La Porte Concrete Company is a concrete contractor working in Lake Station, Indiana. We build driveways, patios, garage floors, footings and foundations, and we dig out and pack the ground under them before anything gets poured.
Lake Station is mostly single-family neighborhoods, a house with a driveway out front and a garage attached or set out back, plus some business property mixed in. A lot of the calls we get here are for that driveway or garage slab once it's cracked, dropped at a corner or started holding water, along with patios, walks and steps. The city sits right against Gary and next to Portage, and the work on those streets looks a lot like the work here.
Old slabs here usually tell me what went wrong under them. When concrete sinks or pools water, the cause is most often a base that was raked flat instead of dug out and packed, or water running toward the house, so I look at the ground and the drainage before we talk about the surface.
We tear out the old driveway, dig to firm ground and pack a base, then pour it pitched away from the garage so water runs to the street.
Explore serviceWant a patio out the back door? The plan starts with which way your yard drains, so the slab falls away from the house instead of toward it.
Explore serviceStamped concrete presses a pattern like stone or brick into the wet surface, and the timing has to be right, so we size the crew to the slab.
Explore serviceWe pour front walks and side paths with control joints, cuts that tell the concrete where to crack, and a broom finish so wet feet grip.
Explore serviceA garage floor takes your car's weight every day, so we plan its thickness and its rebar, the steel inside that keeps cracks tight.
Explore serviceDecorative concrete means color, exposed stone or a border on your slab, and we work out the look once the base and drainage are planned.
Explore serviceWhen a slope needs holding back, we build a concrete wall on a footing sized for the soil behind it and give water a way through.
Explore serviceFor a basement, shop or outbuilding floor, we grade and pack the subgrade, the dirt and stone the slab rests on, then pour and finish it flat.
Explore serviceA pool deck stays wet and gets walked barefoot, so we plan the slope away from the water and a finish that grips without scraping feet.
Explore serviceWe form and pour front and back steps with even rises, so each step feels the same underfoot, and tie them into the walk or stoop they meet.
Explore serviceA slab foundation puts a building straight on concrete, so we dig out soft ground, pack the base and set the forms square before the pour.
Explore serviceWe dig, form and pour foundation walls for new houses, additions and garages, and check them against the plans before any concrete shows up.
Explore serviceBusiness owners who need a lot that holds up to traffic get a thicker slab on a deeper packed base, laid out so water runs off the lot.
Explore serviceFootings are the wide concrete base a wall or post stands on, and we dig them to firm ground so what's built on top has something solid under it.
Explore serviceIf a slab or foundation has sunk at one corner, we lift it back toward level and find the soft or washed-out ground that let it drop.
Explore serviceNeed a doorway in a wall, a trench through a floor or a bad section of driveway removed? We saw-cut clean lines so new concrete meets old neatly.
Explore serviceMost of the concrete work we plan here runs through the city's Building Department, which issues building permits for houses, garages, room additions and accessory buildings on single-family lots. For that residential work its inspectors have 48 hours to come out, so we build that wait into the pour date instead of guessing. The city also requires a contractor doing the work to be licensed for the City of Lake Station, so ask anyone who bids your job whether they are, and a business gets the city's license application from the Clerk-Treasurer's Office. We're licensed and insured, and before work starts I check with the office that covers your address and handle the permit or registration when the job needs one.
We're based in La Porte and drive over for jobs here, the same as we do for Porter and the rest of the cities around it. Your price moves with the size of the slab, how much old concrete comes out, how deep we dig to reach firm ground, how thick the slab is and whether it needs rebar, and any finish beyond a plain broom finish. The schedule turns on the permit and inspections, the weather on pour day and the curing, the wait while concrete hardens enough to walk on and later drive on. I write your estimate on site, and that's where you get your own number.
Tell us about the driveway, patio, garage slab or footing you need in Lake Station, or call (219) 258-7141. We reply to every call and message within one business day. Then I come out, look at the ground and the old concrete, and write you a free estimate with no obligation.
(219) 258-7141A new garage, addition or other building on a single-family lot needs a building permit from the Building Department, and the garage slab is part of that job. For a driveway, patio or walk, the department's forms include a paving permit, so it's worth asking before work starts, and the city's building permit page lays out what new construction needs. I find out which one your job needs before we start.
You can ask for a Homeowner's Permit, but the inspector has to approve it before the city issues it. When a contractor does the work, the contractor gets the permits instead, so on our jobs that's on us.
A detached garage gets two inspections, footing and foundation before any concrete is poured, then a final, and a new house, addition or attached garage gets four: footing before the pour, foundation, rough-in and final. The city's posted guidance also lists foundations 42 inches deep, or 40 inches with no basement, on footings 8 inches thick by 16 inches wide. We dig and form to that and hold the pour until the footing passes.
The Building Department is at 1969 Central Avenue, Lake Station, IN 46405, and its phone is 219-850-1331. Call there to check on a permit for your address, or call us and I'll check it for you.
We're based in La Porte and 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 when you call (219) 258-7141 you're talking to the person who'll look at your job and run the pour.
If you've got a cracked driveway or a sinking slab in Lake Station, send us a message and tell us what you're seeing.
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