Our Services
We are a full service company, read on to see what precisely that means we can do for you!
Paving
A little bit about paving.
In road construction, a base layer of crushed rock is usually laid down first to increase durability…
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Asphalt (specifically, asphalt concrete) has been widely used since the 1920s. The viscous nature of the bitumen binder allows asphalt concrete to sustain significant plastic deformation, although fatigue from repeated loading over time is the most common failure mechanism. Most asphalt surfaces are laid on a gravel base, which is generally at least as thick as the asphalt layer, although some 'full depth' asphalt surfaces are laid directly on the native subgrade. In areas with very soft or expansive subgrades such as clay or peat, thick gravel bases or stabilization of the subgrade with Portland cement or lime may be required. Polypropylene and polyester geosynthetics have also been used for this purpose and in some northern countries, a layer of polystyrene boards have been used to delay and minimize frost penetration into the subgrade.
Depending on the temperature at which it is applied, asphalt is categorized as hot mix asphalt (HMA), warm mix asphalt, or cold mix asphalt. Hot mix asphalt is applied at temperatures over 300 F with a free floating screed. Warm mix asphalt is applied at temperatures of 200 to 250 degrees F, resulting in reduced energy usage and emissions of volatile organic compounds. Cold mix asphalt is often used on lower volume rural roads, where hot mix asphalt would cool too much on the long trip from the asphalt plant to the construction site.
An asphalt concrete surface will generally be constructed for high volume primary highways having an Average Annual Daily Traffic load higher than 1200 vehicles per day. Advantages of asphalt roadways include relatively low noise, relatively low cost compared with other paving methods, and perceived ease of repair. Disadvantages include less durability than other paving methods, less tensile strength than concrete, the tendency to become slick and soft in hot weather and a certain amount of hydrocarbon pollution to soil and groundwater or waterways.
In the 1960s, rubberized asphalt was used for the first time, mixing crumb rubber from used tires with asphalt. In addition to using tires that would otherwise fill landfills and present a fire hazard, rubberized asphalt is more durable and provides a 7-12 decibel noise reduction over conventional asphalt. However, application of rubberized asphalt is more temperature-sensitive, and in many locations can only be applied at certain times of the year.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your paving needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
Concrete Work
Concrete poured to spec.
It is concrete that is poured and finished to make a smooth or even surface…
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Concrete flatwork is poured and finished to make a smooth or even surface. Finishing is the operation of consolidating, leveling and creating a concrete surface of a desired texture and hardness. The finish can be strictly functional or decorative. Finishing makes concrete attractive and serviceable. The final texture, hardness, and joint pattern on slabs, floors, sidewalks, patios, and driveways depend on the concrete's end use. Warehouse or industrial floors usually need to be level and smooth, while other interior floors that are covered with carpet do not have to be as exact. Exterior slabs must be sloped to carry away water and must provide a texture which will not be slippery when wet.
The finishing operation should be carefully planned. Skill, knowledge and experience are required to deal with a variety of concrete mixtures and field conditions. Having the proper manpower and equipment available, and timing the operations properly for existing conditions, is critical. A slope of 1/8 in. per foot is necessary to avoid low spots and to drain water away from buildings.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your concrete flatwork needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
Site Development
We can get your site ready.
We have had major roles in building communities and infrastructure throughout the state…
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After completion of the site plan, the detailed plan which depicts the location of improvements on a parcel of land which also contains all the information required by the zoning ordinance site development can begin.
Site development is installation of all necessary improvements, (i.e. installment of utilities, grading, etc.), made to a site before a building or project can be constructed upon the site. This can include, razing existing structures or clearing debris on a site in preparation for new construction, moving earth for drainage or leveling purposes, digging trenches and preparing underground conduits for new gas lines, electrical lines, or water lines.
We understand the process, we've been through it countless times, and we are ready to prepare your construction site.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your site development needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
Grading
The whys and hows of road surface grading
Road grading to restore the driving surface to roads…
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Road grading consists of using a motor grader to restore the driving surface and drainage attributes to roads.
The operator will remove washboards, potholes and other irregularities by cutting the surface of the road or filling them with material moved back and forth across the road with the road grader. Prior to the construction activity the design information has to be moved from the plan to the ground. This is accomplished by staking. Slope stakes are an effective way to insure compliance with the design standards and to keep soil disturbance to an absolute minimum. Various staking methods can be employed. Stakes, marking various road design points, are typically obliterated during the clearing and grubbing phase. In order to relocate the stakes (centerline, slope stakes) it is helpful to establish reference points outside the clearing limits. Reference points should be set at least 3 to 5 meters behind the 
uphill clearing limits. On the average, reference points (or RP's) should be set at least every 70 to 100 meters. Typically, reference points are placed at points where the center line alignment can be easily re-established, such as points of curvature.
