Concrete driveway building in Duarte CA - a driveway that drains away from your garage
Cracked, sinking or puddling driveway? We dig out the old base, pack it firm and grade it so water runs off, not toward the house.
- Service
- Concrete driveway building
- Call
- (626) 416-2143
How do you know your driveway needs replacing?
Water pooling by the garage
If puddles sit at the garage door or along one edge after rain or sprinklers, the slab has usually settled or was poured sloping toward the house. Every soak softens the base a little more, so the sinking and the puddle both grow.
Cracks that keep getting wider
Fine hairline cracks are normal in concrete, but cracks that open up, wander across the slab or have one side higher than the other usually mean the ground underneath moved. Water and weeds get in through them, and the edges start chipping.
A slab that's sinking
A section that has dropped at the garage, the walk or the street usually sat on dirt that was raked level but never dug out and packed. Wait long enough and the repair grows from one section to the whole driveway.
What goes into a new concrete driveway in Duarte?
Concrete driveway building in Duarte is the whole job from the dirt up. We take out the old surface, dig out roots and loose fill, pack a firm base, grade it so water runs away from your garage and pour a new slab on top. Then you park on the street while it cures.
Most people call when the old driveway has cracked, sunk at the garage or started holding water, and by then the problem is usually under the slab, not in it. The price mostly comes down to size, whether there's old concrete or asphalt to break out and haul off, how much digging and base the ground needs, and whether you want a plain finish or something dressier. The schedule turns on the city's steps for any work by the street, the weather on pour day and the days the slab needs before you drive on it, and my estimate gives you the figure for your own driveway. California only lets unlicensed people take jobs under $1,000 that need no permit and no employees, so a driveway with a crew needs a licensed contractor, and we're fully licensed and insured.
Details to note before an estimate
- Rough size of the driveway
- Current surface and any cracks or sinking
- Where water puddles after rain
- Trucks, RVs or trailers that park there
How we build a concrete driveway
Most of a good driveway is grading you'll never see, so that's where we take our time. Our crew breaks out the old surface and hauls it off, digs out roots and soft dirt, and packs the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, along with any old utility trenches, because loose dirt settles and takes the concrete with it. Then we set the grade so water runs away from the garage and off the edges instead of sitting in a low spot. We build the forms and set rebar where the slab needs it, the steel bars that hold concrete together if it cracks, and in hot months we start the pour early, since afternoon sun and wind can leave a weak, dusty top. The crew gives it a broom finish, a light texture so tires and shoes grip when it's wet, and cuts control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a straight place to crack. Before the pour I show you where those joints go and tell you how long to park somewhere else, which nobody enjoys hearing.
A new driveway is a good time to look at the rest of the concrete around the house. If the slab should carry on past the side gate, our concrete patio construction work can go on the same prepared ground, and if you'd like a pattern or color, stamped concrete works on a whole driveway or just a border along it. When the budget gets tight, I'd cut the decorative finish before the base, because the finish can wait and nobody fixes a bad base later without a jackhammer.
Other concrete work people add to a driveway
Concrete patio construction
A patio poured on the same packed ground gives you one even stretch of concrete from the driveway to the backyard, draining away from the house.
Stamped concrete services
Stamping presses a stone, brick or slate pattern into fresh concrete, so your driveway can look like pavers and still be one solid slab.
What happens after you call about a new driveway?
Call or send the form
Call (626) 416-2143 or use the form, and you'll usually get me, since I still answer the phone myself. We set a time for me to come see the driveway.
I come out and look
I walk the driveway, check where the water goes and ask a lot of questions about how you use it. You get a written estimate with the work spelled out and the price for your driveway.
We check the city steps
Before anything is scheduled, we find out whether your address falls under the city or the county, what the job needs from that office and who's handling each piece. In Duarte, we give the city's Public Works office 48 hours' notice before any work by the street, and we call Underground Service Alert at least 48 hours before we dig so buried lines get marked.
We prep, pour and walk it
Our crew does the digging, base, forms, pour and finish while I'm on site checking the work. When it's done I walk it with you, and then the slab needs its cure time before your car goes back on it.
Questions before you book a concrete driveway
How much does a concrete driveway cost in the Los Angeles area?
A two-car concrete driveway of 400 to 600 square feet, installed, usually runs about $1,600 to $6,000 in Los Angeles, and that's the area's going rate, not our price. Where yours lands depends on what I find when I look at your house. The work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
Is a concrete driveway better than asphalt?
For most homeowners, yes, if you count the years and not just the first bill. Asphalt costs less up front, but concrete commonly outlasts it by a wide margin and skips the seal coating asphalt keeps asking for, so it usually comes out cheaper per year. The catch is that concrete can't be patched without showing, so a bad pour means tearing it out, which is why we spend our time under the slab.
How long does a new concrete driveway take to cure before I can drive on it?
One field guide says to keep cars off a new driveway for about 7 days, and heavier trucks and RVs closer to 28 days. Curing is the slow hardening concrete does after the pour, so plan other parking for that first week and longer for anything heavy.
What causes a new concrete driveway to crack?
Concrete shrinks as it dries and the ground under it shifts a little, so some cracking is normal, and the goal is to control it, not stop it. Control joints steer those cracks into the grooves where they stay tight and hard to see, which is why I mark them with you first. Steel in the slab helps keep cracks narrow and holds a cracked slab together, and fiber in the mix can add some crack control but isn't a substitute for it.
How thick should a concrete driveway be for cars and trucks?
For everyday cars, driveway planning usually starts around 4 inches, but heavier loads or weak support underneath can call for a different design. If an RV, a work truck or a trailer will park there, tell us at the estimate, because the thickness gets set early. It's also fair to ask any contractor how they keep that thickness even, since high spots in the base can leave a 4-inch slab only 2½ inches thick in places.
Who issues permits for work by the street in Duarte?
The City of Duarte's Public Works & Engineering Division issues permits and handles plan checks and inspections for work in the public right-of-way, the city's strip along the street. The city also wants plans submitted before building-related construction, its Building & Safety page points owners to the Planning Division for zoning checks, and it holds a deposit on construction and demolition projects until the work is done and it confirms 65% of the debris was kept out of the landfill. For the rest of the driveway, we check what your address needs before we schedule and tell you what we found.
Get a free on-site estimate for your driveway
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time for me to come out. I'll look at the driveway, ask my questions and write up a free estimate, and there's no obligation to book.
Explore our services and areas
Services
- Concrete patio construction
- Stamped concrete services
- Concrete sidewalk building
- Garage floor concrete
- Decorative concrete
- Concrete retaining walls
- Concrete floor installation
- Concrete pool decks
- Concrete steps construction
- Slab foundation building
- Foundation installation
- Concrete parking lot building
- Concrete footings
- Foundation raising
- Concrete cutting
Start planning your new concrete driveway
Call (626) 416-2143 or use the form, and I'll tell you plainly what your old driveway is doing and why.