Pittsburgh Concrete and Gravel

Our Concrete and Gravel Installation Process

The first step is deciding what the surface actually needs to do. A parking area for a work truck, a shed pad, a walkway, a patio, and a utility yard all carry different loads and have different tolerance for water sitting on them. We look at soil, existing drainage, slope, access, and intended use, then recommend concrete, gravel, or a combination of the two — often a gravel base with concrete only where it's genuinely needed, which keeps cost down without shortening the life of the work.

From there the sequence is the same regardless of the finish material: excavate to the required depth, remove and haul the spoil, grade to establish slope and where runoff will go, then install and compact the base. For gravel work, that means the right aggregate for the job — 2A modified where the surface needs to compact and carry load, clean washed stone where water has to drain through it, larger decorative stone where appearance drives the choice — placed in lifts and compacted rather than dumped and raked.

For concrete, we form to the planned dimensions and slope, place reinforcement sized to the load, pour an air-entrained winter-rated mix, finish to your chosen texture, and cut control joints at the correct intervals so the slab cracks where we decided rather than at random. Edges get thickened where vehicles will cross them.

Most residential pads and gravel areas are a one to three day job. Larger concrete work runs about a week including cure time before it can take vehicle weight, and we'll give you the specific timeline for your pour before we start.