Cracked, chipping or sinking garage slab? We dig out, pack the base and pour a new floor planned for Boston winters.
Garage floor concrete in Boston usually means breaking out a worn or cracked slab and pouring a new one, typically 4 inches thick on at least 4 inches of packed gravel over firm ground, which carries everyday cars and light trucks.
Most floors we replace are chipping where the car parks, cracked in lines nobody planned or sunk where the dirt under them settled, and we see that across Boston and the cities around it. The price mostly turns on the size of the garage, how much old concrete comes out and how much of the base has to be dug out and packed again, while the schedule turns on the weather and on when we can get the old slab out and the truck in. I'll measure and look at the old floor when I come out, and the estimate is where you get your own number.
I'm the one who measures your garage, looks at the old slab and explains what's driving the number. Our own crew does the pour with me running it, so the person who made the plan is standing there when the concrete comes off the truck.
We've been pouring since 2017, and I learned from finishers who cared more about the prep than the finish. If a budget has to be trimmed, I'd rather keep the base and go plainer on top, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides how the floor holds up.
We're licensed and insured, and I'm glad to go over that before you sign anything, the same as you'd ask any contractor. When you're ready, call (857) 770-0722 or fill out the form on this page, and I'll come take a look at your garage.
We reply within one business day to set a time, and I'll come out to measure the garage, look at the old slab and give you a free estimate on site. There's no obligation to book. It helps to have the garage size handy and to know whether you live in the home and how many units the building has, since the city and state rules turn on that.
Boston's Inspectional Services issues a Short-Form Permit for minor repairs or replacements that keep a home's structure and use the same, and a Long-Form permit for work that changes either one. Which one your garage floor calls for is the city's decision, so before work starts we check with the city and help you get the paperwork in order. The city lets homeowners doing their own work on a one- or two-family home they live in apply for the Short-Form Permit themselves, but a condo owner in a building with three or more units, like one floor of a three-decker, has to hire a contractor.
Massachusetts has its own rules on who does the work. Contractors working on an existing, owner-occupied home with one to four units must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor, while new construction and investment or vacation properties fall outside that law, and hiring someone unregistered leaves you unable to use the state's arbitration or its Guaranty Fund if problems come up, so it's worth looking at the state's guidance for homeowners before you hire. The state also requires a licensed construction supervisor or a registered design professional to oversee construction on one- and two-family homes and the structures that go with them, whatever their size, and the state's supervisor rules include homeowner exemption language worth reading if you're doing your own work. Around Boston and in cities like Somerville and Cambridge, a lot of the garages we see are older, detached and tight to the lot line, so getting the old slab out and the new concrete in often takes more planning than the pour itself.
A concrete slab without staining or stamping usually costs about $8 to $15 per square foot in Boston. That's the going rate in the area for a plain slab, not our price, so treat it as a starting point for comparing quotes. I'll give you our own figure at the estimate, once I've seen the garage and what's under the old floor.
Go easy on salt that first winter, because even salt carried in on a car can scale, or flake off, the surface of a newly poured slab. The concrete industry's advice is to skip deicing chemicals the first winter and use moderate amounts after that. For a floor facing hard freezing and thawing, the same advice is to order good quality air-entrained concrete, a mix with tiny air bubbles that give freezing water room, and you can ask for it by name when you compare quotes.
Some cracking can't be prevented entirely, but properly designed joints can control where cracks show up and keep them to a minimum. Old floors often crack in random lines because the joints were cut late or skipped. Before you sign with anyone, us included, it's fair to ask where the joints will go.
That flaking is called scaling, and it usually comes from salt and freezing working on the surface or from a top that came out weak when the slab was poured. Minor scaling is cosmetic and may not need repair, and light to moderately scaled surfaces can be repaired. When scaling is heavy and still spreading, repairing the slab may not be possible, and I'll tell you which one you've got when I come out.
Plan for the new floor to be covered if it turns cold, because one maker's guide advises insulating blankets or enclosures when the air drops below 40°F within 24 hours of the pour. Ask any crew how they'll cover the floor if the forecast turns. We'll go over the weather with you when we set the pour date.
