Slab foundation building in Juneau AK - a slab planned around the cold and your lot

A reinforced concrete slab in Juneau usually costs about $8 to $14 per square foot, and that's the going rate here, not a quote from us. Where your job lands depends on the slab's size, how much digging and base work your lot needs and what goes under the concrete. I'll walk the lot and put each of those in a written estimate, so you can see what you're paying for.

It should go in early enough that the house can be closed in and heated before freezing weather, which is what a national builder's guide calls for with this kind of foundation. We plan the pour around that date, not just around the day the concrete truck is free. The permit and the ground work come before any concrete, so the sooner you call in the season, the more room we all have.

On a lot with a low to moderate slope, that same builder's guide finds a frost protected shallow foundation, a shallow slab designed to resist frost, the best fit. On a steeper lot it often isn't, and digging into a hill can bring in the city's hillside rules as well. That's why I ask about your slope on the first call, before anybody talks about concrete.

They apply if building means clearing vegetation or digging into a slope steeper than 18 percent, or if your lot sits in a moderate or severe avalanche hazard area. In those avalanche areas the city's commission may approve building through a conditional use permit, and the application has to include site specific engineering for peak drainage, special foundations and debris flow diversion. Go by the avalanche maps the city adopted, since the landslide maps from the same study weren't adopted. Plenty of lots around Juneau sit on a hill, so we check this early.

New permit applications in Juneau go only through Civic Access, the city's online system, and inspections are scheduled through the same account. We're fully licensed and insured, and when a job needs a city permit, we take care of the application and book the inspections through our own Civic Access account. If it isn't clear whether you need one, we ask the CBJ Permit Center before we start, and you can check the city's permits page yourself.

Usually it's the ground moving under the slab, from a base that was raked flat instead of dug out and packed, or from water collecting where it shouldn't. We pack the subgrade and cut control joints, grooves that give the concrete a straight, planned place to crack, and we protect the slab from the cold while it cures. After that, one insulation maker's bulletin says gutters, downspouts and proper grading are what keep water from damaging a foundation, so keep those working.