Winthrop Harbor, Illinois

Concrete contractor for Winthrop Harbor driveways and patios

New driveways, replacement driveways, patios, walks and garage pads, poured by a local crew. Winthrop Harbor writes its own driveway spec into the Village Code, and it asks for more concrete than most buyers expect.

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Winthrop Harbor sits east of Antioch, on Lake Michigan at the Wisconsin line. Whether your street has a curb or an open ditch, and how wide your frontage is, decide a good part of how a driveway here has to be built.

Work we take on in Winthrop Harbor

• Concrete driveways, poured new or torn out and replaced, apron included.
• Concrete patios and the walks that lead to them.
• Concrete repair where a few panels have failed and the rest are sound.
• Pads for a garage, a shed or a boat trailer, plus front steps.

Five inches, not four

This is the fact to know before you compare bids. Section 52.041(B) of the Village Code says every concrete driveway must be a minimum of five inches thick, reinforced with wire mesh or rods that the Building Inspector approves.

The code even says where the steel sits: not less than one inch from the bottom and not less than one inch from the top. Mesh lying flat on the gravel does nothing, and this wording rules that out.

A bid written around a generic four-inch slab is not a Winthrop Harbor bid. Ask each bidder what thickness and what reinforcement they have priced, and get it written down.

The apron is part of the permit

Any driveway crossing a public sidewalk or parkway needs a permit before work starts. The application goes to the Village Clerk, and the Building Inspector inspects the construction.

• The approach runs from the edge of the road pavement to your lot line.
• It must be 12 to 24 feet wide where it meets the lot line, and may flare no more than three feet past that width at the road.
• It is built in the same material as the driveway, unless the Superintendent of Public Works grants a written waiver.
• Where a driveway crosses a sidewalk, that crossing is concrete.
• No step or sharp dip may be left in the sidewalk, and the grades should match as nearly as possible.

One line in section 52.042 is worth reading twice: the approach over the right-of-way is a license. The Village keeps ownership of that strip, which is why it controls what goes on it.

Ditch streets need a culvert

Where a street drains to an open ditch rather than to curb and storm sewer, the code requires an adequate culvert under the driveway, with a stated minimum of a 12-inch TY-1 corrugated riveted metal pipe unless Public Works approves or asks for something different. Curbed streets with storm sewer are exempt from that requirement.

If your culvert is crushed or silted, replacing the driveway is the time to deal with it, before a new apron is poured over the top.

Registered, insured, and named on the certificate

The Village requires every contractor and subcontractor to register before a building permit can be issued to them or list them. Registration costs nothing. What it demands is paperwork:

• A certificate of insurance with the Village listed as certificate holder and as additional insured.
• Proof of general liability and workers' compensation cover, with amounts and expiry dates. A sole trader with no employees signs a statement instead.

Doing the job yourself? The Village then asks the owner for a homeowner's affidavit, accepting responsibility for the work and its inspections.

The code edition, for the curious

Section 150.001(D) adopts the 2006 International Residential Code as the Village's code for one- and two-family homes. The section traces back to Ord. 1984-O-18 and was last amended by Ord. 2018-O-15, passed October 16, 2018; the chapter dates its current code set to April 2008. The Village's own permit page agrees that it generally follows the 2006 codes.

Section 150.002 then rewrites the IRC frost rule. Foundations for any structure over 120 square feet, or taller than ten feet, must reach 42 inches below finished grade. That governs the footings of a garage or a large shed. It does not turn a driveway or patio into a footing job, because flatwork sits on grade.

Code sets change, so the edition is worth confirming with Community Development when your permit is filed.

How a job here runs

Worth a read before you choose

• mesh, rebar or neither in a driveway slab
• repair, resurface or replace, with the price of each
• a pad for a boat or a trailer