Concrete Contractors in Golden Valley, MN

Golden Valley was incorporated in 1886 but stayed mostly farmland for decades. In the early 1900s it was mostly a farming community. The census then counted 2,048 people in 1940, 14,559 in 1960 and 24,246 in 1970, which puts much of the housing, and the concrete around it, past the fifty-year mark. When homeowners here hire concrete contractors for a driveway, the city's right-of-way standards set the rules for where the driveway meets the street.

What the standards say

Golden Valley's Engineering Department publishes right-of-way standards for residential driveways. Highlights:

• A separate permit application for each address, with the permit and approved plan kept on site
• A positive grade at the street, so water does not run back toward the garage
• No rebar or steel mesh in the right-of-way
• A maximum width of 25 feet in a right-of-way or easement
• A 3-foot setback from the side property line
• Paved driveway covering no more than 40 percent of the front yard
• Plans showing the curb cut location and width, boulevard and right-of-way widths, topography and drainage arrows

The no-reinforcement rule surprises some people. It means the section in the right-of-way is poured without steel. We pour your private section with the reinforcement and thickness it needs and stop it at the right-of-way line. The Engineering Department is at 763-593-8030.

Older homes and their concrete

With so much of the city built between the 1940s and 1970, a lot of Golden Valley concrete is showing its age in predictable places: a garage floor cracked across, a front stoop that has dropped, a driveway with panels heaved near the street. Mature trees on many lots add root damage to the list.

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The full list

• Driveways replaced under the right-of-way standards, with a plan sheet the city can review
• Patios, plain or stamped, often replacing an original slab that has sunk at one corner
• Sidewalks and steps, including walks rerouted around tree roots
• Garage slabs for attached and detached garages, and shed pads
• Repair of individual panels and steps where the rest of the concrete is sound

Wet summers, hard winters

At the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, the 1991 to 2020 normals show 31.62 inches of precipitation a year. June, July and August together bring nearly 13 of those inches, and January's daily mean is just 16.2 degrees. Water gets into cracks in summer and freezes in winter. That is why we pay close attention to base drainage, slope and joint placement on every slab we pour in Golden Valley.

Planning a project

We start with a site visit to measure, photograph and sketch. For driveways, that sketch becomes the plan the city needs, with dimensions, materials and drainage direction. Census estimates show about 70.7 percent of Golden Valley homes are owner-occupied, so most projects here are for owners planning to stay.

Trees deserve a word of their own. Roots near a driveway or walk are the most common reason a Golden Valley panel lifts at one edge. When we replace a lifted section, we look at whether a root can be bridged, whether the walk can shift a little, or whether the grade can change, rather than simply pouring the same slab back over the same problem.

Call (952) 209-8658 or request a free estimate. You get a written price before work is scheduled.