Concrete Contractors in Wilmington, DE

We are concrete contractors serving Wilmington, Delaware and the towns around it in New Castle County. We pour driveways, patios, stamped concrete, sidewalks and front walks, and slabs, and we repair concrete that has cracked, settled or started to flake. Most concrete problems in Wilmington come down to two things: the age of the concrete and the winters it has been through.

The housing here is old, and so is a lot of the concrete

Swedish settlers built Fort Christina here in 1638, and through the 1700s and 1800s the city grew on shipbuilding, milling and the du Pont powder mill that opened on the Brandywine in 1802. It reached its peak population of more than 112,000 in 1940. The Census figures summarized by Point2Homes show what that history left behind: the median home was built in 1946, about 43 percent of homes date from 1939 or earlier, and only about 13 percent were built in 2000 or later. More than half of all homes are single-unit attached houses: rowhomes and twins, found in neighborhoods such as Trolley Square, Little Italy, Hilltop and Browntown.

On those properties the concrete is usually small and close to the house: a front walk to the stoop, a set of steps, a strip of city sidewalk, a parking pad off the back alley. It has often been patched several times, poured over an old surface instead of replacing it, or heaved by the roots of street trees. Before we quote anything we look at what is under the surface and whether the old slab is sound enough to repair.

What a Wilmington winter does to concrete

Wilmington's 1991 to 2020 climate normals, measured at New Castle County Airport, put the average January high at 41.4 degrees and the average low at 25.6 degrees. That means the ground and the surface of every walk and driveway spend much of the winter crossing the freezing point, often daily. Water that soaks into concrete expands when it freezes. Over many cycles, and with de-icing salt pulling more water into the surface, the top layer starts to scale and pop off. The city also averages about 20 inches of snow and more than 45 inches of total precipitation a year, so there is plenty of water to work with.

New concrete can be built to resist this:

• Air-entrained concrete. The mix carries tiny air bubbles that give freezing water room to expand. It is standard practice for exterior flatwork in a freeze-thaw climate, and we use it on every outdoor pour.
• A real base. Concrete placed on compacted stone drains and moves less than concrete poured on disturbed soil.
• Slope and joints. Every slab is pitched to shed water away from the house, and control joints are placed so cracks form where we want them.
• Curing and sealing. Concrete that cures slowly and is sealed once it is ready holds up much better to salt.

Ground that changes across the area

Wilmington sits on the fall line, where the hilly Piedmont meets the flat Atlantic Coastal Plain. West of Market Street the ground is rocky and hilly. East of Market Street it is flat, low and in places marshy. That difference shows up in concrete work. On hillside lots in the west end and up toward Brandywine Hundred, grades, steps and drainage take more planning. On low ground near the rivers, water that sits under or beside a slab is the usual cause of settling, and the base and grading matter even more.

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What we do

• Concrete driveways: full replacements, widenings and new aprons, with thickened edges and reinforcement sized to the vehicles you park.
• Concrete patios: broom-finished, colored or exposed aggregate patios, steps down from the back door and pads for grills and hot tubs.
• Stamped concrete: patterned patios, walks and driveways in slate, stone and brick looks, with color and sealer.
• Sidewalks and walkways: front walks, city sidewalk sections, side paths and steps.
• Concrete slabs: garage floors, shed and AC pads, parking pads and slabs for additions.
• Concrete repair: crack repair, leveling of settled slabs, resurfacing and section replacement.

How pricing works

Concrete is priced by the job and the square foot, not by the hour. HomeGuide's national guides put plain concrete driveways at about $6 to $10 a square foot and plain patios at about $4 to $12, with stamped and decorative finishes higher. Removing old concrete adds about $2 to $6 a square foot for a driveway. Small jobs, which are common on city lots, cost more per foot because the truck, the crew and the setup cost the same whether the pour is 60 square feet or 600. Your written estimate lists every part of the job so you can see where the money goes.

Call (302) 727-0173 or request an estimate. We will measure the job, look at what is there now and give you a written price.

Call (302) 727-0173

Wilmington is the center of it all, from Trolley Square, the Highlands and Wawaset Park west of Market Street to Little Italy, Hilltop, Browntown and the low ground toward the Christina. Just outside the city line we work in Elsmere, Newport, Bellefonte, Edgemoor, Claymont, Arden and Wilmington Manor. Farther out, we cover New Castle, Delaware City, Bear, Glasgow and Middletown to the south, and Greenville, Hockessin, Pike Creek, Pike Creek Valley, Brookside and Newark to the north and west. Across the state lines, Kennett Square and Chadds Ford in Pennsylvania and Pennsville in New Jersey are on the list too. The ground and the housing change a lot over that distance. Inside the city and the old inner suburbs, the jobs are mostly small walks, stoops and alley pads, much of it decades old. The hillier country toward the Pennsylvania line brings longer driveways and sloped yards. South toward New Castle and Bear the land flattens out, and drainage and base work decide how long a slab lasts. Each town page covers the local details.