Concrete Driveway Contractor in Mead, WA

Concrete driveway contractor in Mead, WA, pouring new driveways, replacements and County road approaches built for north Spokane County winters. Raven Buildings forms, pours and finishes driveways across Mead, from the newer subdivisions with curb and sidewalk to long gravel-road drives on acreage toward Green Bluff and Mt. Spokane. We use a compacted base, an air-entrained mix and control joints laid out before the pour.

Driveway work we do in Mead

• New driveways for new homes, shops and garages
• Replacements of cracked, settled or heaved driveways, including tear-out and base repair
• Widening and extensions for a third car, RV pad or shop access
• Approaches where the driveway meets a County road, curbed or not
• Garage and shop aprons that tie the driveway into a new slab

Mead is unincorporated Spokane County

Mead isn't an incorporated city, so driveway approaches go through Spokane County Public Works, and the County's published standards set the numbers:

• Permit required: Spokane County says all approaches that connect to a County road need an approach permit, including widening an existing approach or moving it. Approaches onto a state highway go through that agency instead
• Urban approaches (with curb): the County inspects the forms before the pour, with at least 2 working days' notice. Residential approaches run 16 to 30 feet wide, and wider takes a design deviation
• Frontage and spacing: all driveways for one ownership can't exceed 50 percent of the street frontage, or more than two driveways without the County engineer's approval. They stay at least 7.5 feet from any property line and 20 feet from the curb line of an intersecting street
• Curbed streets need a hard surface: crushed rock isn't allowed where there's any curb, but only the part in the County right-of-way has to be concrete or asphalt
• County approach concrete: the County's standard plans call for 6-sack commercial, air-entrained concrete, a full-depth 3/8-inch expansion joint down the center of driveways over 20 feet wide, and 95 percent compaction under approaches
• Rural approaches (no curb): the fire district asks for at least a 20-foot wide approach. Crushed rock in the right-of-way is 5/8-minus or smaller, culverts are at least 12 inches in diameter with 1 foot of cover, and the County says to keep concrete back 5 feet from the road and tie in with asphalt or gravel
• Sight distance: 10 times the posted speed limit in both directions, so 350 feet on a 35 mph road
• Grade near the road: driveway grades can't exceed 10 percent within 10 feet of the County right-of-way

Long private driveways (BP-14)

On acreage, a private driveway serving up to three parcels has to meet the County's fire-access standards in brochure BP-14:

• Width: a 12-foot clear travel way with an all-weather surface
• Grade: 12 to 14 percent maximum outside the right-of-way
• Turnouts: about one every 400 feet, 20 feet wide for 50 feet of length
• Turnaround: required for driveways over 150 feet long, a hammerhead or a cul-de-sac with at least a 50-foot radius
• Curves: no radius under 100 feet unless approved
• Inspection: the County inspects and accepts the driveway before the home can be occupied

More on sizing in our driveway width guide.

Built for Mead's climate

• Freeze-thaw: the Spokane airport averages lows below freezing from November through March (NOAA 1991–2020 normals)
• Frost depth: 24 inches under the City/County joint frost-depth policy. A driveway doesn't need footings, but a garage, shop or wall poured with it does
• Snow load: the County lists 30 psf as its basic minimum snow load and notes some areas reach 150 psf, so if a shop is going in at the end of the driveway, we check your parcel on the County's SCOUT map

Here's how we build for it:

• Air-entrained mix: Washington's residential code (IRC Table R402.2) requires air-entrained concrete of at least 3,500 psi for garage floors, porches, carport slabs and steps where weathering is severe, with 5 to 7 percent total air
• Tougher where deicers are used: ACI 332, the American Concrete Institute's residential concrete code, puts exterior concrete exposed to moisture and deicers in its most severe freeze-thaw class, at 4,500 psi at 28 days and a maximum water-cement ratio of 0.45. See our concrete psi guide
• Thickness and base: the Michigan Concrete Association's driveway guidelines, written for another freeze-thaw state, recommend at least 4 inches of concrete, 5 inches where delivery vehicles will drive, over at least 4 inches of compacted sub-base. See our driveway thickness guide
• Drainage: a slope of at least 1/8 inch per foot so water runs off instead of freezing on the slab
• No frozen ground: the same guidelines say concrete should never be placed on frozen subgrade, which matters for late-fall pours in Mead

Control joints

• Spacing: in both directions at no more than 2 times the slab thickness in feet, so 8 feet for a 4-inch slab
• Panel shape: as square as possible, never more than 1.5 times as long as wide
• Depth: at least 1/4 of the slab thickness, so 1 inch in a 4-inch slab
• Isolation joints: full depth wherever the driveway meets the house, garage slab or other fixed objects

Our control joint guide and why driveways crack explain the rest. After the pour, see when you can drive on it.

What a driveway costs

Driveways and approaches are quoted per project after we see the site, since tear-out, base work, thickness, length and County approach requirements all change the price. Thinking about replacing rather than repairing? Our repair vs. replacement guide helps.

Why Mead homeowners call Raven

• Concrete is our core trade: our own crew forms, pours and finishes. See our concrete flatwork services
• We know the County's rules: approach permits, BP-14 fire access and inspections sorted before we quote
• Shops too: we build metal buildings in Mead and pole buildings in Mead, slab and all. See our Mead and Colbert shop slab guide

Get a driveway quote in Mead

Send us your driveway size, whether it meets a curbed or rural County road, and your address or parcel number. Call 509-350-2016 or request a free quote. In Mead we also handle general concrete work and retaining walls. Nearby, see our Chattaroy concrete page and Spokane driveway page.

Sources

• Spokane County Approaches and Urban Residential Approaches (E-4) information packet, with standard plans (PDF)
• Spokane County Urban Residential Approaches brochure (E-4)
• Spokane County Rural Residential Approaches brochure (E-3)
• Spokane County BP-14, Private Driveways
• NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Monthly Normals, Spokane International Airport
• City of Spokane / Spokane County Joint Policy BUILD-07, Official Frost Depth (PDF)
• Spokane County Building & Planning FAQ (snow load)
• Spokane County SCOUT map, snow-load layer
• Washington State Residential Code 2021, Chapter 4 Foundations (Table R402.2)
• Tennessee Concrete Association, ACI 332-20 Highlights (exterior concrete mix requirements)
• Michigan Concrete Association, 2025 Driveway & Sidewalk Guidelines (PDF)