Crafting Concrete Excellence

While concrete flatwork isn’t our specialty, we subcontract this work out to our trusted and qualified trade partners to ensure the work is up to Doerr Construction standards.

You won’t be disappointed choosing concrete for your driveway, walkway, steps and walls with its many advantages including great cost value in terms of life span compared to other options such as interlock or pavement, decreased maintenance responsibilities, slip resistant finishes, and various style and texture options including power trowel, broom or swirl finishes.

Retaining walls are used to separate two elevations of land to prevent erosion and create more usable yard space while remaining aesthetically pleasing. 

Some aesthetic features we offer for retaining walls include board-form finish which is a patterning concrete process that leaves a wood grain on the finish face. We can also do a brick-ledge on the exposed face, and match the top slope to the grading for the retaining wall to seamlessly blend with the rest of the property.

Floating slabs are an economical foundation choice for smaller structures such as sheds and garages where a full foundation isn’t required, not desired, or not possible. 

Forming a floating slab involves completing your foundation and floor at the same time, and the finished product is designed to endure movement above the frost line. This is an economical method of constructing a foundation due to the decreased amount of concrete, excavation and forming work required.

Invest in insulated concrete forms (ICF) foundations for both below grade (basement) and above grade structures. This is a premium product resulting in a top-grade finished product with walls composed of concrete that are built to last for years to come.

When planning for, and installing ICF foundations, we consider and follow all structural design recommendations issued by the Insulated Concrete Forms Manufacturers Association (ICFMA).

Underpinning is often used in renovation or foundation repair jobs. This method is meant to extend the depth of an existing structure, to allow for a deeper adjacent structure, or to repair and further support a failing foundation. For example, turning an existing crawl space into a full basement or building a basement next to a crawl space. 

The process of underpinning starts by removing the soil from beneath an existing foundation, followed by pouring new foundation elements in its place.

Basement walkouts allow a secondary entrance to the basement from the exterior of a house. This might be an attractive option to those who want to make their basement into a separate unit to rent out, host family, etc. Most basements can accommodate a walkout if there’s enough surrounding space outside.

Underpinning is sometimes required for basement walkouts in order to achieve frost-depth requirements, and we would work with you in advance to ensure all steps are covered to ensure a secure and sound  finished product.

Concrete piers or pier type foundations are the standard foundation type for decks and are designed specifically to mitigate heaving and twisting.

The process starts with measuring and determining the number of piers required based on the deck dimensions, then pouring multiple concrete columns at different intervals to support the main beams of the structure. As the experts, we’ll ensure the piers are sized and spaced to properly bear the deck’s design load and the soil’s bearing capacity.

Rebar is a deformed steel bar used to reinforce concrete. Pairing the high tensile properties of steel increases concrete’s strength and flexibility. This technique is useful to anchor separate concrete elements together such as footings to walls, walls to piers, cast-in-place to precast elements.

This service is often used for jobs where an element needs to be added or removed from an existing structure such as adding a window or a door to a basement, removing a section of a foundation wall, or removing a section of concrete pad.

We use circular diamond blades for this work, and have access to many different cutting and coring options through our trusted trade partners.

Damp proofing controls moisture transmission to interior living spaces.

The process of damp proofing requires patching the tie holes with tar followed by spraying a bituminous tar coating on the entire below-grade portion of the foundation. A plastic membrane is then mechanically fastened to the foundation on top of the tar coating, preventing ground water from coming into contact with the foundation. This membrane allows the foundation walls to “breathe,” allowing for any moisture to escape into the air space created by the foundation wrap.

Damp proofing is an Ontario Building Code requirement for all foundations that have a living space or accessible areas below ground such as crawl spaces.

Drainage stone is an important aspect of the foundation process to prevent ground water from collecting near the footings and entering the foundation envelope.

The process of laying drainage stone starts with placing a drainage pipe around the basement perimeter at the footing level prior to backfill, which connects back to the sump basin. The drainage pipe is then buried under a minimum of 6 inches of clear drainage stone. The interior of the basement is also equipped with clear stone as a  drainage layer under the basement floor slab.

The drainage layer is another important Ontario Building Code requirement.

Basement insulation is key in mitigating moisture transmission from the soils underneath the structure, and produces a higher level of comfort for finished basement jobs.

This work must be completed before the basement floor slab is poured, and we can easily coordinate the installation with the floor slab schedule to ensure a seamless process.

Some foundation walls require R10 insulation applied to the foundation vertically, below grade.  Again, save your time by letting us install it efficiently after the forms have been removed.