La Porte Concrete Company pours concrete driveways, patios, sidewalks, steps, garage floors and foundations for homes and businesses in Chesterton, Indiana, starting with the ground under the slab, dug out and packed before anything is poured.
Chesterton is a short drive west of La Porte, where we're based, and the calls we get from here sound a lot like the ones from Porter next door and Valparaiso down the road. Older houses closer to downtown tend to have driveways, walks and steps that have settled, cracked or started holding water, while newer subdivisions bring patios, wider driveways and garage floors. Shops and small businesses round it out with slabs, steps and parking areas.
On an older lot, the job usually starts with what's already there, a cracked slab to break out or steps that have pulled away from the house. On a newer lot it's more often bare yard, and we set the grade first. Either way, the ground decides more of the plan than the finish does.
A driveway that's sinking or cracked usually needs the old slab out and the base dug down and packed, then a new pour sized for your cars.
Explore serviceWe build patios off the back door with the slab falling away from the house, so rain runs into the yard and not against your foundation.
Explore serviceStamped concrete gives a patio or walk the look of stone or brick, and the pattern and color get picked before the pour because there's no redoing it.
Explore serviceFor a front walk with sections that trip you, we pull them, rebuild the base and pour new panels with a broom finish whose ridges give shoes grip.
Explore serviceA garage floor has to carry a car's weight and drain toward the door, so we set the slope and thickness for how you'll use the space.
Explore serviceDecorative concrete covers color, exposed stone and borders, and we plan it around the slab's base and joints, because a pretty top on a bad base still cracks.
Explore serviceWhen a yard drops off or a bank keeps sliding, we pour a retaining wall on a footing with drainage behind it, so water doesn't push it over.
Explore serviceBasement, shop and outbuilding floors start with a packed base and a vapor barrier where it's needed, then a pour finished smooth or textured for the work inside.
Explore serviceAround a pool you want a surface that isn't slick and a deck that sheds water away from the house, so we plan finish and slope together.
Explore serviceWe build front and back steps with even heights and a solid landing, since steps that have settled or pulled away are usually what people call about.
Explore serviceFor a garage, addition or outbuilding, we pour a slab foundation thicker at the edges, with steel bars called rebar so the slab holds together if it cracks.
Explore serviceWhen you're building, we form and pour the foundation walls and footings to your plans, and we check the soil in the dig before any concrete goes in.
Explore serviceBusiness owners need a lot that drains, holds up to delivery trucks and stays open, so we plan thickness, slope and pour order around that.
Explore serviceFootings are the concrete pads under posts, walls and additions, and we dig them to the size the plans call for so whatever sits on top doesn't settle.
Explore serviceIf a slab or part of the house has dropped, raising it starts with finding why the ground moved, because lifting without fixing that just buys time.
Explore serviceWe saw-cut concrete for new doorways, utility trenches and clean breaks between old and new slabs, so the piece that stays has a straight, solid edge.
Explore serviceThe office we deal with here is Chesterton's Building Department, which issues permits for driveways, sidewalks, patios and steps, so when your job needs one, the permit sets the start date before we ever dig. Every contractor working in the Town of Chesterton has to register with that department before applying for a permit or starting work, so ask anyone you're weighing whether they're registered. We're licensed and insured, and before work starts I check with the office that covers your address, then take care of the permit or registration when the job needs it.
Your price mostly comes down to size and thickness, whether an old slab has to come out, how much soft dirt gets dug out and replaced with packed base, whether the truck can reach the spot and the finish you pick. If something has to give in the budget, the base is the last place I'd cut, because nobody sees it on day one and it's the first thing to fail. The schedule turns on the permit and inspections, then curing, the days the slab needs to gain strength, and you'll be walking on it well before you can drive on it. My estimate gives you your own number and plan, the same way we price work in La Porte and Michigan City.
Send the form or call (219) 258-7141, and we'll reply within one business day. I come out to Chesterton myself, look at the slab and the ground under it, and write up the estimate, free and with no obligation. If you go ahead, I run the crew on site from the dig through the pour and cleanup, and satisfaction guaranteed.
(219) 258-7141Call the Building Department at 219-926-2610 and ask about your project before anything is poured. Applications are on Chesterton's forms and applications page, and completed ones go back to the department. On our jobs, I check this before the work starts.
A Chesterton permit runs 18 months for new construction, 12 months for a remodel or addition and 6 months for other work, counted from the day it's issued unless the permit says otherwise. That's why we line up the permit once your plan is settled, not before.
Yes, every contractor working in Chesterton has to register with the Building Department before applying for a permit or starting work. Registration calls for, among other things, a certificate of insurance of at least $500,000 per occurrence and workers' compensation compliance, and it's good for one year. The requirements are on the contractor registration page if you want to check what a contractor should have.
Not for the same reasons, when the base and joints are done right. Most old driveways we tear out cracked or sank because the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, was raked flat instead of dug out and packed. We pack it firm and cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a planned place to crack, early enough that any crack follows the line instead of wandering across the middle.
We're a concrete contractor in La Porte, IN, and we work across the cities around it, including the ones listed here. If your city isn't on the list, give us a call and ask.
I answer my own phone, so the person you reach at (219) 258-7141 or through the form is the one who'll look at your ground and run your pour.
If there's a cracked driveway or a patio you've been putting off in Chesterton, send us a note and tell us what you're seeing.
Tell us about your project
