Clay concrete
Concrete problem in Clay? Read the permit form before you read any quote
Your Clay driveway, apron, steps or garage floor needs work, and the town's driveway permit form has two sign-offs you should know about before a contractor starts. Tell us what is cracking and we will say what to ask first.
Your first booked Clay concrete job gets $100 off your first job, taken from our fee.
From the house to the street
- Garage floorYours
- Steps and walksYours
- DrivewayYours
- ApronYours, with a permit
- Public sidewalkAsk the town
- StreetRoad owner
Questions
Clay slab questions, answered
- 1
Does the Clay driveway permit form apply to a repair?
The form is written for driveways and asks for a survey and the contractor's proposal. Whether your repair needs it is a question for the town. Call Planning and Codes, describe the job and ask.
- 2
Why does Clay need two approvals for a driveway?
The town's form has one line for Planning and Codes and one for the Highway Department. The first looks at the lot, the second at the road. Both have to sign, so allow time for each.
- 3
What if my Clay street is a county road?
Then the county permit comes first. Onondaga County DOT wants a site plan against the road center line, fees depend on the job and a deposit comes back after inspection. Ask the contractor who files it.
Ask about your slab
Book your Clay slab introduction
Send the details once. Nothing is booked and you owe nothing for asking.
We help you work out whose concrete it is and what to ask for, then introduce you to an independent Syracuse-area contractor to quote it.
Put it in writing before anyone pours
Seven questions for any contractor, any slab. Copy them into your messages and keep the answers with your contract.
- Air-entrained mix, with the air content namedThe mix decides whether the surface flakes again in a few winters.
- The pour date, and a plan if it turns coldCold nights after the pour count, even when the pour day is mild.
- How the slab is cured and coveredCuring and cold protection run for different lengths of time.
- No de-icer on the new slab this winterClean sand gives traction without feeding the scaling.
- Whose road it is, and who pulls the permitWork in a county road right of way needs a county permit first.
- A signed written contract before work startsNew York asks for a written contract on home improvement jobs over $500.
- What is removed, what is poured, what is leftA clear scope stops arguments about patching versus replacing.
$100 off your first job
Your $100 comes off once your first concrete job is booked.
- The credit comes from us, not out of the contractor's price.
- One credit per customer, per property.
- Your job needs to be booked by December 31, 2026.
- Mention the $100 when you book the work.
The straight-answer slab promise
- No charge to ask, and no obligation once you have.
- If the city or the road owner should fix it, we say so.
- We ask about the mix and the pour month up front.
- Your $100 is applied the way our Terms spell out.
Your contract is with the contractor, who answers to you for the work.
Concrete Repair Syracuse, (315) 640-3590
The 2017 state highway report lists 263.0 miles of public road in Clay, more than any other county town. Of that, 175.0 miles are town road, 70.5 are county road and 17.5 are state road. With three possible owners along your street, who owns the road at your curb is a real question before anyone touches an apron.
Ready to ask about your slab?
The town gives you something concrete to work from. Its driveway permit form carries two approval lines, one for Planning and Codes and one for the Highway Department, and it asks for a survey showing the driveway plus the contractor's proposal. Get the current form from the town, read what it wants and have your contractor's written proposal ready, because the form asks for it. Confirm with the town whether your particular job needs the form. On a county road, Highway Law section 136 and an Onondaga County DOT permit come first. The county application wants a site plan or sketch of the work against the road center line, fees vary by job, and a deposit comes back after the county inspects the work.
Clay's houses, and who is deciding about them
Clay has 26,282 housing units, and the median home went up in 1978. Only 3.2 percent predate 1940, and 55.0 percent predate 1980. Few homes here are very old, so a failed slab may say more about its mix, base or salt exposure than about a century of wear.
Owners hold 71.2 percent of occupied homes, by Census estimate. That leaves more than a quarter rented, and tenants should ask the landlord before hiring anyone. If you own, you are the person who signs, so get the work described in writing.
Tell us the address and the problem.
March is the month to watch. At Syracuse airport, the area's long-running weather station, normals show about 18 days of freeze-thaw crossings in March, more than any other month. A slab that is already scaling, or an apron that is already soft, gets its worst test then. Ask any contractor for air-entrained concrete and a pour month that leaves it time to cure before the next March.
Start with the slab that worries you most. Pick it below, or send your street and what the slab is doing, and you will learn whose job it is.
Basis: New York State DOT Town of Clay
Tell us which slab is giving you trouble.
Five jobs
Five slabs, five pages for Clay
Each page below covers one kind of concrete job at a Clay house, what changes it here and what to ask the contractor before you commit.
Driveway Repair and Replacement
Flaking or cracked drive: what to ask first
Driveway Aprons at the Street
Broken apron at the street: ask who owns the road
Concrete Steps, Walks and Patios
Crumbling steps or walk: ask whose job and what mix
Garage Floor and Slab Repair
Pitted garage floor: salt rides in on your tires
Sunken Slab Leveling
Sunken slab: lift it, or pour it new?
Around
Neighbors of Clay
Settle the owner, the mix and the pour month first.