Slab foundation building in Highland IN - a solid slab with the base done right
Planning a new home, addition or shop on your lot? We check the ground first, then pour your slab on a packed, protected base.
What is a slab foundation, and what goes under it?
A slab foundation in Highland, IN is a concrete slab poured over a layer of clean, coarse gravel and heavy-duty plastic sheeting, and that slab is the foundation your building sits on. The sheeting also keeps soil gases from getting into the house.
Most people who call us are planning a new home, an addition or an outbuilding, and they want to know if a slab will hold up on their ground. The price mostly turns on the slab's size and how much digging and fill it takes to get a level, packed subgrade, which is the ground the slab rests on. The schedule turns on that prep, the weather and the curing, the wait while the concrete gains strength before anything heavy goes on it. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather trim the finish than the base, because nobody sees the gravel once the concrete is down, but it decides how the slab holds up for years. Your written estimate spells out each of those for your lot.
Why people pick Highland Concrete for slab foundations
You can count on me looking at your ground before anyone talks price, and on our crew building the parts you can't see as carefully as the surface.
The owner walks your lot
I come out to look at every job myself, and I'm on site with our crew for the prep, the pour and the finish.
In business since 2017
I learned the trade under an old-school finisher before starting this business, after years of fixing machines in a plant.
Licensed and insured
We're licensed and insured, so ask about either one when I come out to look at your ground.
A straight answer on fit
If your lot points to a different foundation, I'll tell you why instead of selling you a slab that lets you down.
Your satisfaction, guaranteed
That's our promise, and it starts with the gravel and sheeting you won't see once the concrete goes down.
How we build slab foundations
The lot picks the method, so I check how level and firm your ground is before we settle on a slab or on foundation installation that digs deeper.
What happens when you call about a slab foundation?
Every slab gets planned around your ground and how you'll use the building, so the first visit is about looking and asking before anyone talks price.
You get in touch
Call (219) 533-1721 or send the form, and I'm usually the one who gets back to you to set up a visit at your lot.
I walk the lot
I look at the ground, where the water runs and how you'll use the building, because those decide whether a slab is the right foundation.
Your written estimate
You get a written estimate that spells out what's in it, from the dig-out and packed gravel to the sheeting and the pour.
The build and the finish
I'm on site with our crew from the base prep to the final finish, and before we leave I go over how to care for the new concrete.
Questions about a step? Call and talk it through.
(219) 533-1721Slab foundation questions we hear
How much does a slab foundation cost near Highland, IN?
A monolithic concrete slab foundation in the Chicago metro area usually costs about $10,500 to $26,000 per job, and that's the going range in the area, not a quote from us. Where your job lands depends on the slab's size and how much digging and fill your lot needs to get firm, level ground. The written estimate after I walk your lot gives you your own number.
Is a monolithic slab right for my lot?
It is only when the ground is level across the property and the soil is well compacted. It's also a poor choice where builds have to rise above a floodplain, so on those lots I'll tell you plainly and talk through a foundation that suits the site.
How does a slab foundation keep soil gases out of the house?
The plastic sheeting laid over the gravel keeps soil gases from coming up into the house, and it also stops the wet concrete from clogging the gravel during the pour. Building those layers in from the start typically costs less than treating the home after it's built, which is why we put them in the original job.
What causes a new slab foundation to crack or settle?
Most trouble starts under the slab, with a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, or water that runs toward the building instead of away from it. A pour in midday heat can leave a weak, dusty top, and control joints, the grooves cut so the concrete cracks along a line we chose, need to go in on time. We watch each of those before and during the pour.
How long does it take to build a slab foundation?
Most of the time goes into the ground prep and the curing, not the pour itself. How long the dig-out and base take depends on your lot and the weather, and the concrete then needs time to gain strength before framing loads go on it. I'll talk through the timing for your job when I walk the lot.
Is a slab cheaper than a basement or crawl space foundation?
Usually it is, because foundations that need more excavation, materials and labor cost more than a monolithic slab. When you compare bids, expect the extra digging to show up in the price.
Slab foundation building in Highland and Lake County ground
Across Lake County, about 56% of the land stays wet for long stretches, groundwater comes within two feet of the surface under 58% of it, and only about 22% drains well. About 16% of the county's soil is expansive clay, the kind that swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries. Those are county-wide figures, not a reading of your lot, so I check where the water runs and how firm the ground is when I visit, and we dig out soft soil and pack the gravel base instead of raking it level. We run into the same wet, heavy ground on jobs in Griffith and Munster.
Indiana's building code also has foundations protected from frost by reaching below the local frost line, by using a frost protected shallow foundation or by bearing on solid rock, and it lets a shallow foundation sit on frozen soil only where that ground stays frozen for good. On Indiana jobs we plan the slab's edges around one of those options from the start. We're based in Highland and work in the cities around it on both sides of the Indiana and Illinois line.
Ask Highland Concrete about your slab
Call (219) 533-1721 or use the form before you lock in a building plan, since your ground may point to a different foundation.