Concrete sidewalk building in Pomona CA - a walk on solid ground that grips when wet

Most people call when the old walk has started catching toes, holding water or breaking up, or when there's only dirt or lawn where a walk should be. What moves the price is how much walk you need, whether there's an old one to break out, roots in the way, a driveway crossing that needs a heavier section, and the finish you pick. The schedule turns on the weather, the cure and a city permit if the walk runs along the street. I put your figure in a written estimate once I've seen the ground.

I start by walking the route with you, and if there's a tree near the walk, we work out where the walk runs and how the base gets built before anyone talks about a stronger mix, because around roots the route and the base usually matter more. We dig out the topsoil and pack the fill underneath, the subgrade, which is just the ground the slab sits on, so the walk doesn't settle with loose dirt. Where it crosses a utility line or meets the driveway, we make sure that ground gives the slab even support, and any spot where a car crosses gets extra attention, usually a thicker section with rebar, the steel inside that keeps a cracked slab from pulling apart. We set the forms so the walk falls away from the house, pour early so the top doesn't bake weak in the afternoon heat, and give it a broom finish, a light ridged texture that grips under wet shoes. Then we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the concrete a straight place to crack instead of a random one, and start curing right away, which means keeping the slab damp and off-limits while it gains strength. If the budget gets tight, I'll cut a fancy edge before I cut the base, since nobody sees the base on day one and everybody sees it later.

A new walk often comes up when other concrete is due too. If the garage slab is tired, it's worth pricing garage floor concrete at the same time so the base work and pour days get planned together. If you want the walk to match a patio or carry color or a pattern, that's decorative concrete, and we still keep the surface textured, because a smooth troweled top can get slick when it's wet.

A walk along the street usually sits in the public right-of-way, the public land along the road that the city controls. In Pomona, the city's Land Development group issues every permit for work in that strip, and any work there needs one. The city lists Encroachment, Dry Utility and Transportation applications, so we sort out which one fits your walk, then pull the permit and handle the paperwork with the city.

A lot of the walks we replace here were lifted by trees, crossed by a driveway that's carried cars for decades, or kept wet by sprinklers, so we plan for all three on every job. We see the same thing on jobs in Claremont and La Verne.