Concrete Parking Pads in Thornton, CO

Thornton Concrete Driveway pours concrete parking pads for homes across Thornton. We look at where you want the pad, check the city's rules, and give you a written quote before we dig.

What we mean by a parking pad

When we say parking pad, we mean a flat slab of concrete where you park a car, a trailer or an RV, beside your driveway or next to the garage.

The City of Thornton says any material used to park on or drive on with a vehicle is considered part of the driveway. We treat every pad we pour as part of your driveway and hold it to the same rules.

Why a pad and not the lawn

The City of Thornton says you may park your cars, campers, trucks, boats or RVs in your driveway if they run and have valid license plates. The city says they may not be parked on the lawn or on a dirt area.

The city also says RVs, trailers and motor homes may only be parked on the street while you are loading or unloading them. We pour pads so the extra car or the camper has its own spot off the grass and off the street.

Where a pad can go

We start with the side gap, because it decides how wide we can go. If your garage holds two cars or more, the city says the driveway has to stay at least 3 feet from the side property line in front of the house. With a one-car garage or no garage, the gap can be as small as 12 inches, but the city also wants a 6-inch curb or something like it to send water away from your neighbor's lot.

The city says no gap is needed behind the front plane of the house, which we read as the line of your front wall, so we have more room to work with beside the house than in front of it.

If you want the pad to have its own way in from the street, the City of Thornton says a second way onto a home's lot needs approval from a City Traffic Engineer, and a second driveway can be 12 feet wide at most.

How we pour a pad

The City of Thornton says all requests to have buried utility lines marked should go through Colorado 811, and we make that request before we dig.

Then we dig out the pad, lay a base and pack it down hard. We set the wooden boards that hold the wet concrete in shape, pour the slab and finish it. We slope the pad so rain runs toward the street, not toward your house or your neighbor's yard.

Permits for a parking pad

The City of Thornton says residential driveway installations need a permit from Planning & Zoning. It takes driveway permit applications through its City View Portal. We draw your pad on a plan with its measurements before the application goes in.

What to get in writing

Ask for these in writing, whoever you hire:

• How long and how wide the pad will be, and how far it sits from the property line.
• What you plan to park on it, so we can plan the slab for that weight.
• How thick the concrete will be and what goes under it.
• How the pad will join your driveway, if it touches it.
• Who applies for the permit.
• The start date, and when you can park on the new pad.

Questions about concrete parking pads in Thornton

Get a quote for a parking pad

Call us, or send the quote form with your ZIP code and a note about what you want to park. We'll come out and measure, go through the options with you, and give you a written quote. To see the other work we do, go to the Thornton Concrete Driveway home page.