Decorative concrete in Garden Grove CA - color and texture that suit your slab

Installed concrete with a basic broom finish, the plain brushed surface most driveways have, usually runs about $9 to $18 per square foot in California, and decorative finishes like stamping cost extra on top of that. Where your job lands depends on whether we're reusing a sound slab or tearing out and pouring new, how much repair the old concrete needs and how many finishes you combine. Your own figure comes from the written estimate after I've seen the slab.

Most old concrete can take an overlay, but stain is pickier, because it shows whatever is already in the slab. One stain maker's own product sheet says stain won't hide flaws or marks, can come out mottled with varying color, and older concrete may not take it at all. If your slab has patches you don't want to see again, an overlay gives you a fresh surface to color instead.

One sealer maker says a penetrating sealer typically protects for 5 to 10 years when it's put down properly. This kind soaks into the concrete instead of leaving a film on top, so it keeps the natural look with no added shine. Plan on resealing somewhere in that window, and treat water that soaks in and stays dark as the sign it's time.

A contractor holding the state's concrete contractor license can, and the state contractors board says that license covers forming, pouring, placing, finishing and installing flat and other concrete work. Under a board rule, a landscaping contractor can also take on concrete work when it's part of landscape work that improves the grounds around a house. We're licensed and fully insured.

If the work reaches the city's public right-of-way, like the strip along the street, you need the city's permission first, and the Land Development Section of the city's engineering office handles those street and grading permits. The city won't treat a dig permit as valid without a Dig Alert notification number, and Dig Alert takes calls at 1-800-227-2600 two working days before digging. For work on your own lot, I'll tell you what I know at the estimate and check with the city when I'm not sure, and the same office also helps owners with property research and plan review.

Concrete can crack, so we plan where it happens by cutting control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a straight line to crack along where you won't notice it. We cut them on time, because joints cut late let cracks pick their own spot, and on a colored or stamped slab we lay them out so they look like part of the design. I'll show you where they go before the pour, not after you spot a line.