A sunken driveway panel, a patio that tips water back toward the house, a walk with a lifted edge that catches a toe: most of this can be fixed without breaking out the concrete. We repair, level and resurface residential and commercial concrete across Duluth. The work is less about the top of the slab than about the ground and the joints under and around it. On every property, the first job is deciding which of the three the surface actually needs. Sometimes it is all three. Sometimes it is one small patch, and that is all we do.
Leveling lifts a settled slab back into line by filling the void beneath it. Repair covers cracks, broken edges and spalled spots, cut back to sound concrete and filled so the patch bonds instead of sitting on top. Resurfacing lays a new wearing layer over a slab that is structurally sound but worn, and it can be finished plain, stamped or decorative. Before any of it, we look at what the slab sits on. Pacolet soil, which drains well, is the dominant type here, but it varies across the county, so every site is tested on its own.
Most repairs that fail do so because the surface got fixed and the cause did not. A crack is filled while water keeps working at the base, and it opens again. This area sees about 55 inches of rain a year, so drainage, joints and edges get as much of our attention as the patch itself. Getting it right also means reinforcement where a slab needs it and materials that match the concrete already in place. If your driveway or patio has settled, cracked or worn thin, call for a free estimate.
What a slab costs comes down to things we can measure on your property: the square footage, how thick it needs to be for what will sit on it, how much digging and grading the ground takes, and the reinforcement and finish you choose. A shed pad on level ground is simple work. A garage slab on a slope, with rebar on chairs and a steel-troweled finish, is a different job. Call for a free estimate, priced against your actual site rather than a chart.
A driveway fails from the bottom up, so most of our effort goes into what you never see. We dig out soft material, lay and compact a gravel base, and set rebar or welded wire mesh so the slab carries a loaded truck without cracking through. Duluth gets about 55 inches of rain a year. We pitch every driveway to shed that water away from the garage, cut control joints at even spacing, and finish with a broom texture for grip. Stamped borders are an option.
Garage floors, basement floors, workshops and commercial spaces each ask for something different. Under an interior slab we lay a vapor barrier so ground moisture does not wick up into flooring, finishes or stored materials. The surface is power-troweled flat and hard, then left bare, sealed, stained or ground and polished. Curing matters as much as pouring. A floor that dries too fast curls at the edges and dusts for years, so we keep it damp and covered while it gains strength.
Most slabs we see have cracked, sunk at one corner, or started flaking at the surface. Each has a different cause. Settled sections usually sit over a void where soil washed out or was never compacted, and those can often be lifted back to level by injecting foam or grout underneath. Surface scaling takes a bonded resurfacing coat. Gwinnett County's Pacolet soil drains well, but it varies across the county, so every site is tested before we pick a repair. Some slabs are past saving. We say so.
Walks look simple and still go wrong in predictable ways: heaved by a tree root, cracked between joints, or holding a puddle at the front step. We set forms to a slight cross slope so rain runs off to the lawn. Control joints are tooled or saw-cut close enough together that cracks form in the joint, not across the panel. An expansion joint goes wherever the walk meets the house, the driveway or a step. The finish is a light broom, matched to any existing concrete it joins.
Most people who call us about a sunken walkway or a cracked driveway already suspect the fix is bigger than it looks. Sometimes it is. Often it is not. We look at the slab, find out why it moved, and tell you plainly whether leveling, patching or a new surface will hold, or whether the concrete has simply reached the end of its life. That answer matters more than any pitch. A repair that ignores the cause comes back, and nobody in Duluth wants to pay for the same driveway twice.
Every site gets tested on its own before work starts. Pacolet soil is the dominant type in Gwinnett County and it drains well, but it varies across the county, so we never assume one yard behaves like the one beside it. We check what sits under the slab, how water leaves the surface, and where the reinforcement is (or where it should have been). Then we plan the project around those conditions instead of a standard package. Residential or commercial, the approach stays the same.
Water is usually what undoes a slab. This area sees about 55 inches of rain a year, and a surface that pools or sheds toward the house will settle, crack or flake long before it should. Getting it right takes more attention up front: correcting the grade, sealing the joints, and choosing materials suited to the site rather than whatever is cheapest on the truck. We would rather spend that time at the start than explain a failure later. Your driveways, patios and walks carry the house every day, and they deserve work that lasts. Call us for a free estimate.
