Concrete slabs and flatwork: sidewalks, pads and steps

What counts as concrete flatwork

Flatwork is everything that isn't a driveway, a patio or a full foundation. A slab under a shed, a pad for an AC unit or a hot tub, a spot for the trash cans, plus sidewalks, walkways and steps all fall under it.

None of these are complicated structurally. A full hot tub is a lot of concentrated weight sitting in one place for good, while a sidewalk just needs to take feet, day after day, for years.

These jobs are usually smaller and quicker than a driveway or a foundation pour, but they still need forms, a prepped base and the right finish for what's going to sit on or walk across them.

How a small concrete slab or pad gets poured

A small slab starts the same way a bigger one does. Forms go in to hold the shape, the ground underneath gets prepped, and the concrete gets poured, screeded flat and floated smooth before it's finished.

An AC pad or a shed slab is usually a simple square or rectangle, which makes it one of the more straightforward pours we do. A sidewalk or walkway is different mainly in shape: it's long and narrow, poured in sections with joints between them so it can move a little without cracking straight across.

A hot tub pad carries more concentrated weight than most flatwork once it's full of water and people, more than a standard patio slab typically sees.

How thick does a concrete walkway need to be?

A walkway or sidewalk carries foot traffic, not vehicles, so it doesn't need to be as thick as a driveway. Most poured sidewalks run close to 4 inches thick, though the right number for a given walkway depends on the soil underneath and what it borders.

The same goes for a pad under a shed, an AC unit or a hot tub. The load sitting on it and the ground underneath both factor into what a slab like that actually needs.

Broom finish or smooth finish for flatwork

A broom finish is the common choice for anything people walk on regularly, like a sidewalk or a walkway, since the texture keeps it from getting slick when it's wet.

A smooth, troweled finish shows up more on a slab that won't see much foot traffic, like a pad under an AC unit. Steps usually get a broom finish too, for the same grip a walkway needs.

A small utility pad, like a spot for trash cans or a propane tank, usually gets whatever finish matches the area around it. It's rarely a surface anyone spends much time standing on.

Concrete steps, poured in place

Steps get poured as part of a walkway, a porch, or wherever a change in grade needs one, formed and finished to match the slab or walkway they lead to.

Pouring steps in place lets them fit the exact rise and run the site needs instead of settling for a standard precast size. That matters more on an uneven site than it does on a flat one. Depending on the rise, a set of steps may also need a handrail to meet local code, which is worth checking before the forms go in.

Our concrete calculator can help you work out roughly how much concrete a small pour like this takes. Our concrete slab cost guide covers typical price ranges for flatwork by size, and for sidewalks and walkways specifically, our guide to types of walkways compares poured concrete against pavers, gravel and other options. Not sure concrete and cement are the same thing? Our concrete vs. cement guide covers what's different between them.

Send us the details of your flatwork project and we'll follow up on an estimate.