Concrete Contractors in Wilmington, DE

Wilmington is the center of our service area, and concrete contractors in this city work on two very different kinds of ground. The city sits on the Fall Line, where the rocky Piedmont meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain. East of Market Street and along the Christina River the land is low, flat and marshy in spots. West of Market Street it turns hilly and climbs toward Mount Salem Hill at 330 feet. A driveway in Trinity Vicinity and a driveway in Westmoreland may look alike from the street, but the ground under them behaves differently, so we plan each job around what is actually below the slab.

Low ground east of Market Street

On the flat, low side of the city, water is the main problem. Rain has fewer places to go, so it sits against slabs and soaks the base. We grade new concrete so it sheds water away from the house, set the base on compacted stone instead of loose fill, and look closely at where downspouts empty. When an old walk or patio has sunk toward the foundation, we tell you plainly whether the slab can be lifted and leveled or should come out and be replaced with a new pitch.

Hills and rock west of Market Street

The Piedmont side brings slopes and shallow rock. A driveway that climbs from the street needs a broom finish for traction, careful joint spacing and a plan for the water that runs down it in a storm. Excavation can hit rock, so we look at the site before we quote. Steep walks sometimes work better as a series of landings or steps than as one long ramp, and we will show you both options.

Neighborhood ages we work around

Wilmington's housing stock spans more than a century. Wikipedia's neighborhood list gives a quick picture:

• The Flats was developed starting in 1901.
• Wawaset Park was built by DuPont in 1918 on a 50-acre plot.
• Triangle homes date to the 1920s.
• Brandywine Hills, about 225 homes, was started in the 1930s.
• Westmoreland filled in with detached homes in the 1950s.
• Trinity Vicinity and Happy Valley have many late-19th-century houses.

In the older sections, the concrete is often a patchwork: original walks, later repairs and a few slabs poured over something else. Tree roots from mature street trees push up sections of sidewalk. Rear parking pads behind row homes crack where they were never thick enough for a car. We cut out what has failed and match new work to what stays.

Get a Free Estimate

Built for a freeze-thaw winter

The city's climate normals, measured at New Castle County Airport, put the January average at 32.4 degrees, right at the freezing point, with about 20.2 inches of snow a year and 45.33 inches of precipitation. That means water gets into concrete and freezes, then thaws, many times each winter. We specify air-entrained concrete for exterior work so tiny air pockets give that ice room to expand. We cut control joints at the right depth so cracks form where we want them. And we tell homeowners to skip rock salt on new concrete during its first winter, because salt speeds up surface scaling.

Common concrete jobs in the city

• Concrete driveways that have heaved, sunk or broken up after decades of use
• Sidewalks and walkways lifted by street trees or settled at the joints
• Concrete patios for small city backyards where every square foot counts
• Stamped concrete for a front walk or patio that looks like brick or stone
• Concrete slabs for sheds, garage floors and pads for equipment
• Concrete repair for spalling steps, scaled surfaces and trip hazards

For work in a public sidewalk or curb, we check with the city before we start, since rules for the public right of way are set by the city and not by us.

Twins, rows and shared edges

Wilmington peaked at 112,504 residents in 1940 and counted 70,898 in 2020, and much of the housing from that peak is still standing as rows and twins. On attached houses, the front walk and steps often butt right up against the neighbor's. When one side is replaced, the new edge has to meet the old one at the same height, or a trip lip forms at the property line. We saw-cut a clean joint at the line, match the height and slope of the neighbor's concrete, and keep forms and cleanup on your side. If both owners want the work done, pouring the two walks together gives one even surface and one set of joints. On blocks with a shared rear alley, we also look at how the alley drains, since a new pad that sits higher than its neighbors can push water onto the next lot.