Concrete contractor in Gardena, CA - driveways and patios that drain right
H&J Gardena Concrete Contractors is a concrete contractor based in Gardena, CA, building and repairing driveways, patios, walks, steps and foundations for homeowners and small property owners across the city.
Concrete work in Gardena, our home city
Gardena is where I started this business, and its driveways and backyards are where our crew does a lot of its work. Most streets here are flat and lined with older single-story houses on modest lots, with shops, small warehouses and apartment buildings mixed in along the bigger roads. We take the same work into the cities around it, like Torrance and Hawthorne.
On houses this age the slab out front is often the original. When it's cracked or sunk, the price turns on three things. How much old concrete comes out, how much of the subgrade needs digging out and packing, and the finish you pick. The subgrade is the dirt the slab sits on. The schedule turns on permits and on curing, which is the time new concrete needs to harden before you walk on it, and longer before you drive on it. When I walk your job, I put the work in writing. The city's Building Services issues permits for most construction. It lists open driveways and walkways among its common exceptions. A retaining wall taller than 3 feet from the bottom of its footing isn't on the exempt list, and neither is a wall holding back an added load like a driveway above it. Work on the public sidewalk or street needs a permit from the city's Public Works engineering office. We check your address, and we pull whatever permit the job needs and line up the inspections before we pour. Any contractor working in Gardena also needs a city business license, even one based somewhere else, so it's fair to ask whoever you hire. An earlier city general plan shows an active earthquake fault zone in the northeast corner of the city, near El Segundo Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. A wall or footing there gets a closer look before we dig.
What we build and fix in Gardena
Concrete driveway building
Concrete driveway building is a big part of our work here, because a lot of older Gardena driveways have cracked and sunk where the base underneath settled.
Concrete patio construction
Gardena backyards are mostly flat, so concrete patio construction starts with setting the slab to carry water away from the house instead of toward the back door.
Stamped concrete services
On older single-story homes here, stamped concrete services give a patio or front walk the look of stone, over the same packed base as plain work.
Concrete sidewalk building
Tree roots and settled soil push up a lot of older walks here, and concrete sidewalk building replaces broken sections with a packed base and new joints.
Garage floor concrete
Many older Gardena garages have cracked, oil-stained floors that sit low at the door, so our garage floor concrete work sets the new slab to drain out.
Decorative concrete
Decorative concrete means color, exposed aggregate or another finish, and it suits Gardena's smaller front yards, where the driveway is most of what people see.
Concrete retaining walls
Most lots here are flat, so concrete retaining walls usually hold back a neighbor's higher yard or a raised planter, and what drains behind the wall matters most.
Concrete floor installation
For shops and small warehouses around Gardena, concrete floor installation has to stay flat under carts and shelving, and that starts with packed ground under it.
Concrete pool decks
Pool decks take splashing and bare feet, so concrete pool decks here get a finish with grip and a slope that runs water away from the house.
Concrete steps construction
Front steps that have settled or pulled away from the house are common on older homes here, and concrete steps construction rebuilds them on solid footings.
Slab foundation building
On a Gardena lot, a room addition or new garage needs slab foundation building that's formed and inspected before the pour, since everything above sits on it.
Foundation installation
Older raised-floor houses here sometimes need foundation installation under a section or the whole house, and we look at the soil and drainage before any forms go in.
Concrete parking lot building
Gardena has plenty of small business and apartment lots, and concrete parking lot building for them needs a slab thick enough for trucks and a slope to the drain.
Concrete footings
Block walls, patio covers and additions all stand on concrete footings, and a footing poured on loose fill is where a lot of leaning starts.
Foundation raising
When a corner of an older Gardena house drops and doors start sticking, foundation raising lifts it back after we find the water or soil problem behind it.
Concrete cutting
On older Gardena slabs, concrete cutting lets us remove one cracked section or open the floor for a plumbing repair without breaking up the whole thing.
What signs mean your Gardena concrete needs work?
A lot of Gardena driveways and patios are as old as the houses, and their problems usually start underneath, so what shows on top is worth reading early.
- Cracks that keep getting wider
- One slab edge higher than another
- Water pooling after you hose it
- Patio sloping toward the house
- Chipped or flaking top surface
- Steps pulling away from the house
If you're seeing one of these, call or send the form, and I'll come out, look at it myself and tell you plainly what's going on.
Should you patch the slab or pour new?
On an older Gardena slab, the choice comes down to whether the ground underneath is still holding, and how and where it cracked usually tells me at the estimate.
When a patch is enough
If the slab is still level and the cracks are thin or stay in one section, the base is usually fine. We can saw out that section and pour it back, or fill the cracks, and leave the rest alone.
When it's time to pour new
If the slab has sunk, tipped toward the house or cracked all over, the problem is usually underneath, and a patch would sit on the same bad ground. We break it out, fix the base and pour new with rebar, the steel bars that hold cracked pieces together.
What Gardena's flat lots and older slabs need
I'll tell you plainly what your slab needs, including the part you won't want to hear, because concrete is hard to undo once it's poured. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
Base dug out and packed
We dig out and pack the base, and on a tight budget I'd cut back the finish before the base.
Water sent away from the house
We check where water runs before forms go up, so the slab falls toward the street, not the house.
Joints cut where cracks belong
We cut control joints, grooves that give shrinking concrete a planned place to crack, before the slab picks a spot itself.
The owner on your job
I measure your job and put the work in writing, and I'm on the job with our crew.
Licensed in California, insured
The state requires a license for permit work or jobs of $1,000 or more, and we're fully licensed and insured.
Call about your Gardena concrete job
Call (424) 528-1322 between 6 AM and 11 PM any day of the week, tell me what you're seeing, and ask about permits while you've got me.
Other cities we serve, and yours
Pick your city below for its own page, or call (424) 528-1322 if yours isn't on the list, because we work in plenty of the cities around Gardena.