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Concrete in Chetek

Concrete in Chetek, Wisconsin.

Concrete flatwork, aprons and curb in Chetek. Commercial pours go down at 4,500 PSI with tied rebar, priced and scheduled with the asphalt.

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4.7 from 18 Google reviews

About 45 minutes north of Eau Claire on Highway 53. Free estimates, and a straight read on whether it needs doing yet.

A poured concrete apron running from a parking lot up to a loading dock door on a metal industrial building, with the asphalt tied in along its edge.
2,169 People in Chetek
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Chetek
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Concrete Job Looks Like in Chetek

The downtown runs along Second Street on the water, tight lots with shared access, and it carries a summer trade far larger than the winter population. The highway corridor west of town is where the newer commercial surface is.

Seasonality is the thing to plan around here in a way it's not elsewhere. A resort, a bar or a marina lot can't be closed in July, and doesn't need to be open in February. That points work at May or September rather than at the middle of the season, and it means booking early rather than calling when it's already busy.

Concrete specifically in Chetek

Ramps, aprons and pads. Anywhere trailers are launched and retrieved repeatedly, concrete is the right material and asphalt isn't: the point loading from a trailer wheel on a turn is what chews an asphalt apron apart in a couple of seasons. On the residential side it's mostly garage aprons on lake places that have settled away from a long asphalt drive.

The Driveways and Lots in Chetek

Chetek is the far northern edge of what we cover, in Barron County, built on the chain of six lakes that runs through the middle of town. Open water covers most of a square mile inside the city limits, which is why a city of 2,172 has the property profile it does.

Chetek's building peak is the 1980s, later than any other town in the service area, and the reason is the shoreline. Lake lots filled in through the seventies and eighties, and a fifth of the housing dates from that period.

Lake property brings its own driveway problem. A lot of these are long, they run toward water, they get used hard for three months and sit for nine, and a good number were built as seasonal access rather than as year-round drives. That's a different starting point from a subdivision.

Chetek

We work the whole village rather than a named handful of neighborhoods.

Around Chetek: Chetek chain of lakes, Second Street, Highway 53 corridor.

The furthest north we work, so the season is genuinely shorter at both ends. Surface work here books earlier in the fall than it does down the valley.

From our jobs

Job Photos

A fresh asphalt drive lane running up to a loading dock door at an industrial building, new yellow lines beside it
The approach paved up to the dock
A freshly poured concrete walk across the front of a commercial building, coned off, with the bollards set
A storefront walk poured and coned off
Two crew working a curb and gutter pour, radius forms and rebar in place
Curb and gutter: radius forms and rebar, on a Best Buy storefront
A freshly poured concrete walk running past steel bollards at a commercial storefront, coned off
A storefront walk poured around the bollards
A new concrete driveway running to a single garage at a blue house, caution tape across the street end
A driveway replaced, start to finish
A new concrete driveway poured down the side of a house, crossing the public sidewalk, cones at the street end
A driveway poured down the side of the house

All job photos

The joint between concrete and asphalt

Concrete and asphalt move differently. Concrete is rigid and moves at its joints; asphalt is flexible and moves everywhere. Where they meet, that difference has to be absorbed, and if it's not, the joint opens. Once it's open, water goes straight into the base under both of them. This is why so many lots fail first at the dock apron, the dumpster pad and the garage apron. Not because those slabs were bad, but because two different the line where they met was nobody's. We pour the concrete and lay the asphalt against it, so that joint belongs to the job.

What Decides the Price in Chetek

Flatwork prices per square foot and is easy to quote from measurements. Structural work like curb or a dock apron is quoted per project, because the forming is most of the labor and it doesn't scale with area.

Residential flatwork

Driveways, sidewalks, patios

Measured on site

  • Per square foot, broom finish, base prepared
  • Removal of the old surface priced separately

Garage or dock apron

Per project

Measured on site

  • Thicker slab, tied rebar, asphalt tied back in

Dumpster pad

Per pad

Measured on site

  • Heavy slab, because a loaded truck on a hot day is the worst case
  • Sized to the truck, not to the dumpster

Curb and gutter

Per linear foot

Measured on site

  • Straight run at the low end, radius work at the high end

What moves it: thickness, reinforcement, how much has to come out first, access for a truck, and whether the asphalt around it needs tying back in. Removal and haulaway is a real line and gets quoted rather than buried.

How the Work Goes in Chetek

Base, forms, steel, pour, finish, and the asphalt keyed back in against it.

Take out what's there

Broken slab out and hauled away, down to whatever the new pour needs to sit on.

Prepare and compact the base

Graded and compacted. Concrete poured on soft ground cracks on a schedule set by the ground, not by the concrete.

Form and reinforce

Formed to grade so water runs where it should, and reinforced where the span and the loading call for it. Radius forms for curb work.

Pour and finish

Placed, screeded, floated and broom finished. Control joints cut where the slab is going to crack, so that it cracks there instead of somewhere visible.

Tie the asphalt back in

The step most concrete contractors leave to somebody else. Asphalt keyed to the new edge, compacted, joint sealed.

Booking sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Chetek

What Chetek calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
When can you do our resort lot without shutting us down in the season?
May or September, and booked ahead. Sealing needs the surface clear and dry, with 24 hours before traffic goes back on, so the calendar is the first thing to settle. What doesn't work is calling in July and needing it done that week.
How long is a lake driveway compared to one in town, and does that change the price?
Often several times longer, which is the main reason a Chetek quote and an Eau Claire quote for the same house look different. A rural or shoreline drive gets measured rather than estimated by eye, so you're getting a number for your drive rather than an average one. The estimate is free, and the number you approve is the number you pay.
How much does a concrete driveway cost?
Thickness, reinforcement and access are what move it. A slab that has to carry vehicles is thicker than one that carries feet, steel adds cost and adds life, and a pour a truck cannot reach has to be barrowed, which is labour. Removing the old surface is quoted separately rather than hidden in the rate, so you can see what each part costs.
Concrete or asphalt for a driveway?
Concrete costs roughly two to three times as much up front and lasts longer with less maintenance. Asphalt is cheaper, goes down faster, handles frost movement better, and needs sealing every two to three years. Which one suits comes down to the loading, the frost and the budget.
Do you do curb and gutter?
Yes, including radius work, formed and poured to spec. It is priced by the linear foot, and a curve costs more than a straight run because the forms have to be built to the radius.
Why do dumpster pads fail so often?
Because they're usually sized to the dumpster instead of to the truck. The worst loading a pad ever sees is the front axle of a loaded refuse truck on a hot day, and a slab poured for the container alone isn't built for that.
How long before we can use new concrete?
It depends on the mix, and that is worth asking about rather than assuming. On a standard pour: foot traffic in 24 to 48 hours, vehicles after about seven days, heavy trucks at 28 days for a full-strength cure. Where the schedule will not take seven days, we spec a 4,500 PSI exterior mix instead. One of those is a loading dock apron we poured with tied rebar in a working parking lot: customers were driving on it three days later. Whichever mix your job gets, the window goes in the scope up front so you can plan around it before the pour.
Do you subcontract the concrete out?
The concrete and the asphalt around it are priced and sequenced together, so the joint between them is somebody's responsibility rather than nobody's.

Get a Free Estimate in Chetek

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

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Everything about concrete, including how the work goes and what changes the price