Goldenwest Huntington Beach Concrete pours driveways, patios and walls in La Habra, at the far end of Beach Boulevard from our office. Every estimate is measured and written on site.
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La Habra is three towns in one, and the concrete tells you which one you are in. Downtown was built in the 1920s, the flat middle in the 1950s, and the streets under the Puente Hills after that.
Each age failed its own way. The bungalow walks near La Habra Boulevard and Euclid Street were poured thin and unreinforced a century ago, and they have broken into plates that rock underfoot. The 1950s tract drives between Whittier Boulevard and Imperial Highway went down on flat alluvium with no base, and they have settled at the apron. North of Imperial the lots step off the hills on clay that swells wet and shrinks dry, and a slab poured on it has lifted and dropped until it broke.
So in La Habra we probe before we measure. On the visit the ground under the old slab is opened at 2 or 3 points, and what is there decides the estimate. Downtown it is usually firm old fill and the job is a thin slab out and 4 inches in. On the flat it is alluvium, compacted in lifts under 4 inches of crushed rock. On the hill it is clay, dug out and replaced with base that drains, with a wall footed 18 inches into firm ground where the yard steps. The ground is the difference.
La Habra has three ages of housing on three grounds, from 1920s bungalows downtown to the terraced streets under the Puente Hills, and the same job is a different job on each. What we pour is decided by what we find under the old slab.
A La Habra driveway on the north side of town slopes to the street, because the lots run down off the Puente Hills, and the old ones cracked across the fall. We pour 5 inches on 4 of compacted base, dowel the apron to the city walk, and cure it under wet burlap for a week.
A patio in La Habra is in full sun by 10 in the morning from June to September, so a dark slab is too hot to use. We pour a light integral color at 4 inches, broom it for grip, and wet cure it for 7 days, because a slab left to dry in this heat cracks before the joints are cut.
Stamped concrete holds its color in La Habra only if it is sealed against sun, since ultraviolet fades a surface stain inside 2 summers here. We color the mix rather than the top, cast the pattern in a 4 inch slab, and seal it in 2 coats at 28 days, then every 2 to 3 years.
The walks downtown near La Habra Boulevard and Euclid Street are the oldest we replace, poured thin for bungalows a century ago and lifted by parkway trees since. We cut the roots back, lay a base, and pour 4 inches doweled into the drive, with a permit for the public panel.
Garage floors in La Habra bake, and an old slab that was poured on clay with no barrier heaves at the door and sweats in winter. We break out the failed panels, lay a vapor barrier over 4 inches of compacted base, and pour 4 inches troweled flat enough for a coating.
Exposed aggregate is the finish we recommend most in La Habra, because a light stone surface stays cooler underfoot in the sun than a plain broom finish and hides the dust that blows off the hills. We seed the stone into a 4 inch slab, wash it before it sets, and seal it.
Retaining walls are a La Habra job more than a coastal one, because the lots north of Imperial Highway step down toward the town and the yards sit on terraces. We footing the wall 18 inches into firm ground, run steel through the stem, and drain it so the clay cannot push it.
An interior slab in La Habra, for a room over the patio or a unit in the back yard, is poured over a 10 mil vapor barrier on gravel and troweled flat for tile. In summer we pour it before 8 in the morning and keep it wet for a week, because a floor cannot hide a shrinkage crack.
Beach Boulevard starts at the pier in Huntington Beach and ends at Whittier Boulevard in La Habra, about 20 miles north, and the crew drives the length of it to get here, about 45 minutes, with the mixer coming from a plant nearer the job. Plans go to the City of La Habra Building Division at City Hall on La Habra Boulevard, and work in the apron, the curb or the public walk takes an encroachment permit from the city's Public Works Department too. We file both and meet the inspector.
Downtown around La Habra Boulevard and Euclid Street is the oldest part of the city, bungalows on raised foundations with walks that run to a porch and 2 steps, and the parkway trees have roots under most of them. The tracts between Whittier Boulevard and Imperial Highway are the same 1950s plan repeated, a single-story house on a flat lot with the drive down one side. North of Imperial the streets climb toward the hills and the yards sit on terraces, which is where the walls are.
Water runs off the hills into the town, so the north side has a fall we hold and the south side has a fall we build. La Habra is also the warmest town we cover, about 18 miles from the water and out of the marine layer's reach, so from May to October a pour here starts at 6 and the slab is kept wet under burlap for 7 days, because a surface that dries before it cures cracks. We seal every slab at 28 days, less for salt than at home and more for the sun.
