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Concrete in Fall Creek

Concrete in Fall Creek, Wisconsin.

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

4.7 from 18 Google reviews

About 15 minutes east of 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.
1,391 People in Fall Creek
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Fall Creek
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Concrete Job Looks Like in Fall Creek

Three parts of Fall Creek generate nearly all of its pavement work, and they could not be more different from each other.

Brickyard Street is the industrial one. The village business park sits there, twenty-odd acres beside Highway 12, and it carries the heaviest truck traffic and the largest private lots in the village. East Hoover Avenue is the school campus, elementary, middle and high all on the same site, which makes it the single largest parking demand in town and a job that has to happen inside a summer window. Lincoln Avenue is the main street: banks, bars, the cafe, the post office, all with small frontages and shared access.

The fourth is seasonal. The grain and feed co-op on East Miami Avenue takes farm truck traffic in a concentrated few weeks, which is hard on a surface in a way that steady daily use isn't.

Concrete specifically in Fall Creek

Aprons and pads at the business park, where a slab taking loaded truck traffic is a different pour from one taking delivery vans. Residential concrete here's mostly garage aprons on the older stock near Lincoln Avenue.

The Driveways and Lots in Fall Creek

Fall Creek sits on US Highway 12 about twelve miles east of Eau Claire, with I-94 another twelve miles on and County Road K running north toward Highway 29. The village takes its name from the rapids on the creek that runs through it, and the Eau Claire River passes just to the north.

A small village of about two square miles, so the housing is what you would expect: a compact grid of older homes near Lincoln Avenue and newer building out toward the edges. Drives here are shorter than the township average and longer than a town lot, which usually puts a whole driveway inside a single visit.

The more interesting pavement in Fall Creek isn't residential. For a village this size it carries an unusual amount of commercial and industrial surface, and that's where most of our work here happens.

Fall Creek

We work the whole village rather than a named handful of neighborhoods.

Around Fall Creek: Fall Creek Memorial Park, Keller Park, Randall Park, Beaver Creek Reserve, Hobbs Observatory.

Same freeze regime as the rest of the valley, with footings at 48 inches minimum. The creek and the Eau Claire River both run close, so the low ground near them holds water into spring longer than the higher parts of the village.

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 Fall Creek

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.

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 Fall Creek

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.

Questions We Get in Fall Creek

What Fall Creek calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Do you come out to Fall Creek for a single driveway?
Yes. It's fifteen minutes from Eau Claire and we're out that way regularly, so a single drive isn't a problem. If a couple of neighbors want theirs done at the same time it costs everybody less, because most of the price of a small job is getting the crew and the equipment there.
We're on Highway 12 with a fire number rather than a village address. Still in the area?
Yes, comfortably. The rural stretch along Highway 12 either side of the village is well inside where we work, and long rural drives out there are measured rather than guessed at.
The co-op takes farm trucks for a few weeks a year. Is that hard on a surface?
Harder than year-round car traffic, and in a different way. Concentrated farm truck movement puts axle loads on a surface for a short window with no recovery between passes, and the damage shows up as rutting and edge break-up rather than as cracking. The East Miami Avenue site is the clearest example of it in the village. The useful thing about a concentrated season is that the rest of the year is a working window.
Is the low ground near the creek different from up in the village?
Yes, and it is worth knowing before anybody quotes. Fall Creek and the Eau Claire River both run close to the village, and the low ground near them holds water into spring longer than the higher parts do. A base that stays wet through the thaw heaves harder than a dry one, so on those lots keeping surface water out through crack sealing is worth more than the appearance of the surface suggests.
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 Fall Creek

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

Get an estimate

Send the form and we'll call you back. The estimate is free.