Every job below is one we do ourselves across South Gate.
We excavate down to a stable base and compact it before any concrete goes in, because a driveway is only as good as what's under it. Most residential driveways get 4 inches of concrete with rebar tied on chairs, thicker if you're parking anything heavier than a car. We cut control joints the same day to control where it cracks, and you can drive on it after about a week.
Patios get a broom finish for grip or exposed aggregate if you want something with more texture. We slope every pour away from the house so water doesn't pool against your foundation. A standard patio slab runs 4 inches thick with joints cut every 8 to 10 feet to keep cracking under control.
Stamped concrete gets color hardener worked into the surface, then we press in the pattern before it sets, ashlar slate and cobblestone are the two people ask for most. It costs more than plain concrete but a lot less than pavers or natural stone. We seal it once it's cured so the color holds up under sun.
Garage pads, shed slabs, and equipment pads all fall under this. We run a vapor barrier under slabs that'll have anything sitting on them long-term, and rebar instead of mesh if it's carrying real weight. Thickness depends on what's going on top of it.
Cracked, spalling, or sunken concrete is usually a soil problem, not a concrete problem. Clay soil around here swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries out, and that movement is what pulls slabs apart. For sunken sections we can often lift with polyurethane foam instead of tearing the whole slab out.
Sidewalks along the street often fall under city permit requirements, and we handle that paperwork if your project needs it. Joints get cut closer together on walkways, usually every 4 to 5 feet, since narrower slabs crack more easily without them.
We tie rebar dowels into your existing foundation so the new steps don't separate from the house over time, which is the most common failure we see on old porches. Riser height and tread depth get built to code, and we finish the tread with a broom texture so it's not slick when it's wet.
A retaining wall that fails almost always failed because of water, not weight, so we build in drainage behind it with gravel backfill and weep holes before we ever pour the face. Footings go deep enough to bear on solid soil, not just whatever's near the surface.
Pool decks get a broom or knockdown finish so they're not slippery barefoot. We run expansion joints around the coping so the deck can move independently of the pool shell instead of cracking against it.
If your existing slab is solid but pitted, faded, or stained, a resurfacer or microtopping can give it a new surface without a full tear-out. It won't fix a slab that's cracked through or heaving, that still needs to come out.
Four steps, and no surprises in any of them.
You tell us what you want doing, we look at what is actually there, and we ask the awkward questions early.
In writing, itemised, free. If something might add cost later we flag it now rather than at the end.
Same crew throughout. We cover your floors, keep the dust down and tidy up before we leave each day.
You point out anything you are not happy with and we fix it before the invoice, not after.
This concrete work is done throughout South Gate and the surrounding area.
What to expect once a concrete project actually gets underway.
Describe the problem and we will tell you what it probably is. No obligation.
