Concrete Contractors in Citra, FL

Citra is a rural community in northern Marion County, and the concrete contractors who work there pour as many farm slabs and long drives as patios. Citra was founded in 1881 in a citrus-growing district and has had a post office since that year. In 1883 James B. Owens gave the pineapple orange its name here, for its pineapple-like aroma.

Old farm buildings, new uses

Citra has two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, the Citra Methodist Episcopal Church and the Armstrong House, and a University of Florida IFAS plant research facility sits in the community. Around them, much of the land is farm property. Older properties often have concrete from packing sheds, barns and equipment yards that is now being reused for workshops, storage or new homes. We assess those old slabs before building on them. Common problems include:

• No reinforcement, so cracks have opened and pieces have shifted
• Thin edges that crumble when a vehicle drives over them
• Low spots where water collects and softens the ground underneath
• No vapor barrier under slabs that will now be enclosed

Pouring for farm loads

Citra sits in horse country: Marion County has more than 1,200 horse farms, and its roughly 900 Thoroughbred farms cover some 77,000 acres. Farm concrete carries heavy loads, and we design it that way:

Driveways and turnarounds with thicker sections and rebar for trucks and trailers.

Barn floors and aisles with broom finishes and slopes that move water out.

Equipment slabs with thickened edges where tractors and implements roll on and off.

Wash pads that drain toward gravel or a collection point.

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Homes in the country

Country homes in Citra still want comfortable outdoor spaces. A back patio under oak shade, a stamped concrete entry or a pool deck with a cooler, textured finish all fit here. On rural lots, we also think about access: a concrete truck needs firm ground to reach the pour, and we plan around septic fields, wells and soft spots. If the truck cannot reach, we can pump or move the concrete in smaller loads.

Rolling hills over limestone

Marion County's terrain is generally rolling hills, and its limestone supports the pasture that made it horse country. That same limestone underlies much of the region's karst landscape, where the rock can dissolve near the surface. For concrete, the practical result is that base preparation and drainage matter. We compact the base in layers and keep water moving away from slabs so the ground underneath stays stable.

Matching thickness to the job

Not every slab on a farm property needs the same thickness. A garden shed or AC pad can be a standard slab, while a tractor shed or trailer pad needs a thicker, reinforced section. Over-building every slab wastes money, and under-building a heavy-use slab leads to early cracking. At the estimate we go through each area with you, note what will sit or drive on it and size the concrete to match.

Turning an old shed into a closed workshop

A slab that sat under an open packing shed or pole barn was never meant to be a floor inside walls. When owners close one in, two things usually need attention. Ground moisture rising through a slab with no vapor barrier makes an enclosed room damp, which shows up as mildew on stored goods and peeling floor coatings. And walls need a thickened edge or footing to sit on, which old shed slabs rarely have. Depending on the slab, we can pour new perimeter footings, add a sealer, or recommend a new floor with a barrier underneath.

Permits

Citra is unincorporated, so permits come from Marion County, whose list includes driveway and right-of-way permits. We check requirements before work starts, especially for new drives that meet a county road.