Garage Floors & RV Pads in Colorado Springs, CO

Garage floors and RV pads carry more weight than any other concrete on a residential lot. A garage slab supports cars, trucks, tool chests and freezers, and its perimeter often carries the walls. An RV or trailer pad holds a heavy load on a few tires and a tongue jack, frequently for an entire winter. If you keep a camper, trailer or toy hauler for trips into the mountains, a pad that stays flat is worth getting right. Shed and shop slabs are lighter but have their own requirement: they have to stay level so doors close and walls stay plumb.

Garage floor replacement

A garage floor that needs replacing usually shows it in one of three ways: a low spot in the middle that holds meltwater, cracks that widen every year, or edges that crumble along the walls until the bottom plate starts to rot. The Colorado Geological Survey lists heaved and cracked garage floor slabs among the most common signs of expansive soil in Colorado. In most cases the floor can be broken out and repoured with the building still standing. That means demolition inside the garage, protecting the walls, and connecting the new slab properly at the foundation. HomeGuide's slab guide notes garage floors are typically reinforced and 4 to 6 inches thick.

RV, boat and trailer pads

HomeGuide's driveway guide recommends 5 to 6 inches of concrete for RVs and heavy vehicles. We add reinforcement sized to the load and extra depth where the tires and jack sit. Just as important is the approach: how the trailer backs in, whether the pad ties into the existing driveway, and which direction the pad sheds water. A curb cut or a wider opening at the street goes through the city's Driveway Cut Application process. HOA covenants in some neighborhoods also limit where recreational vehicles can be parked, so we check before you pour a pad you cannot use.

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Shed bases and shop slabs

A prefab shed sits best on a slab a few inches larger than its footprint, flat enough that doors swing true. HomeGuide's slab guide says shed foundations are usually around 4 inches thick and often unreinforced; we add steel when the soil or the contents call for it. A detached shop or workshop needs thickness matched to what will be inside it and thickened edges where walls bear, and a larger building can trigger a building permit and engineering. On a lot with known swelling soil, a soils report before a big slab is money well spent, and we will tell you when we think one is warranted.

Getting water out

A garage floor should fall slightly toward the overhead door so snow melting off a car runs outside instead of pooling under it. An RV pad should drain off one side, away from the house. Both slopes are set in the forms before pour day. Gutters and downspouts near a new pad get extended so roof water lands well away from the slab edge.

Pour day and curing

Inside a garage, the ready-mix truck usually pours through the overhead door or concrete is pumped in. After finishing, the slab is kept moist and protected from drafts and sun. HomeGuide's slab guide puts a full cure at 28 days or more. Walk on it after a day or two, park a car after at least a week, and keep a loaded camper off a new pad for about a month. Floor coatings should wait until the slab is fully cured.