Xenia's Experienced Concrete Contractor

A city that rebuilt, with concrete from three different eras

Xenia is the Greene County seat, and its concrete tells a story of resilience. The devastating 1974 tornado leveled large sections of the city, and many neighborhoods were rebuilt in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A second tornado in 2000 caused additional damage and triggered another wave of rebuilding. The result is a city with three distinct concrete eras: pre-1974 original pours, late-70s/early-80s rebuilds, and post-2000 construction.

Each era brings different challenges. The pre-1974 concrete in neighborhoods around Shawnee Park, East Market Street, and the courthouse district is often thin (3-3.5 inches), unreinforced, and past its service life. The late-70s rebuilds along West Second Street and Colorado Drive used the construction standards of that era -better than the originals, but many of these slabs are now 45+ years old and showing freeze-thaw damage. The post-2000 areas to the south and east of town are generally in good shape but may need cosmetic upgrades, patio additions, or driveway widening.

Xenia's soil is Xenia silt loam -yes, the soil series is literally named after this city. It's a moderately well-drained glacial till soil with a dense clay subsoil layer that impedes drainage during wet seasons. When that clay layer stays saturated through spring, it's prone to frost heave, which is why we see more sidewalk and driveway panel displacement in Xenia than in some neighboring cities with sandier subsoils.

We adjust our Xenia specs accordingly: deeper base excavation, free-draining #304 limestone aggregate, and fiber-reinforced 4,000 PSI air-entrained concrete on every exterior pour. For properties near Shawnee Creek or in lower-lying areas of town, we add drainage fabric and sometimes French drains alongside new slabs to keep water from accumulating under the concrete.