Commercial and industrial
Commercial and industrial concrete
Heavy foundations, loading docks, ramps and lots built to carry equipment and traffic, not just foot weight.
Chapter 01
Heavy and machine foundations
A machine foundation is not a slab with a name attached to it. It is formed and poured to carry a specific load in a specific place, and it has to sit still under that load for as long as the equipment above it runs. Carl Johanson & Son has been forming heavy foundations since Carl Johanson Jr. narrowed the family business to concrete alone, and a machine foundation is exactly the kind of work that decision was made for.
The same crew that pours a machine foundation also pours the heavier foundations under additions and industrial structures generally, where the load is bigger and steadier than anything a house footing ever sees. It is one discipline applied at two different scales, not two different jobs.
A formed concrete machine foundation and equipment pit set into a finished industrial floor
Floors and lots that take load
Heavy-duty floors inside a warehouse or plant take forklift traffic, pallet racking and drop loads day after day, and a floor poured without that in mind cracks and spalls under exactly the kind of use it was built for. The same logic runs outside, on concrete parking lots that carry delivery trucks and equipment trailers instead of sedans.
Carl Johanson & Son is licensed by the City of Chicago as CDOT-approved and carries a Masons License, and is licensed in every North Shore suburb it works, on top of being bonded and insured. That is the paperwork a general contractor or property manager asks for before a heavy floor or a commercial lot goes out for bid, and it is in place before the phone call ends.
Chapter 03
Ramps, docks and access
Loading docks and handicap ramps both come down to the same requirement: the concrete has to meet the building at the exact elevation the building needs, and it has to hold that elevation under repeated heavy use at the dock, or repeated everyday use at the ramp. Getting the grade right before the pour is most of the job on both.
These are usually the pieces a property adds after the fact, once a tenant changes or an inspector flags an access point, which means the new concrete has to tie into existing pavement and an existing building line cleanly rather than starting from a bare lot.
What comes out before anything goes in
Every addition and every new foundation starts with what has to leave the site first. Concrete breaking and excavation clear the old slab, the old footing, or the ground itself down to where the new work can actually start, and that demolition and dirt work is handled by the same crew doing the pour, not handed off to a separate outfit.
That matters most on additions, where the new foundation has to key into the existing building without undermining it. Carl Johanson & Son has been doing exactly that kind of tie-in work, on commercial and industrial sites across Chicagoland and the North Shore, since 1967.
Carl Johanson & Son - City of Chicago CDOT and Masons licensed, licensed in all North Shore suburbs, bonded, insured, A+ rated with the BBB. Free estimates. Call (847) 933-1709.
One company, from the foundation up
A machine foundation, a heavy floor, a loading dock and the lot around them can all go to the same crew. Founded 1909, incorporated 1967, family-run since. Free estimates on every job.