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Concrete in Altoona

Concrete in Altoona, Wisconsin.

Concrete flatwork, aprons and curb in Altoona. Commercial pours go down at 4,500 PSI with tied rebar, priced and scheduled with the asphalt.

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About 8 minutes from central Eau Claire. Free estimates, and a straight read on whether it needs doing yet.

A poured concrete apron running from a parking lot up to a loading dock door on a metal industrial building, with the asphalt tied in along its edge.
9,302 People in Altoona
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Altoona
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Concrete Job Looks Like in Altoona

The interesting thing about Altoona for pavement is the age gap. The 1970s subdivisions are at the point where their original surfaces are long gone and the question is whether the base is still worth building on. The River Prairie construction is the opposite problem: those drives and lots are new enough that leaving them alone for another year or two is usually the right call.

We get asked to seal brand new asphalt here more than anywhere else, and the answer is usually no, not yet. New asphalt wants six to twelve months to cure first.

Concrete specifically in Altoona

New construction around River Prairie has produced a lot of young concrete, so the work that comes up is aprons and pads at the older commercial sites rather than replacement in the new district. On the residential east side it's mostly garage aprons that have settled away from a 1970s asphalt drive, which shows up as a step you can feel through the steering wheel before it shows up as damage.

The Driveways and Lots in Altoona

Altoona sits immediately east of Eau Claire, close enough that Fairfax Street is most of what separates them. Lake Altoona and the Eau Claire River form the northern edge and Otter Creek the southern one. The US 53 bypass opened in 2006 with an interchange at River Prairie Drive, and essentially everything new in town has been built around that interchange since.

Altoona is the youngest town we serve after Lake Hallie, and it's split in two. Only about 12 percent of the housing predates 1960. The 1970s and 1990s each contributed close to a fifth of the stock, and then nearly a quarter has gone up since 2010, almost all of it in and around River Prairie.

It also has the highest share of manufactured housing of the five, close to 10 percent. That's a different kind of drive: often shared, often gravel or thin asphalt, and usually maintained by a community owner rather than a resident.

Where we work in Altoona

  • Downtown Altoona
  • River Prairie
  • East Hill
  • Hillcrest

Around Altoona: Lake Altoona County Park, River Prairie Park, Cinder City Park, The Yard, Otter Creek.

Identical freeze regime to Eau Claire next door, with the 48-inch footing minimum. Lake Altoona and Otter Creek mean the north and south edges of town both sit close to water, and the drives nearest them hold moisture longer in spring.

From our jobs

Job Photos

A fresh asphalt drive lane running up to a loading dock door at an industrial building, new yellow lines beside it
The approach paved up to the dock
A freshly poured concrete walk across the front of a commercial building, coned off, with the bollards set
A storefront walk poured and coned off
Two crew working a curb and gutter pour, radius forms and rebar in place
Curb and gutter: radius forms and rebar, on a Best Buy storefront
A freshly poured concrete walk running past steel bollards at a commercial storefront, coned off
A storefront walk poured around the bollards
A new concrete driveway running to a single garage at a blue house, caution tape across the street end
A driveway replaced, start to finish
A new concrete driveway poured down the side of a house, crossing the public sidewalk, cones at the street end
A driveway poured down the side of the house

All job photos

The joint between concrete and asphalt

Concrete and asphalt move differently. Concrete is rigid and moves at its joints; asphalt is flexible and moves everywhere. Where they meet, that difference has to be absorbed, and if it's not, the joint opens. Once it's open, water goes straight into the base under both of them. This is why so many lots fail first at the dock apron, the dumpster pad and the garage apron. Not because those slabs were bad, but because two different the line where they met was nobody's. We pour the concrete and lay the asphalt against it, so that joint belongs to the job.

What Decides the Price in Altoona

Flatwork prices per square foot and is easy to quote from measurements. Structural work like curb or a dock apron is quoted per project, because the forming is most of the labor and it doesn't scale with area.

Residential flatwork

Driveways, sidewalks, patios

Measured on site

  • Per square foot, broom finish, base prepared
  • Removal of the old surface priced separately

Garage or dock apron

Per project

Measured on site

  • Thicker slab, tied rebar, asphalt tied back in

Dumpster pad

Per pad

Measured on site

  • Heavy slab, because a loaded truck on a hot day is the worst case
  • Sized to the truck, not to the dumpster

Curb and gutter

Per linear foot

Measured on site

  • Straight run at the low end, radius work at the high end

What moves it: thickness, reinforcement, how much has to come out first, access for a truck, and whether the asphalt around it needs tying back in. Removal and haulaway is a real line and gets quoted rather than buried.

How the Work Goes in Altoona

Base, forms, steel, pour, finish, and the asphalt keyed back in against it.

Take out what's there

Broken slab out and hauled away, down to whatever the new pour needs to sit on.

Prepare and compact the base

Graded and compacted. Concrete poured on soft ground cracks on a schedule set by the ground, not by the concrete.

Form and reinforce

Formed to grade so water runs where it should, and reinforced where the span and the loading call for it. Radius forms for curb work.

Pour and finish

Placed, screeded, floated and broom finished. Control joints cut where the slab is going to crack, so that it cracks there instead of somewhere visible.

Tie the asphalt back in

The step most concrete contractors leave to somebody else. Asphalt keyed to the new edge, compacted, joint sealed.

Booking sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Altoona

What Altoona calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
We manage a manufactured home community. Do you do shared drives?
Yes, and it's common work in Altoona given how much of the housing here is manufactured. Shared drives and internal roads are quoted like a small commercial lot rather than like a driveway.
How much does a concrete driveway cost?
Thickness, reinforcement and access are what move it. A slab that has to carry vehicles is thicker than one that carries feet, steel adds cost and adds life, and a pour a truck cannot reach has to be barrowed, which is labour. Removing the old surface is quoted separately rather than hidden in the rate, so you can see what each part costs.
Concrete or asphalt for a driveway?
Concrete costs roughly two to three times as much up front and lasts longer with less maintenance. Asphalt is cheaper, goes down faster, handles frost movement better, and needs sealing every two to three years. Which one suits comes down to the loading, the frost and the budget.
Do you do curb and gutter?
Yes, including radius work, formed and poured to spec. It is priced by the linear foot, and a curve costs more than a straight run because the forms have to be built to the radius.
Why do dumpster pads fail so often?
Because they're usually sized to the dumpster instead of to the truck. The worst loading a pad ever sees is the front axle of a loaded refuse truck on a hot day, and a slab poured for the container alone isn't built for that.
How long before we can use new concrete?
It depends on the mix, and that is worth asking about rather than assuming. On a standard pour: foot traffic in 24 to 48 hours, vehicles after about seven days, heavy trucks at 28 days for a full-strength cure. Where the schedule will not take seven days, we spec a 4,500 PSI exterior mix instead. One of those is a loading dock apron we poured with tied rebar in a working parking lot: customers were driving on it three days later. Whichever mix your job gets, the window goes in the scope up front so you can plan around it before the pour.
Do you subcontract the concrete out?
The concrete and the asphalt around it are priced and sequenced together, so the joint between them is somebody's responsibility rather than nobody's.

Get a Free Estimate in Altoona

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

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Other Work We Do in Altoona

Concrete in Nearby Towns

Everything about concrete, including how the work goes and what changes the price