A good sidewalk is the part of your property you stop noticing. It carries you from the driveway or the street to the front door, stays level, sheds water, and never catches a toe. We pour concrete sidewalks for homes across Marietta, from the short lead walk off a driveway to the longer run around the side of the house to the back. The median home here was built in 1986, so plenty of original walks have been under foot and weather for a long time, and it shows.
Our work starts on the ground, not at the truck. We look at how the site falls, test the soil where the walk will run, and set the grade so water moves off the surface and away from the house. Then we cut out the path, compact a base, set forms, and place reinforcement before any concrete arrives. We pour, float, and give it a broom finish for grip. Control joints go in at even spacing, and the slab cures properly. If the project needs a permit, we handle the permit.
Most sidewalk failures trace back to water or to what sits underneath. Marietta sees about 59 inches of rain a year, and every inch of it has to go somewhere. A walk poured dead flat holds puddles. One laid on loose fill settles and tips at the seams. Skip the joints and the slab picks its own crack line, usually straight across the middle. Cobb County is hilly, too, and a walk on a slope needs its grade worked out before the forms go in.
Getting it right takes more attention than anything else. A compacted base, the correct slab thickness, proper reinforcement and sensible joint spacing are all decided before the pour, and they are far easier to do once than to fix later. The dominant soil in Cobb County is well drained, but it changes from yard to yard, so we test every site instead of assuming. Call for a free estimate, and tell us where you want the walk to go.
The quote for a slab covers far more than the concrete itself. It includes excavation, hauling off the spoil, a compacted gravel base, the forms, and the rebar or welded wire mesh the slab needs. Thickness drives a lot of it: a patio slab and a pad that carries a vehicle are not poured to the same depth. Slope matters too. Plenty of lots around Marietta are hilly, and ground that falls away needs more fill and taller forms before any concrete goes in.
Most driveway jobs here start with tearing out an old one. With the median home built in 1986, plenty of original driveways have cracked, settled or lifted at the joints. We remove it, cut the subgrade to depth, compact a stone base and set rebar through the field. Control joints go in at a spacing that suits the slab width, so cracks follow the line we choose. The finish is a broom texture for grip, or stamped and decorative where you want it.
Garage floors, basement floors and shop floors all get the same groundwork: a compacted base, a vapor barrier where moisture could come up through the slab, and reinforcement sized to the load. Inside, the finish is where the work shows. We power-trowel for a dense, smooth surface, then saw-cut the joints once the concrete can hold an edge. Cut too late and the slab picks its own crack lines. From there it can be sealed, stained or left as clean bare concrete.
Not every cracked slab needs to come out. Hairline shrinkage cracks can be routed and sealed. A slab that has sunk or tipped usually points to a washed-out base, and with about 59 inches of rain a year, water getting under concrete is a common culprit. We look at drainage first, because patching the surface without fixing the water only buys time. Where the base has failed across a whole section, we saw-cut that section out, rebuild the base and pour it new.
A sidewalk looks like the simplest thing we pour, and that is exactly why it gets rushed. We treat it as a structural job. Around Marietta the ground rises and falls a good deal inside a few miles (Cobb County has about 199 feet of local relief), and it changes from one block to the next. So we grade and test every site on its own before any forms go down. A walk that runs along a slope needs a different base and a different pitch than one crossing a flat front yard.
Water is the other thing we plan around. The area sees about 59 inches of rain a year, and a sidewalk that sheds it toward your foundation or holds it in a low spot will show the damage within a few seasons. We set the cross slope so water runs off to the side you want it on. Reinforcement goes in based on what the slab will carry: foot traffic, a mower, the odd car tire where the walk meets the driveway. Control joints get cut where cracks would want to form anyway, so the concrete breaks along a line we chose.
The median home in Marietta was built in 1986, and a walk that has been down that long has usually had time to settle, lift at a tree root or pull away from the front steps. Replacing it well is mostly about the work before the pour: breaking out the old slab cleanly, finding out why it failed, and fixing that cause instead of pouring over it. We handle the permit. Then we place, finish and cure the new surface with care, whether it gets a plain broom finish or a stamped pattern to match a decorative patio. Call for a free estimate.
The price of a sidewalk depends less on its length than on what sits in its path and how easy the site is to work. Two walks of the same size on the same street can price very differently. Most of what moves the number is something you can walk out and check yourself before anyone quotes the job.
| What changes the price | Which way | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Old concrete, pavers or gravel on the route | costs more | Breaking it out and hauling it away is labor and a disposal load before any new work starts. |
| Tree roots near the path | costs more | Roots have to be cut back or worked around, since a slab poured over live roots tends to lift. |
| Room for the mixer to reach the forms | costs less | When the truck backs up close, we pour straight from the chute. Otherwise concrete moves by wheelbarrow or pump. |
| Slope along the walk | costs more | A sloped run needs cut and fill, and sometimes steps, to keep the surface safe to walk. |
| Thickness and reinforcement | costs more | A walk that crosses a driveway or carries a mower needs a thicker slab with mesh or rebar. |
| Water that pools or runs toward the house | costs more | We regrade or add drainage before the pour, or the new walk inherits the problem. |
| Sprinkler lines or cables crossing the route | costs more | Buried lines get located and moved or sleeved before we dig. |
| Stamped or decorative finish | costs more | Pattern and color take extra hands and time while the concrete is still workable. |
When bids come in, check the same things on each: slab thickness, base depth, what reinforcement goes in, and how far apart the control joints sit. Then look at whether tear-out, haul-off and the permit are included. A lower bid that stays quiet on any of those is often leaving it out.
The answer turns on where the walk sits. A path from the driveway to the front door that stays on private property is often handled differently from a sidewalk along the street, which usually runs through the public right-of-way. Before anything is formed, we look at the property line, the curb and any utilities in the way. Then we handle the permit that fits the work, so you never have to work out which form applies.
Most of the time goes into the ground, not the pour. We break out the old walk if there is one, grade the base, set forms and place reinforcement, and each step moves at the pace the site allows. Cobb County is hilly, with 199 feet of local relief within a few miles, so a sloped lot takes more grading than a flat one. Pouring and finishing is the short part.
Yes, in many cases, and location matters more than size. Work that reaches the street side of the property or the public right-of-way generally needs one. A walk that stays entirely on your own lot may not. We sort that out at the start and handle the permit and the paperwork behind it. By the time forms go in, the question is settled and nothing is waiting on a signature.
Finishing the work and using it are two different points. Once the concrete is placed and finished, it needs time to cure before foot traffic, and longer before anything heavy rolls across it. Weather sets part of the schedule too. Marietta sees about 59 inches of rain a year, so we pour on dry days and let a wet forecast pass rather than rush a slab into it. The walk is done when it has cured, not when the forms come off.
Yes. We handle the permit and line up whatever inspections the job calls for, so you are not the one chasing sign-offs. Our part is having the base compacted, the forms set true and the reinforcement in place before anyone looks at it. Work built that way passes on its own merits. Nothing has to be torn out and redone because a step was skipped to save an afternoon.
It depends on what failed. Hairline cracks and a worn surface on a slab that still sits level can often be repaired and sealed. A patio that has settled, heaved or broken into sections usually has a base problem, and patching the top does not fix what is underneath. The median home here was built in 1986, so plenty of patios are original. We test the soil and check drainage before recommending either one.