Concrete Contractors in Washburn, IA

Washburn is a census-designated place in Black Hawk County, just south of Waterloo on U.S. Route 218, with 870 residents at the 2020 census. For concrete contractors, Washburn is unusual in one way: almost all of its houses come from the same twenty years. Census estimates count 145 of Washburn's 271 homes as built in the 1950s and 109 more in the 1960s, about 93.7 percent together. The median year built is 1959.

Why same-age housing matters

When most homes on a street were built within a few years of each other, their concrete tends to fail on a similar schedule. Driveways, front stoops and garage slabs poured in the late 1950s and 1960s are now sixty or more years old. Concrete of that period often went down without the air entrainment that protects modern mixes from freeze-thaw damage, and frequently on little or no prepared base. Expect to see:

• Surface scaling and pop-outs across driveways and walks.
• Garage floors cracked into plates, sometimes with a drop at the overhead door.
• Stoops and steps that have separated from the house.
• Driveways that slope toward garages after decades of settling.

Replacement done properly

On concrete this old, replacement is usually the honest answer. Our process:

• Break out the old slab and remove it from the site.
• Dig out soft soil and bring in compacted granular base.
• Form for a steady fall away from the house and garage.
• Pour air-entrained concrete with reinforcement where it helps.
• Cut joints on a planned layout, then cure before use.

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Single-car garages, two-car households

Houses from that era were often built with a single-car garage and a narrow driveway. Many Washburn owners now want a wider drive or a parking pad beside it. When we widen, we check the curb cut and any right-of-way rules first, then pour the new section so it drains with the old.

Mostly owner-occupied

Point2Homes counts 261 single detached houses among the 271 units and puts owner occupancy at 84.9 percent. It is a quiet, settled place where owners usually take on one project at a time: steps one year, the driveway the next.

Patios for mid-century backyards

Many of these houses were built with a back stoop and nothing else. A plain or stamped concrete patio turns that back yard into usable space. We size it around your furniture and keep it pitched away from the house.

From a village to a suburb

Wikipedia records 79 people in Washburn in 1902 and 94 in 1925. By the 2020 census there were 870. Nearly all of that growth came in the 1950s and 1960s, which is why the houses and their concrete are so close in age. Washburn is an unincorporated census-designated place covering about 1.25 square miles, so questions about work at the street are worth checking with Black Hawk County before we schedule.

Between Waterloo and La Porte City

Washburn sits on U.S. Route 218 south of Waterloo, near Gilbertville and La Porte City, and belongs to the Waterloo Community School District. Students attend Orange Elementary, Hoover Middle and Waterloo West High. Access for ready-mix trucks is easy from the highway.

Walks and side yards

Many Washburn lots have a narrow side walk between the driveway and the back door. Replacing it along with the driveway keeps the grades consistent and saves a second trip.

Call (319) 481-5867 or send photos through the form, and we will make the short trip to Washburn.