Stamped concrete services in La Palma CA - a pattern planned around its joints

Most people call us because the patio out back is cracked, sunken or just plain gray, and they want the look of stone or brick without laying every piece by hand. The price mostly comes down to the size of the area, whether old concrete has to be broken out and hauled off, how busy the pattern is, how many colors and borders you want, and how easy it is to get the truck and our crew to the spot. The schedule turns on that same tear-out, on whether the city wants a permit, and on the cure, since nobody uses the slab until it's ready. If you'd rather keep it simple, a plain concrete patio with a broom finish, a light swept texture that gives your feet some grip, costs less, and either way your written estimate gives you your own number.

I start by checking where the water runs on your lot, because a slab that falls toward the house sends every rain right at your foundation. Then our crew digs out the old concrete or soil and packs the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, so the new patio doesn't settle along with loose dirt. That base is the part nobody sees on day one and the first thing people want to trim from the budget, and it's the last place I'd cut, since a nice pattern on a soft base cracks and sinks just like the old slab did. Before we pour, I lay out the control joints, the cuts that give concrete a planned place to crack, so they follow the pattern and any cracks tend to fall where the pattern lines hide them, and we cut them on time instead of letting the slab pick its own spots. We pour in the cooler part of the day so the top doesn't dry too fast and turn weak and dusty, press the pattern while the concrete is still workable, and come back to seal it once it has cured. Somewhere along the way we'll sit down over color, mixed into the concrete or laid on top, because the two look about the same on day one and age differently after years of sun.

Stamped work usually sits next to plain concrete somewhere on the property. If the walk out front is cracked or heaved, our concrete sidewalk building crew can redo it so the old and new slabs meet at the same height, and if the garage slab is in rough shape, garage floor concrete is usually poured plain, since a pressed pattern is hard to sweep and roll a floor jack across.

Whether your backyard patio needs a permit is the city's call, so that's a question for La Palma's Building & Safety office, which takes applications online and lists 714-690-3340 for help with one. Anything that reaches into the public right of way, the area along the street like a driveway apron or the public sidewalk, needs a separate street permit from the city before we start, and that application includes proof of liability insurance. When your job needs a permit, we handle the application, book the city inspections and let you know ahead of time if you need to be home for one.

The other rule that changes how we work is about storm drains, since the city doesn't allow water carrying concrete or construction waste into the gutter or the drain. So we rinse tools and the truck's chute in a contained spot on your property and haul the mess away instead of hosing it down the driveway into the street. Around here we see a lot of older patios and walks that have cracked or settled over the years, plus backyards that take full sun all afternoon, which is why color gets so much talk at the estimate. We run into the same thing on jobs in Cypress and Buena Park.