Stamped concrete services in Orinda CA - crack cuts hidden in the pattern

Most folks who call us have a tired gray patio, a walk that's started cracking, or a new concrete patio on the way, and they want it to look like more than plain concrete. The price mostly moves with the size of the area, how much old concrete has to come out, the pattern and colors you pick, and how much work the ground needs first. The schedule turns on the weather, any permit the job needs and the curing, which is the wait before anyone uses the slab so it can harden properly. I'll walk the job with you and put your own figure in writing. We're based in Orinda and work in the cities all around it, on both sides of the hills.

Stamped concrete is still flatwork, a ground-level slab like a patio, walk or driveway, so we start where any good slab starts. We dig out and pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, because dirt that's only raked level settles and takes the concrete down with it. Then we set forms so the finished surface falls away from your house, and add rebar, the steel that holds the slab together, sized to what it has to carry. We pour early in the day rather than in midday heat, which can leave a weak, dusty top. We spread the color evenly by hand so it doesn't come out blotchy, press the pattern with rubber mats while it's soft, and tuck the control joints, the cuts that give the slab a planned place to crack, into the pattern lines so they don't stand out. Once it's cured and sealed, I'll be straight with you that stamped work needs resealing every so often. When a budget gets tight, folks want to trim the base because nobody sees it on pour day, but I'd rather you pick a simpler pattern than skimp underneath, because like we used to say on the farm, a feed pad's only as good as the dirt under it.

A stamped job often runs into other concrete around the house. When the plain walk out to the street is in rough shape, we can handle the concrete sidewalk building in the same visit so your new stamped area doesn't end at a broken step-down. If the garage slab needs work too, our garage floor concrete usually goes in plain and smooth, which is easier to sweep and park on than a pattern.

For Orinda, the Contra Costa County Building Department issues building permits, which are required before anyone builds, alters, repairs or tears down any building or structure. Whether your stamped patio or walk counts is something we check with that office for your job before we start, rather than guess. When it does need a permit, we pull it as your contractor and handle the paperwork and inspection calls for our part of the work. The City of Orinda also requires an encroachment permit before a dumpster or debris box goes on the property or the roadside, or before equipment is parked overnight on the side of the road, so we sort out where those go while we're planning the job.

Most of what we see around here is back patios and entry walks getting redone, often old plain concrete that's cracked or settled, along with driveways where the mixer and the debris box need a plan before pour day. We run into the same kinds of jobs in Moraga and Lafayette.