Concrete parking lot building in Key West FL - a slab sized for the vehicles you park

The lot's design sets the thickness from three things, the traffic it carries, the ground under it and the strength of the concrete. Industry guidance says thinner concrete without steel usually works for lots used only by cars and pickups, while lots for light trucks may need thicker pavement. That's why I ask what will park there before I price anything.

Industry guidance says to keep cars off a new slab for 3 days and trucks off for 7 days, unless tests show the concrete has gained enough strength. That wait is curing, the time concrete needs to harden before it carries weight, so we help you plan how long to keep traffic off and where people will park meanwhile.

Almost always, because the city requires a building permit before any work valued over $1,000, counting materials and labor. Applications go to the city's Building Department, and we handle that paperwork for you. Some addresses that read Key West fall under the county, so we check which office covers yours first.

Often, yes. In the city's flood hazard areas, any filling, grading or other site work needs a permit, and exterior work in the Historic District needs a Certificate of Appropriateness with the building permit application. The South Florida Water Management District also lists site grading and stormwater treatment as work needing its own permit, so it's worth asking about early.

Fully installed concrete work in Florida, including labor, forming and the subbase, usually costs about $5 to $15 per square foot. That's the going rate across the state, not our price. Your written estimate after I measure gives you the number for your lot.

Heat makes fresh concrete set and lose water faster, which can cause trouble from delivery through curing and hurt how well the slab holds up. We usually pour early in the day and keep the surface from drying out too fast, because concrete placed in midday heat tends to end up with a weak, dusty top.

Concrete usually cracks somewhere as it dries and shrinks, so the goal is to choose where. We cut control joints, straight grooves that give the slab a clean line to crack along, before it cracks on its own, and the packed base keeps sections from settling apart.