The method and equipment used in road construction is an important economic and design factor in road location and subsequent design. A road to be built by an operator whose only equipment is a bulldozer requires a different design than a road to be built by a contractor equipped with hydraulic excavator, scrapers, and bulldozer. A bulldozer can be used in all phases of road construction from excavation and drainage installation to final grading. The front end loader performs well in soft material. Front end log loaders can be fitted with a bucket extending their usefulness under the correct conditions.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your grading needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
Snow removal
We'll get rid of that snow for you.
Snow removal to make travel easier and safer…
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Snow removal is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer.
Our snow removal services include driveway and parking area snow removal, walkway and deck handwork, and occasionally roof clearing. We use hand shovels, walk behind snowblowers, truck plows, skid-steers, light-weight tractors, and heavy front-end loaders equipped with tire chains to perform their tasks. Snow may be pushed by plowing methods or blown to an area of the property by snowblowers. We may apply sand or salt in some locations to help melt ice accumulations.
Depending on your property, we may require installation of snow poles or snow staking along the driveway. This is to keep equipment out of the landscaping and to help identify the perimeter of an area.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your snow removal needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
Curb work
Curbs must meet several basic requirements
The design of curbs is dependent on experience…
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Requirements
Curbs must meet several basic requirements if they are to serve their intended purposes and have long service life. Curbs must have the required mass, stability and strength to withstand the impacts of traffic and the effects of their environments and to maintain their positions even when crossed by traffic or struck by snowplows. They must have the strength to bridge small areas where subgrade support is inadequate.
Separate curb and gutter sections should be at least two feet wide with greater widths having more stability for a relatively small amount of construction costs.
In severe environments, curbs must have adequate durability to resist freeze-thaw cycles while being buried in snow and ice plowed to the sides of streets and being saturated with brine from deicing salts that is carried to the sides.
Another important requirement is visibility. Because of their light and reflective surfaces, concrete curbs can be easily seen, even at night when pavements are wet. The washings of rain and the removal of debris by street sweeping are sufficient to meet this requirement.
Curb Design
The design of curbs is more dependent on successful experience and regional preferences, and less on rigorous analyses compared to the design of other concrete structures. The review of a few available publications on concrete curbs reveals what types have been used but there is no specification regarding the forces acting on curbs or calculations on reducing stresses to acceptable limits. This is because experience has shown that curb sections proportioned to have adequate mass to provide the required stability are unlikely to fail from any imposed loads or impacts. Like other concrete members, curbs should be jointed or reinforced to accommodate the effects of volume changes due to shrinkage, temperature, or moisture changes.
Besides meeting the basic requirements discussed above, good curb design should allow economical and efficient construction. Economical construction results from designs that reduce labor, permit the use of any of the efficient curb forming machines available today, and take advantage of standardized cross sections that provide the necessary properties. Minor variations in shapes or dimensions that add nothing to the strength or utility should be avoided. Templates or "mules" can be manufactured for any desired cross-sections form curb shapes, but they are costly. If the entire cost of a special mule must be amortized on a single project, the cost of the curb must necessarily be increased to cover that expense, even though the utility of the curb is not increased over that of a similar standard section.
Curb Drainage
For combined curb and gutter sections, the aprons (the portions between pavements and the faces of the curbs) should have adequate hydraulic capacity to carry runoff from most rainstorms. Making aprons wider reduces the opportunity for rainwater to move down through joints between curbs and pavements. Wider aprons may also discourage drivers from driving close to curbs.
Since one important function of curbs is to collect runoff, provisions must be made periodically to drain water away before the roadways are flooded. In areas where there are storm sewers, the flow in gutters is diverted through inlets built into the curbs and/or gutters. In semi-arid regions where rains are infrequent, inlets are sometimes only gaps in curbs through which water can exit. In most other places, inlets are fitted with iron castings designed to match the shapes of the curbs (another good reason for using standard shapes), and with grates that extend one or two feet into the gutters. The spacing of inlets depends on the amounts of water that must be handled, and are calculated to avoid flooding of streets or roadways except on infrequent occasions, such as once every ten or twenty years. While inlet locations must be governed by rainfall and pavement elevations, designers should consider their effects on curb jointing. Inlets, which are more or less anchored in place, should be isolated from curbs and gutters.
Because the sides of streets adjacent to curbs are often used by bicyclists, it is important that grates in the aprons of curbs have openings that will not be safety hazards to bicycle wheels. Grates are available that allow for the safe passage of bicycles.
Find out how Colonna Concrete can meet your curb needs! Request a FREE consultation, or call us, today!
(203) 934-2460
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It makes sense for you to contact us about your next job, big or small - we can do it all!