One crew from Huntington Beach, one visit, one written figure. In La Habra the first step is the one that matters, because what is under the old slab decides the other three.
Scott Ferreira opens the ground under the old slab at 2 or 3 points, reads the fall, measures the area and writes the estimate at the property.
We file with the La Habra Building Division for a wall or a slab under a room, and with Public Works for the apron or the walk, before we cut.
The old slab comes out, clay is dug and replaced where we found it, the subgrade is compacted in lifts and 4 inches of crushed rock laid.
Poured before the sun is on it in summer, joints sawn the same morning, wet cured for 7 days, cars back on after 7 and sealed at 28.
Call the office or send the form and we reply within 1 business day. The visit is free and we come up Beach Boulevard to do it, and the estimate is written at your property with demolition, base, concrete, curing and finish as separate lines.
Reviews
Reviews left on Google, Facebook and the BBB by people whose concrete we have poured across the towns we cover. La Habra is the farthest of them, and the jobs behind these are the ones above.
“Our pool deck was the original 1972 surface, lifting at the coping. They cut it out, compacted the sand, poured 640 square feet at 4 inches with an isolation joint at the pool, and sealed it at 28 days. Scott Ferreira measured it on a Thursday and we had the written estimate before he left.”
“The old driveway had sunk where the sand washed out under it and the cars scraped at the apron. They pulled the encroachment permit themselves, compacted the base in three lifts, poured 5 inches for my husband's truck and cut the joints that afternoon. Two winters on, not a crack.”
“We wanted a patio that looked like slate without the joints weeds get into. Scott Ferreira laid the pattern out with us on the visit, the crew poured 380 square feet, stamped it in ashlar and sealed it at 28 days. A full year of salt air later it still looks like the day it was finished.”
What we are asked in La Habra, on cost, permits from the city, the drive up from the coast, the three grounds under the town, pouring in the heat and how long a slab is out of use.
What is under the old slab, then the age of it. A drive on the hillside clay north of Imperial Highway takes a day longer than one on the flat, because the clay comes out and crushed rock goes in. A century-old bungalow walk downtown is thin and quick to remove but often runs to steps rebuilt with it. Area and thickness move it after that. Every estimate is measured and written on site, so it is on paper first.
Not for flatwork inside your lot line, which the California Residential Code exempts. The apron, the curb and the public walk belong to the city, and work there takes an encroachment permit from La Habra Public Works. A retaining wall over 4 feet, common on the streets north of Imperial Highway, or a slab under a room takes a building permit from the Building Division at City Hall on La Habra Boulevard.
About 20 miles, the whole length of Beach Boulevard, which is 45 minutes at the hour we drive it. La Habra is the farthest town north we cover, so we reply within 1 business day and book the visit on a day the crew is already on that side of the county, often with a La Mirada job, and the mixer comes from a plant near the job rather than from the coast.
Yes, early. From May to October the crew is on the street by 6 and the slab is finished before the sun is on it, because concrete poured at midday here dries at the surface before it has cured and cracks. We keep the slab wet under burlap and plastic for 7 days after the pour. In the coolest weeks of winter the same slab is poured at 9 and left to cure on its own.
Yes, and it is different across the town. Downtown sits on old firm fill, the 1950s tracts on flat alluvium off the hills, and the streets north of Imperial Highway on clay that swells wet and shrinks dry. None of it is the sand we pour on at home. We probe on the visit, compact what stays in lifts, and lay 4 inches of crushed rock that drains under every slab, so what it sits on does not move.
About 10 days from the first saw cut to the first car, and in summer the slab is under wet burlap for the first 7 of them. The old drive comes out on the first day, the base goes in on the second, the pour is one early morning and the joints are sawn before the crew leaves. Walk on it after 24 hours and park on it after 7 days. Keep anything heavier off it for 28.
La Habra's west line is the county line, and La Mirada on the far side of it is the next town we cover. Placentia and Villa Park lie a few miles south along the 57. If your street runs along one of those lines, the page next door is as good as this one.
Open the Huntington Beach Office in Google Maps Send the form or call and we reply within 1 business day to book the visit. The estimate is free and written at your property, and every slab carries a written workmanship guarantee.