Concrete Contractors in Elsmere, DE

Elsmere sits along Wilmington's western side, and the concrete contractors who work here mostly deal with homes that have been standing for generations. Development began in 1886, when Joshua Heald turned farmland into houses, and Wikipedia calls that work the first suburb in northern Delaware. The town was incorporated in 1909. It covers about one square mile and had 6,229 residents in 2020, which makes it one of the denser places we serve.

Two big building waves

The town grew at a railroad junction, then along trolley lines. A second wave came after the Delaware State Fair site, used from 1917 to 1928 with races running until 1943, was converted to housing. The population went from 1,630 in 1940 to 5,314 in 1950. So a large share of Elsmere homes are either very old or date from the 1940s and early 1950s. Original walks and driveways from those years have long outlived their design life, and many have been patched more than once.

What concrete that old tends to show

• Front walks with joints that have opened and edges that have dropped
• Steps that have pulled away from the porch or house
• Driveways that were poured thin and have cracked into slabs that rock under a car
• Patches of newer concrete next to old, at different heights
• Back patios that have sunk toward the house

We do not just pour over these problems. We remove what has failed, rebuild the base and pour new concrete at the right thickness, then match the edges to whatever stays.

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Dense lots and busy roads

Kirkwood Highway, Delaware Route 2, runs through town, and Delaware Route 100 runs through the eastern part. Many lots are narrow, and parking is tight. That affects how we stage a job. We plan where the concrete truck will stop, how long the street side will be blocked and how we will protect neighboring walks and lawns. On many Elsmere jobs, careful setup matters as much as the pour.

Rain and freeze

Elsmere's Wikipedia page lists about 49.43 inches of precipitation a year. That is a lot of water to move off a small lot. We pitch every new slab away from the house, look at gutters and downspouts during the estimate, and recommend a penetrating sealer once the concrete has cured. Winters here bring freeze-thaw cycles, so all of our outdoor mixes are air-entrained.

Fixing steps and stoops

Many older Elsmere houses have concrete front steps that have settled away from the porch or the door threshold. A gap there lets water run behind the steps, and each winter the freeze pushes them a little further. Small cracks can be sealed, but steps that have tipped or broken at the treads usually need to be rebuilt. We form new steps with even risers, a slight forward pitch on each tread so water runs off, and a broom finish for grip. If a railing is anchored in the old steps, we plan how it will be reset.

Adding something new

Not every call is a repair. Owners of older Elsmere homes often want a patio where the yard has only grass, a wider driveway, or a stamped concrete walk that dresses up the front of the house. A small concrete slab for a shed or a trash and recycling pad is also a common request. We can design each of these to fit a narrow lot without crowding the house.