Concrete Contractors in Elk Grove Village, IL

Elk Grove Village keeps its concrete rules on one page. The village publishes a residential checklist for driveways, public walks, aprons and curbs, and as concrete contractors in Elk Grove Village we build to it item by item. Here is what it covers and how it shapes the driveway you end up with.

Before the permit

The checklist treats driveway, apron and public walk work as an engineering permit, applied for through the village's online portal. The submittal includes the signed contract or proposal and a plat of survey marked with the location and dimensions of the new concrete. Work in the right-of-way carries its own extra requirements, which the checklist lists for the contractor to satisfy before the permit is issued.

Base, mix and thickness

• Subgrade: compacted to 95% of optimum density, never poured on a wet or frozen base
• Aggregate base: at least 2 inches of compacted CA-6
• Concrete: at least 5 inches for driveways and aprons, 6-bag mix, 3,500 psi at 14 days, 5% to 8% air entrainment
• Reinforcement: required in the public sidewalk and apron; on the private drive the village encourages 6x6 #10 welded wire mesh in the bottom half of the slab
• Forms: 2x6 lumber or approved metal, not 2x4s

That 5-inch minimum is a full inch more than the 4-inch private-drive minimum in Arlington Heights or Des Plaines. The checklist also accepts a 5.2-bag mix with fly ash as an alternate, and it bars pouring on a wet or frozen base.

Widths and clearances

Driveways must be at least 2 feet from the side property line. The maximum width is 20 feet for a one-car garage opening and 30 feet for two- or three-car garages. Apron flares run 2 to 3 feet from sidewalk to curb, and the apron edge must stay at least 3 feet from hydrants and light posts and 5 feet from trees.

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Joints, finish and inspections

Half-inch preformed expansion joints go between apron and curb, apron and sidewalk, and sidewalk and driveway. Stamped or colored concrete is not allowed on the public sidewalk and curb, so if you want a stamped look we keep it to the private part of the drive, walks and patios. The village recommends sealing new driveways and aprons. Inspections are a pre-pour check and a final after restoration is done and grass has come back, scheduled with at least 24 hours' notice.

Why so much of it is due now

Centex Corporation built the majority of the village's houses. The census shows how fast they went up: 6,608 residents in 1960, then 20,346 by 1970, then 28,679 by 1980. Point2Homes' ACS figures put 24.1% of homes in the 1960s and 28.6% in the 1970s, with a median year built of 1974. Builder driveways from those two decades are now 45 to 65 years old and wearing out in large numbers.

Business park and Busse Woods

Wikipedia describes the village's 5.9-square-mile business park as North America's largest consolidated one, with nearly 3,600 businesses and close to 100,000 workers along the western edge of O'Hare. The village was planned with residential and industrial areas kept separate, so most driveways face quiet streets. On the other side, a small elk herd lives in a grove at the eastern edge of Busse Woods forest preserve, a line that began when William Busse brought elk from Montana in the 1920s.

What we pour here

• Concrete driveways and aprons to the village checklist
• Sidewalks & steps, private and public sections
• Concrete patios and stamped concrete on private property
• Garage & shed slabs
• Concrete repair & replacement for Centex-era flatwork

Call (224) 494-2266 for a free estimate.