Our shop is in Kitchener. Most of what we pour is within twenty minutes of it.
Ironground is based at Uxbridge Cres in Kitchener, which means Kitchener is not a service area we drive out to, it is the yard the trucks leave from. Practically that shows up in two ways: we can walk a job the same week you call, and a small pour does not have to wait for us to batch it with three others to be worth the trip.
We pour driveways, patios, walkways, steps, garage floors, slabs and foundations. Our own crew does the forming, the reinforcing steel, the placing and the finishing, so there is no handoff halfway through the job and nobody to point at when something is off.
Kitchener is really a dozen different building eras stacked next to each other, and the concrete problem changes with the era.
Rosemount, Heritage Park, Forest Hill and the older parts of Stanley Park were built when a residential driveway was four inches of concrete on whatever was already there. Sixty winters later the slab has not failed because the concrete was bad, it failed because there was never a base under it.
That is why we quote most replacements in those neighbourhoods as a full tear-out rather than a resurface. Pouring new concrete on top of a failed base buys you about four years and you pay twice. We will tell you at the site visit which one you are looking at, and if the base is genuinely sound we will say so.
Newer subdivisions in the south end usually have a serviceable base and a driveway that is simply undersized for what the household now parks on it. Widening is a real option there, and the tie-in between the old slab and the new pour is the part that decides whether it looks like one driveway or two. We saw the joint, dowel it, and match the finish rather than butting new against old and hoping.
The other south end job is the backyard. A lot of those lots back onto grade changes, which is why we end up pouring steps and landings as often as flat patios.
Anything structural in Kitchener has to get below frost. The Ontario Building Code sets the minimum depth to the underside of footings for this part of southern Ontario at 1.2 metres, roughly four feet, unless frost protection is provided another approved way (OBC Table 9.12.2.2). Garage pads, addition footings, deck footings and porch piers all live under that rule.
Flatwork does not need footings, but it does need a base that drains. Kitchener has enough clay in it that a driveway sitting on poorly drained fill will heave whether or not the concrete was any good. The granular base and the compaction are the part of the job you never see and the part that decides how it looks in fifteen years.
References available on request.
Usually the same week. Our shop is in Kitchener so a site visit here costs us twenty minutes, not half a day, which is why we will come out for a small job as readily as a large one.
It depends on whether you are replacing what is there or changing it. Replacing a driveway in the same footprint is normally straightforward. Widening it, changing where it meets the road, or altering the boulevard usually involves the City. We will tell you what your specific job needs at the site visit, and point you at the right department rather than guessing.
Hairline cracking on an otherwise flat, well drained slab is normal and not worth spending money on. What matters is whether sections have moved relative to each other. If one side has dropped, water is getting underneath and the base is going, and every winter after that makes it worse. We will walk it with you and tell you straight which one you have.
Yes. We pour floors, walks, driveways and steps for home builders and developers as well, which is a separate side of the business with its own page. The same crew pours both.
Real jobs, real photos. Nothing on this page is a render.
Selling the house, or clearing one out. If your project touches either, you are already in the right place.
Buying, selling or listing in Kitchener-Waterloo. Our real estate partner for clients moving into or out of a property we are working on.
Visit→Downsizing, senior moves and full-home clear-outs across Kitchener-Waterloo. Part of the same group as Ironground.
Visit→Tell Colin what you’re building. Photos help but aren’t required. Even just the basics is enough to get started. Colin sends your quote within 24 hours.
