runs Monday through Saturday, early start, closed Sunday.