Garage floor concrete in Hawthorne CA - a slab built for the finish you plan

A concrete garage floor slab in the Los Angeles area usually costs about $8 to $15 per square foot. Where yours lands depends mostly on the work under the floor, so I measure your garage and give you a written estimate that lists what's included and what isn't. Our work comes with satisfaction guaranteed on every job.

About 4 inches is the practical standard for a garage floor that holds cars, according to one garage slab guide, as long as the ground under it is well prepared. The same guide goes to 5 or 6 inches where that ground is poor, so ask any contractor how they judge yours. I look at it at the estimate and put the thickness we plan in writing.

Plan the coating before the pour, because one guide finds a vapor retarder, a layer under the slab that slows moisture coming up from the soil, worth having under an epoxy or polyaspartic coating. Moisture rising through a slab can make a coating fail, though a bare broom-finished floor in an unheated garage needs no retarder. That's why your finish is the first thing I ask about.

Yes, in nearly every case, because in California the concrete contractor license covers forming, pouring, placing and finishing flat concrete work like a garage floor. Unlicensed work is allowed only on minor jobs up to $1,000 that need no permit, done by someone who employs no one on it. State law also counts building or improving a garage as home improvement, so your contract has to carry consumer notices, and any change to it has to be in writing, easy to understand and tell you of your right to cancel. We're fully licensed and insured, and if your job needs a permit, I'll tell you at the estimate and we'll handle the application and arrange the inspections.

Most cracks in a new garage floor come from a soft base, steel lying on the dirt, extra water in the mix or control joints, the cuts that give a crack a planned place to go, made too late. Mesh or rebar has to stay up on chairs, small stands that hold it, through the pour, because steel walked down to the ground does nothing to control shrinkage cracks. We turn down extra water at the pour, which one concrete products maker also says to refuse, since it can harm the slab's strength and long-term durability.

Ask your contractor how they'll cure it, because curing means keeping moisture in the fresh slab and its temperature favorable long enough for the concrete to gain strength. For most jobs that means a curing compound, or covering the finished slab with plastic sheeting or wet burlap. I'll tell you at the estimate which one we plan for your floor.