Concrete sidewalk building in Juneau AK - a walk set on firm, packed ground

Concrete work in Juneau usually costs about $6 to $22 per square foot, and that range covers concrete work in general, not just walks, so treat it as the market's number and not ours. Where your walk lands depends mostly on the ground and the access, and your own figure comes from the written estimate I give after walking the site.

No one can prevent cracking in concrete entirely, but properly planned joints control where it happens and keep it small. Control joints are grooves cut into the walk so it cracks along a line we picked instead of across the middle, and industry guidance calls for isolation joints, a soft break, where a walk meets a driveway or curb so each slab moves on its own. You'll see the layout before the pour, as I said above, and our work is satisfaction guaranteed.

Not always, because wire mesh won't stop a walk from cracking, though it tends to keep cracks and joints from opening up. Rebar, steel bars laid inside the slab to hold it together, usually earns its place where a walk crosses a driveway or ties into steps. I'll tell you at the estimate whether your walk needs either one, and why.

Yes, concrete poured in the cold still gets the strength and durability it needs when it's properly protected. The industry's cold-weather guide counts it as cold-weather work when the air drops, or is expected to drop, below 40°F while the concrete is being protected, and the colder it gets the more protection it needs. We plan our pours around the cold and keep the walk protected while it cures, because young concrete is easy to hurt.

Ask for air-entrained concrete, a mix with tiny air bubbles worked through it, because it resists breaking down through freeze and thaw and limits scaling, the top flaking off, from ice-melt chemicals. A front walk in Juneau freezes and gets salted most winters, so it's the mix that fits. We write the mix on the estimate so you can see what you're paying for.

Maybe, and the city's permit list doesn't answer it for sidewalks, so we find out before we start. The city's engineering division reviews permits for site, driveway and right-of-way work and inspects that work in the field, but its list names driveways, not sidewalks. When a job needs a city permit, we file the application and book the inspections through our account on the city's online Civic Access portal, and when it isn't clear, we ask the CBJ Permit Center first. We're fully licensed and insured and work across the City and Borough.