Garage & Shed Slabs in Schenectady, NY

Garage & Shed Slabs carry the weight of cars, mowers, tools and storage, and they are the floor of a building that is often unheated. Detached rear garages are common on Schenectady's older lots, and plenty of them are old enough that the floor has cracked, sunk at the door or broken into pieces. Others need a new slab for a shed, a workshop or a garage being built where there was none.

New slabs

A slab starts with the right size and thickness for what will sit on it. HomeGuide prices a 4-inch slab and a 6-inch slab separately and puts a two-car garage floor of 400 to 576 square feet at $2,400 to $6,900. Light sheds can sit on a 4-inch slab; garages, workshops with heavy equipment and anything that will hold a vehicle are usually thicker, with thickened edges and reinforcement.

The base is what makes a slab last. We strip topsoil and any soft soil, build up a stone base compacted in lifts and set the forms level, or with a slight pitch toward the door so water drains out. For a building that will be framed on the slab, we place anchor bolts where the builder needs them.

Replacing a garage floor

Old garage floors fail from water, salt dripping off cars, settling and age. If the floor is cracked into pieces, tilted toward the back wall, or crumbling at the door, replacing it is usually better than patching. That means taking out the old floor without damaging the walls, building a new base and pouring a new slab inside the existing building. Access through one overhead door is often the limiting factor, and we plan the pour around it.

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Permits and frost

Garages and some sheds are buildings, and the city, town or village may require a building permit and set rules for how the slab and footings are built, especially in a climate where the ground freezes deeply. A garage on a floating slab and a garage on frost walls are very different jobs. We check with the local building department about what your project needs before we quote it as final.

Things that help a slab last

• Drainage around the building: gutters and grading that keep roof water away from the slab edge.
• A slight fall to the door so snowmelt dripping off cars drains outside instead of pooling.
• Control joints cut in a regular grid so shrinkage cracks follow straight lines.
• Sealing a garage floor to slow down salt and oil damage.
• A clean apron where the slab meets the driveway, so water does not run back in.

Shed pads

A shed slab is a smaller job, but the same rules apply: dig out the soft ground, compact a base, form it level and pour at least 4 inches. HomeGuide puts shed slabs from 10' x 10' to 20' x 20' at $600 to $4,800. A solid pad keeps a shed square and its door working for years.