Concrete sidewalk building in Santa Clara CA - a walk that stays level from end to end

Most calls I get start with a walk that's been tipped up by a root, has sunk over an old trench or holds a puddle after every rain. We work across Santa Clara and the cities around it, and the price of a new walk mostly turns on its length and width, how much old concrete and dirt has to come out first, whether it crosses a driveway and needs a stronger section there, and the finish you pick. The schedule turns on the prep, the weather and curing, which is the wait while the concrete hardens enough to use, plus any city permit if the work reaches the street. I come out, measure and write up an estimate that lists what's included, so you can see exactly what you're paying for.

We lay out the route with you, then dig out the topsoil, roots and anything organic, because a walk stays level only when the subgrade, the ground it sits on, is even the whole way. Where the path crosses a driveway, runs near a tree or passes over an old utility trench, we take extra care, packing loose fill tight so no stretch is softer than the rest, and we set the forms so rain runs off the walk and away from your house. We plan the pour for the cooler part of the day, since concrete that's finished in midday heat can end up with a weak, dusty top. Once it's placed and smoothed, we cut control joints, shallow grooves that tell the slab where to crack, early enough for them to do their job, and we give it a broom finish, a light texture that keeps it from getting slick when it's wet. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather you spend it on the base than on a fancier surface, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides whether the walk stays flat.

A walk often comes with other flatwork, our word for anything poured flat on the ground like walks, patios, driveways and floors. If your walk leads to the garage and the slab inside is in rough shape, we can plan garage floor concrete at the same time. If plain gray isn't what you want out front, decorative concrete adds color or pattern over the same packed base, and we still leave enough texture that it isn't slick in the rain.

Once a walk reaches the public sidewalk or the street, the city's rules come first. Work on public sidewalks and streets in Santa Clara needs an Encroachment Permit from the city's Land and Property Development Division, and you need one too if you're changing your driveway approach, the sloped piece where the driveway meets the street. The application goes in with a completed form and a set of plans, and when the work affects the sidewalk, the road or a bike lane, the city also requires a traffic control plan. Wherever your walk runs, we check with the city office for your address while we put the estimate together, and when we're the ones pulling the permit, we handle the paperwork and the inspections.

Street trees shape a lot of walks here, and roots from a tree in the city's right of way are the city's to deal with, since Public Works handles trimming and root removal for those trees at 408-615-3080. On jobs here and in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, we see plenty of older walks crossed over the years by sprinkler lines, cable trenches and widened driveways, and those patched spots are where we spend the extra time packing the ground.