Bench homes, big garages and walkout basements in Sandy
A large share of Sandy homes went up between 1970 and 1999. The ramblers and split entries from the 1970s came with full basements. You see plenty of them in Historic Sandy and around Crescent. Two story homes from the 1980s and 1990s filled in the blocks around them. Up on the east bench, near Granite and Pepperwood, the lots start to slope. Those homes often have a walkout basement and a 3 car garage. Some run to 4 bays. A sloped lot moves water toward the low side of the house. That is usually the basement slab and the patio outside the door. Concrete in those spots stays damp longer than concrete on flat ground.
A big garage means a big slab, and a big slab needs a flat, sealed floor. Plenty of Sandy garages hold ski gear and yard tools all winter. We grind the concrete down to clean, open pores before anything goes on. Cracks and pop-outs get repaired first, so the coating sits on solid concrete. Flake systems hide small blemishes and hold up under tires. You pick the color and the flake blend. Walkout basements are a different job. Some owners want a coating, and some want polished concrete floors instead. Polished concrete can last 20 years or longer with normal care. If a deck or balcony sits over that walkout, ask about waterproof deck coatings. Water coming through a deck lands on the slab below it.
Canyon snow, salt and Sandy concrete
Sandy picks up close to 60 inches of snow in an average year. That is roughly double the national average. Sandy City Public Works clears more than 891 lane miles of street. After a storm, a plow can take 12 to 18 hours to reach a side street. UDOT salts the state roads and sprays brine before storms move in. All of that ends up in your wheel wells and under your bumper. You park, the snow melts, and salt water sits on your garage floor. Then the slab freezes and thaws again the next night. Salt and freeze-thaw together cause the flaking and pitting people call spalling. Little Cottonwood Road leaves Sandy at 9800 South and stays busy all winter.
Damaged concrete can often be saved. Crack and spalling repair costs less than removal and replacement. We patch the damage, then put a coating over the whole surface. Driveways, porches and walkways get sandblasted or ground down first. After that comes the repair, the colored coating and a clear top coat. For a slab that is still sound, concrete sealing is the simpler option. New concrete needs at least 30 days of cure time before it gets sealed. Sealers go on between 50 and 90 degrees F. Acrylic sealers get reapplied every 1 to 3 years. Penetrating siloxane sealers last around 10 years. Some sealers take up to 3 days to dry all the way through.
Communities & areas we serve around Sandy: Historic Sandy, Granite, Dimple Dell, Alta Canyon, Willow Creek, Pepperwood, Crescent, The east bench below Little Cottonwood Canyon, Sandy City Hall and America First Field, The Shops at South Town area.
Sandy ZIP codes served: 84070, 84092, 84093, 84094.