Concrete sidewalk building in Lewiston ID - a walk you can keep your footing on

Installing a concrete sidewalk across the US usually costs about $12 to $14.50 per square foot. That's a national figure for the work, not our price, and your walk's size, how much old concrete comes out and any heavier driveway crossing will move yours. After I look at the job, the written estimate gives you your own number.

Yes, the City of Lewiston requires a Right-of-Way Permit for new or replacement sidewalk and for any work in the right-of-way. The city's standards set the minimum for how both public and private work gets built inside city limits, and city staff will talk through your project by phone, email or at the office to say whether you need a permit or a plan review. Outside Lewiston the address decides the office, so we check with whoever covers your property, tell you what they said and handle the application and inspections if one's needed.

Start with an air-entrained mix, concrete with tiny air bubbles that give freezing water room, and go easy on deicer the first winter. Concrete Alberta, an industry group in Canada, calls air-entrained concrete a must to prevent scaling, so ask every contractor you're comparing whether their quoted mix is air-entrained, and my estimate names the mix. The Michigan Concrete Association advises using as little deicer as you can on new concrete until it's a year old, so plan on shoveling or another way to handle ice that first season.

It shouldn't be, as long as it gets a textured finish instead of a slick troweled one. A very smooth troweled surface can be hazardous when it's wet, and the city's standards look for a floated, uniform, light broom finish across the whole surface. If you want a sleeker look, weigh it against your footing on rainy and icy days before you pick it.

Concrete shrinks as it cures, so nearly every slab cracks somewhere, and a poorly packed base makes it worse. What I can control is where and how bad, with a packed base and the control joints we cut, so a crack usually runs along a joint instead of across the walk or into a trip edge. I'd rather tell you that now than surprise you later.

If the slabs have sunk or heaved, replace it, because the base under them has failed and a patch or new topping sits on the same bad ground. A walk with a few tight cracks that's still level can sometimes be left alone or cut out and replaced in sections. I'll tell you which one yours is when I come out, even if the answer is the bigger job.