Slab foundation building in College Station TX - built to handle ground that moves
Planning a new home and wondering how its slab will hold up when the ground moves? We build the base and steel to carry it.
A slab foundation carries your house. It has to handle moving ground.
Slab foundation building in College Station, TX means pouring the concrete slab your new house sits on, while the ground underneath does its own thing. At BD College Station Concrete Construction, I treat the slab's real job as holding up while that ground moves. If your plans call for another kind of base, that's foundation installation.
House slabs are usually reinforced one of two ways. The post-tensioning trade group calls post-tensioned slabs a cost-efficient choice on soil that shrinks and swells, because the steel cables pulled tight after the pour keep the concrete squeezed and resist the strain when the ground shifts. The other way is rebar, steel bars tied in a grid inside the slab.
The price moves with the size of the slab, the reinforcing method and how much dirt work the pad needs before the forms go up. The schedule turns on the permit, the inspections and the weather. After I walk the lot, my written estimate gives you your own numbers.
Time for a slab foundation? Here's how you'll know.
House plans in hand
You've got a lot and a set of plans, and the slab is the first thing that has to go in. Until it's poured and passed, the framers can't start, so the whole schedule waits on it.
Water standing where the house goes
If rain sits on the spot where the house will go, the pad needs fill and drainage work before any forms go up. Pour over it, and the slab starts life on soft, wet dirt.
An addition or shop on the list
A room addition, a detached garage or a shop needs a slab under it just like a house does. If that slab shifts, sticking doors and cracked walls on top are usually the first to tell you.
How a slab foundation job runs. It starts on your lot.
You call, and I come out to look at the lot, measure and ask what the slab has to carry. I'll go over your plans, where the water runs and how much fill the pad needs, because those decide the base. Then I write the estimate myself, so you know exactly what's in it.
If you go ahead, we handle the permit side, dig out the pad and pack the base hard instead of raking it level, then set the forms and steel. The truck doesn't get called until the inspection passes. If the budget gets tight, cut the finish before the base, because the base is the part you can't fix later.
We pour in the cooler part of the day so the top doesn't come out weak, then cure it right, keeping it damp so it hardens slowly and strong. I walk it with you and tell you when it's ready to use. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
Tell us about your slab foundation. Send the lot and the plans.
Send the lot address and your plans through the form or call (979) 393-7025. We reply within one business day to set up a free, no-obligation estimate on site.
(979) 393-7025Slab foundations around College Station. Here's what the city asks.
A new house in College Station needs a building permit from the city, and the plans have to meet the code as the city has amended it. Contractors must register with the city before they can get one, so ask anyone you're pricing. We're licensed and insured, and we pull the permit, schedule each inspection and hold the work until it passes. On a new home, the foundation inspection comes after the plumbing rough-in, the pipes laid in before the pour.
We're based in College Station and build slabs in Bryan, Navasota and the cities around them, and where a lot slopes toward the house site we sort out the water before we form anything. Builders and property owners with a lot to pave call us too, for concrete parking lot building.
Questions about slab foundations. Here are straight answers.
The answers below cover cost, permits, cracking and curing. If your question isn't here, call (979) 393-7025 and ask me directly.
How much does a slab foundation cost in College Station?
One cost guide puts a reinforced concrete slab in College Station at about $6 to $10 per square foot. That's the area's usual price, not ours, and an unreinforced pad costs less per foot, so check what steel each bid includes. Your written estimate gives you the number for your house.
Do I need a permit to build a new house in College Station?
Yes, the city issues a building permit for every new single-family home, and it wants a completed application and a set of plans. If you're building a home you'll own and live in, you can pull it yourself without registering as a contractor. Otherwise we handle it, as covered above.
Will my new slab foundation crack?
Probably some, yes. Concrete cracks, and engineers who study slab performance say even a well-designed, well-built slab on expansive soil can show cosmetic damage, since a slab that never moves isn't practical to build. We build to plans meant to handle movement, and I'd ask for a level survey right after it's finished so you have a starting point to measure from later.
How soon can we walk on a new concrete slab?
One cost guide says a slab should be walkable within 48 hours, though concrete takes about a month to fully cure, meaning harden to full strength. It also says waiting a week before heavier loads may be safer, so build that pause into the schedule before the lumber shows up.
How do I keep my slab foundation from moving after it's built?
Keeping the soil next to it at a fairly steady moisture level all year helps. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, in advice written for Galveston County, also says to water evenly and often around the whole foundation during long dry spells.
Building a house in College Station? Ask us about the concrete.
Tell us the lot address and when framing is supposed to start, by phone or through the form, and I'll set a time to come walk it.
Mon–Fri: 6 AM–9 PM, Sat–Sun: 7 AM–9 PM
