A slab that has been rolling forklifts across its joints for years does not fail all at once. The joint edges spall, the panels rock, a wet corner stays wet, and one day the sweeper trips on a lip that was not there last quarter. By then the cost is not the concrete, it is the lost picking time, the damaged wheels and the product that fell. Demolishing and replacing a worn industrial slab is how owners reset the floor of a building whose walls and roof are still good, and we do it in the Albuquerque metro without making them move out.
Replacement is more than saw-cutting and pouring. We find out why the old slab failed, remove it cleanly, rebuild the subgrade under it, and place a new slab designed for today's loads, equipment and flatness. The older industrial campuses around the metro, including buildings finished in the early 1980s, hold plenty of floors in warehouses and plants that were designed for lighter traffic than they carry now.
We start by looking at the floor: cracks, spalls, curling at the joints, settlement, moisture, and where the damage concentrates. Often it follows forklift routes or dock approaches, sometimes it follows a leaking roof drain or a trench, and sometimes it follows poor subgrade. Core samples and sometimes ground-penetrating radar tell us thickness, reinforcement and what lies below. The diagnosis shapes the repair: a patch for local damage, a partial replacement for a bay, or a full-floor replacement.
Once the diagnosis is clear, we lay out the work in saw-cut sections that suit your operation. Each section is removed, the subgrade is evaluated and corrected, new base and reinforcement are placed, and the slab is poured and finished. Matching the new slab to the old one at the edges is part of the craft, with dowels and keyed or sawn joints that transfer load across the seam.
The Albuquerque Basin lies in the Rio Grande rift, with elevations ranging from about 4,900 feet near the river to over 6,700 feet in the foothills, and subgrade conditions change across that range. Some soils collapse when wet, some settle under load, and some hold up well. If water has been getting under a slab, we find the source: broken pipes, roof drainage, a poorly graded yard. Fixing the slab without fixing the water guarantees a repeat.
Drainage across the metro is a particular concern. AMAFCA reports that it owns and maintains 35 flood control dams and more than 77 miles of channels, and its North Diversion Channel can carry 44,000 cubic feet of water per second at its outlet, a reminder of how much water desert storms can move. Sites in the north valley sit near that system, and we check where runoff goes so a new floor does not start life in a wet pocket. The stormwater and drainage trade crews can fix those conditions.
Cutting and breaking concrete creates respirable crystalline silica, noise and vibration. We control dust with wet cutting, vacuum-equipped tools and enclosures, and we monitor exposure for the crew and for your staff. Breaker work near sensitive equipment is planned with vibration limits, and we use saw-cutting to sever slabs from structure so breaking does not travel into columns or footings.
Operating facilities need physical separations. We set up barriers, signage, forklift routes and spotters, close and open work areas in sections, and keep fire exits and aisles clear. Utilities buried in the slab, such as conduit, floor drains and sleeves, are located and marked before any cutting begins. If the building is also being refreshed by our industrial renovation group, we coordinate demolition so each trade has clear access.
Replacement goes faster than most owners expect when it is planned in zones. We typically divide the building into sections matched to racking, production lines or dock doors, move your operations out of one zone at a time, and complete a section before starting the next. Concrete is placed with cold-weather and hot-weather practices as the season requires, and the dry, windy climate at this elevation calls for early curing protection to avoid shrinkage cracking. Operators in food and beverage production, whose floors take daily washdown, usually want sloped, sealed surfaces and tighter joint detailing.
High-early-strength mixes shorten the time before forklifts return, with traffic often possible after a few days instead of weeks. We discuss the trade-offs with you, because faster mixes cost more and need careful finishing. In sections that carry heavy racking, we recommend waiting for full strength.
Four drivers dominate: thickness and reinforcement, subgrade correction, the flatness the new floor must meet, and access. A slab for narrow-aisle racking needs tighter flatness than one for open storage, and tolerances raise finishing cost. Subgrade problems add base material and sometimes stabilization. Working in sections with continuous operations costs more than a shutdown, and we show the trade-off.
Disposal is another line item. Broken concrete can often be recycled as base material, which reduces haul costs and landfill fees. We separate rebar for scrap, haul the crushed concrete to recycling, and credit the savings against your price. Where a floor will be replaced as part of a larger industrial concrete floor program, grouping the work saves mobilization costs.
We work across the metro in warehouses, plants and shops: the older business parks in north Albuquerque such as Journal Center, where one campus has about 278,677 square feet of warehouse, office and service space built in two phases in 1982 and 1986, and the buildings along the north I-25 corridor. We also work in the South Valley, the westside, Rio Rancho and Valencia County.
Each area has its own soil and drainage conditions, and we adjust the subgrade correction to suit. Older buildings often have floor drains, trenches and equipment pits that need to be preserved or rebuilt, and we map those before bidding.
The scope covers saw-cutting, breaking and removal of the old slab, subgrade evaluation and correction, vapor barrier where needed, reinforcement, dowel placement, concrete placement and finishing, joint sawing, curing, joint filler and cleanup. We also handle related work such as relocating floor drains, replacing embedded conduit and rebuilding equipment foundations in the same pour.
For floors that need only a new surface, we also offer grinding, joint repair and sealing. If a building is being demolished beyond the floor, the work becomes part of our industrial demolition services.
Tell us where the damage is, how you move product and what flatness you need. We will inspect and core the floor, then return a plan by section, a budget and a schedule.
Usually yes, by working in zones. We move product and equipment out of a section, replace the slab and bring it back, then move to the next. The plan depends on your racking, lines and shifts.
We examine the floor and test it. Local damage at joints or dock approaches can often be repaired, while widespread cracking, curling or subgrade failure usually means replacement. Our recommendation includes both options and the costs.
With a standard mix, usually in a week or so for light traffic, and longer for heavy loads. High-early mixes can shorten it. We set the date when we choose the mix.
We build to the flatness and levelness your equipment requires, and we measure and report the results. Narrow-aisle and automated systems have tight limits, so share the requirement early.
We tie the two together with dowels and sawn joints so loads transfer smoothly. The surfaces are finished to the same elevation, and we check for lips along the seam.
Tell us about the property, the building and the schedule.
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