Before we write an estimate, we look closely at the slab, or at the ground where one will go. Every crack gets traced to a cause: settlement, tree roots, water running the wrong way, or a base that was never compacted. Pacolet soil is the dominant type across Gwinnett County and drains well, but it varies from lot to lot, so every site is tested on its own. We also check grade, downspouts and truck access. What we find decides whether a surface gets resurfaced, leveled or replaced.
Most concrete failures start underneath. When a slab is coming out, we break it up, haul it off and dig down to firm subgrade, cutting out any soft or organic pockets. Crushed stone base goes down in lifts, and each lift is compacted with a plate compactor before the next one. For leveling, we drill injection ports and clear loose material from the voids. For resurfacing, we grind or pressure wash the old surface until it is clean and sound. An overlay only bonds as well as what it sits on.
Forms set the shape, height and slope of the finished slab. We stake lumber or steel forms to string lines and pitch them so water sheds away from the house, not toward it. With about 55 inches of rain a year, that slope does a lot of work. Inside the forms, rebar or welded wire mesh sits up on chairs so the reinforcement lands in the middle of the slab instead of lying in the dirt. Isolation joint material goes wherever new concrete meets a foundation, step or existing driveway.
Pour day comes down to timing. We order a mix suited to the job, check the slump when the truck arrives, and turn away a load that has been watered down to make it easier to spread. Extra water at the chute weakens the surface and invites cracking and scaling later. The concrete is placed as close to its final spot as we can get it, worked into the corners and along the forms, then screeded flat to the form tops while it is still plastic.
This is where a slab gets its looks and its grip. After screeding, we bull float, wait for the bleed water to leave the surface, then edge the slab and cut or tool control joints so any cracking follows lines we chose. Driveways and walks usually get a broom finish for traction. Stamped and decorative patios get color, a release agent, and stamping mats pressed in at the right moment. Too early and the pattern slumps. Too late and it tears.
Concrete keeps gaining strength for weeks, and it only does that if it holds onto its water. Right after finishing, we spray on a curing compound or cover the slab with curing blankets or plastic so the top does not dry out ahead of the inside. A slab that dries too fast can craze, dust or curl at the joints. We tell you when it can take foot traffic and when it can take a car. Until then, the vehicles stay off.
Once the slab has cured, a sealer keeps water, oil and stains out of it. On broom-finished driveways we typically use a penetrating silane or siloxane sealer, which soaks in and leaves the surface looking and gripping the same as before. Stamped and decorative work usually gets an acrylic sealer that brings the color up and adds a low sheen. We apply it on a dry day in thin coats, because heavy coats trap moisture and turn cloudy. Resealing every few years keeps it doing its job.
Most of the concrete we fix in Duluth is residential: driveways, patios, walkways and the slab under a garage. For repair, leveling and resurfacing, the materials matter as much as the labor. We use polymer-modified overlays for surfaces that are sound but worn, cementitious patching compounds for spalls and broken edges, and injected foam or grout to lift a slab that has settled. Decorative and stamped overlays are an option where a plain gray finish no longer suits the property.
The choice comes after we look at what sits under the slab. Pacolet soil, which is well drained, is the dominant type in Gwinnett County, but it varies across the county, so every site is tested individually before work starts. That test decides the system. A slab resting on a firm, dry base can take a thin overlay. One sitting over a void needs the void filled and the slab supported first, or the new surface will crack along the same lines as the old one.
Water is behind most of the failures we see. With about 55 inches of rain a year, runoff finds every open joint and low corner, carries material out from beneath the slab, and leaves it to settle. Overlays fail for a different reason: they go down over dirty, weak or damp concrete and start to peel. Patches pop out when the material is mixed too wet or feathered too thin at the edges. None of this is a mystery. All of it is avoidable.
Getting it right costs time more than anything else. Surface prep, which means grinding, cleaning and opening up the old concrete so the new material can bond, often takes longer than the resurfacing itself. Joints get sealed so water stays on top instead of working underneath. Cure times are respected even when the slab looks ready, because a driveway driven on too early is a driveway that needs fixing again. Call for a free estimate and ask which system fits your slab.