Concrete Shed Pads in Peterborough: What You Get From Gilbert Brothers

A concrete shed pad from Gilbert Brothers is a slab poured at least four inches thick with wire mesh set through it, finished smooth, broomed or stamped to suit the spot it's going in. We pour shed pads and hot tub pads across Peterborough and the Kawarthas. You tell us the size of the shed and what's going in it, and we pour the pad.

Evan and Dolan Gilbert started the company in 2020 after leaving their roles at a local construction company. As a concrete contractor in Peterborough we take on everything from residential developments to a single pad at the back of a yard, and we're insured. A small job gets the same minimum standards a big one does.

What Goes Into a Gilbert Brothers Shed Pad?

Four inches is our standard minimum for a slab, and every pour we do has 10 gauge wire mesh set into the concrete. Where a pad needs extra strength and durability, or a project has specific requirements, we may recommend six inches. Any change like that is discussed and agreed with you before anything gets poured.

If you'd like it reinforced further, fiberglass or extra rebar can be added through our suppliers. What you end up with is a floor that resists rutting and sagging, which on a shed helps keep the frame square and the door closing properly.

What You Should Tell Us About Your Shed

Its size and what you're planning to keep in it. A shed of garden tools and a shed holding a workbench loaded with equipment put very different weight on a slab, and that's useful to know when thickness is being discussed. If it's a prefab, the footprint the seller lists is the measurement to pass along.

The other thing worth deciding early is whether the pad stops at the walls or runs past them. Stopping flush keeps roof runoff off the slab, since it drips into the soil beside the shed.

Running it past the walls gives you a hard apron at the door, handy for the wheelbarrow. If the door sits under the eaves, the drip line falls on that apron, and in November and December the water can freeze into a thin glaze right where you step. With the door on the gable end, very little water comes off the roof there, and an apron pitched to carry water away from the threshold stays clear of most of it.

What Finishes Can a Shed Pad Have?

We finish shed pads smooth, broomed or stamped. Under the shed, smooth concrete sweeps out easily after a muddy week. Out on an apron the finish starts to show, and a broom finish leaves a brushed texture with some grip to it on the stretch you'll be crossing all winter.

Stamped concrete brings in our patterns, from Ashlar Slate and Old Granite to Fieldstone and Wood Plank, in earth tones like charcoal, sienna brown, terracotta and beige. Wood Plank looks right next to a timber shed. It's the same stamped concrete we pour on patios and walkways around Peterborough, and a pad stamped to match the patio ties it into the rest of the yard.

Do You Build Hot Tub Pads Too?

We do, and the process is similar. The big difference is weight. A filled hot tub sits heavy on one patch of slab and wants that patch level, which is why thickness matters more here. The tub maker's spec sheet for its base is worth having on hand once we're in touch.

Hot tub pads often sit close to the house, off a back door or a walkout. When new concrete is poured against a foundation, we drive 10mm rebar into the wall to keep the slab from creeping away from it. Leave room around the tub as well, since chairs collect there and a cover lifter needs space behind it to swing the cover back. The pad usually ends up working as a small concrete patio.

Can Concrete Still Be Poured This Fall?

Concrete can go down in the fall, as long as the ground hasn't frozen and the new slab can be kept from freezing while it gains strength. Early fall usually leaves room for that. November and December are more week to week, and a cold snap can move a pour date.

Concrete also cures more slowly in the cold, which can stretch the gap between pour day and the day the shed goes on. When the pad will be ready to take the shed is a good question to raise with your quote. If the shed isn't arriving until spring, having the size and finish settled now leaves the pour date as the last open question.

Get a Free Quote on a Concrete Shed Pad in Peterborough

Send us the shed's size and a line about what's going in it through our contact page, and someone will contact you within one business day. Quotes are free, for shed pads and hot tub pads alike, across Peterborough and the Kawarthas. Our working hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and 9am to 4pm on weekends.

From there you'll have a price and an agreed thickness, and the shed gets a level slab to sit on instead of whatever the ground decides to do that year.