Cracked, sinking or uneven slab, or a room that needs a floor? We pour a flat concrete floor on ground that's been dug out and packed.
Concrete floor installation in Tiburon is forming, pouring and finishing a flat slab in your house, garage or outbuilding. You end up with a floor that can stay bare concrete or carry tile, wood or a coating. Most of the time on the job goes to the ground prep and the curing, not the pour itself.
Most calls start with something you can see. Maybe an old slab has cracked, sunk at one corner or gotten so uneven that furniture rocks, or a garage, studio or addition needs a floor for the first time. Either way, I look at the ground under it first, because that's what decides whether the new floor stays flat.
The price moves with the size of the floor in square feet and whether an old slab has to come out and get hauled off. It also moves with how much digging and packing the ground needs, how the slab is reinforced and how the top is finished. Getting the concrete truck or a pump close to the room matters too, and on a lot of Tiburon properties that's the tricky part.
The schedule turns on whether your job needs a permit, how long the prep takes, a good day to pour and the curing, which is the wait before you use the floor while the concrete gains strength. I'll walk you through all of it at the estimate. It's written up in plain words and spells out what's included, so you're not guessing at either one.
Most of what decides how a floor holds up happens before and during the pour, and none of it shows once the concrete is down. These are the parts I watch most closely.
The subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, has to be dug out to firm soil and packed in layers, not just raked level. Loose dirt keeps settling after the pour and the slab settles with it, which is where a lot of sinking floors and corner cracks come from.
Before we form anything, we check where water runs around the room and under the slab, and which way the ground outside falls. A floor that sits wet will give you trouble no matter how nice the surface looks, and so will a pad that tips water back toward the house.
Concrete poured in midday heat can dry out on top before it's finished, and that leaves a weak, dusty surface that wears and chips later. We plan the pour for the cooler part of the day when we can, and we keep the top from drying out too fast.
Control joints are shallow cuts that give the slab a planned place to crack as it shrinks, so any line runs straight and out of the way. They have to go in soon after the pour, because if a joint is cut late or skipped, the slab picks its own spot.
Here's how a floor job usually runs with us, from your first call to the final walk-through, and where Tiburon's construction rules fit into the schedule.
Call (415) 429-4397 or use the contact form, and tell us where the floor goes and what you'll use the space for. That gives me a head start before I come out.
I come out myself, look at the ground and the access, measure and ask how you plan to use the space. Then you get a written estimate in plain words that spells out what's included.
Once you're ready, we sort out what the city or county asks for and wait until any permit is in hand. We prep, pour and finish within Tiburon's set construction hours. That means no Sunday work, and on Saturdays nothing loud enough to hear at the property line.
When it's finished, I walk the floor with you and go over how long to keep feet and furniture off it while it cures. If anything looks off to you, that's the time to tell me.
If you plan to put tile, wood, vinyl or a coating on the new floor, tell me early. Moisture coming up through a slab is what lifts and stains those finishes. Industry guidance says a vapor barrier, a plastic sheet laid under the concrete, gives coverings and coatings the most protection when it's in direct contact with the slab, so we plan where it goes around what's going on top.
I'll also tell you up front that some fine cracks in a slab are normal, because concrete shrinks as it cures. What we can do is keep them small and where we chose to put them. That takes a packed base, joints cut on time and reinforcement that suits the floor, usually rebar, the steel bars set inside the slab to hold it together.
When a budget gets tight, the base is the first thing people want to cut, since you can't see it on day one. I'd rather trim the finish than the base. A plain floor on good ground stays flat, and a fancy finish on loose dirt cracks and sinks anyway.
A new floor often comes with work right outside it. If the room opens onto a doorway that needs a step down, we can pour concrete steps on the same schedule. A pool house floor can be planned alongside a concrete pool deck so the two surfaces meet at the right height.
If the concrete is the floor, the smooth troweled top is what you walk on every day, so the finish and where the joints land matter more. We'll talk through how it'll look before anything is poured.
If something goes on top, a flat, even surface and the barrier placement matter more than looks, because the covering shows every dip. Tell me which product you're planning so we pour with it in mind.
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I'll come out, measure, ask how you plan to use the floor and give you a written estimate that spells out what's included. It's free, with no pressure and no obligation.
(415) 429-4397The Town of Tiburon Building Division issues permits for electrical, plumbing and drainage work and lets cosmetic work like new flooring go without one. Its list doesn't name concrete floors, though, so it doesn't settle whether your job needs a permit. We check with the Building Division on your job and help with any paperwork it asks for.
When a permit applies, the inspections can include the slab and what's under it, and they have to pass before anything gets covered, so we set the pour date around them. Lots inside the state's mapped landslide or liquefaction zones need a site-specific study before a building permit is approved. Permit applicants in Tiburon also have to recycle or reuse most of the debris, which matters when an old slab gets broken out.
Around Tiburon we see a lot of hillside lots, tight driveways and older garages being turned into rooms or studios, so getting concrete to the room is often half the planning. We do the same floor work across Marin, in places like Mill Valley and Sausalito.
I taught myself concrete on small jobs around my own place, then learned the rest working beside people who'd been at it for years. I started Sterling Stone Tiburon Concrete here in Tiburon in 2020, so we're six years in. I still come out to look at every job and write the estimate myself.
I'm on site with our crew while the work gets done, so the person who heard your plans is the one watching the base get packed and the concrete go in. We're fully licensed and insured. Our work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
If you'd like to talk through a floor, call (415) 429-4397 or send us a message. I'd rather answer a question twice before we pour than have you wondering about it later.
If the floor is going into a pool house, the deck outside takes splashing and bare feet every day, so it needs its own finish and drainage.
When a new floor raises or lowers a doorway, poured steps outside can be sized to the new height so every rise feels the same underfoot.
We're based in Tiburon and pour floors in cities across Marin and nearby, from Novato down to Sausalito and over to Richmond. The cities below each have their own page, and we work beyond them too.
A concrete slab in the Bay Area usually costs about $9 to $18 per square foot, according to one cost guide. That's the area's going rate, not our quote. A reinforced slab runs more per square foot than a plain pad, and the guide's prices leave out staining or stamping. Your written estimate gives you your own number.
You can usually walk on a new slab within 48 hours, but concrete takes 28 to 30 days to fully cure. A Bay Area cost guide says waiting a week before adding heavier loads may be safer, so plan furniture and any move-in around that week.
Some fine, random cracking should be expected in any concrete floor, and national industry guidance says reinforcement won't prevent it. Reinforcement that's properly sized and placed keeps those cracks tightly closed, so it's fair to ask any contractor how your slab will be reinforced. I'll show you that before we pour.
A contractor with California's C-8 Concrete Contractor classification is licensed for this work, because it covers forming, pouring, placing and finishing flat concrete work, which the trade calls flatwork. Under state licensing rules, even a job under $1,000 needs a licensed contractor if the work is subject to any permit or the person doing it hires helpers.
Clear the room and leave us a path in from the street, because the concrete comes in by wheelbarrow, chute or pump hose and needs a clear run. Move cars off the driveway the morning of the pour, and keep kids and pets away from the fresh concrete until it's set.
Have the room size in square feet, the flooring you plan to put on top and a hoped-for start date ready when you call (415) 429-4397 or send the form, so we can talk through your floor from the first conversation.
