Plaza Orange Concrete rebuilds drives, walks and patios across Placentia, 6 miles north of our yard in Orange, root-lifted panels most of all. Every estimate is measured and written on site.
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Placentia's trees are the problem before the ground is. The parkway trees planted with the tracts in the 1960s and 1970s are mature now, and their roots run under the walk, the apron and the drive.
A tree root grows toward water and lifts what is above it a fraction each year, so a panel of walk rises at one edge and drops a step onto the next, and the apron at the gutter tilts until it holds a puddle. That is the failure on street after street in the older Placentia tracts south of Yorba Linda Boulevard, and it is a different job from a slab cracked by load. Patching the raised panel only moves the step to the next joint, because the root is still there and still growing.
So we treat the tree as part of the job. Roots under the panel are cut back only as far as the city's tree rules permit, a root barrier goes in along the lot line where there is room for one, and the new panels are poured on compacted base with steel through them so the next lift moves a whole panel rather than cracking it. On the north side of the city, where the lots rise, the ground rather than the tree sets the work, and a drive or a wall is graded and drained for the slope.
Placentia streets were planted when the tracts were built, and the trees have had fifty years to grow under the walk, the apron and the first panels of the drive. Most of the work here starts at the parkway and runs back to the garage.
A Placentia driveway usually fails at the street end first, where a parkway tree has lifted the apron and the first panel. We take out the run, cut the roots only as far as the city allows, fit a root barrier at the lot line, and pour on 4 inches of compacted base with steel.
Patios in Placentia go behind deep 1960s lots with room for a slab the full width of the house. We grade the pour away from the door toward the side yard, joint it into even panels, and dowel it to the existing step so the two do not part when the yard's trees push on the edge.
Stamped concrete in Placentia is mostly a front entry or a walk to the door, set in a pattern that suits the brick and stucco of the older tracts. We stamp a 4 inch slab, color the release to match the house, and seal it twice, since a front entry here takes full afternoon sun.
A walk in Placentia is lifted by roots more often than it is cracked by load. We cut out the raised panels, prune under the city's tree rules, pour the panels back level, and file the encroachment permit first, because the walk and the parkway belong to the city, not the lot.
Garage slabs in the older Placentia tracts have been parked on for fifty years and often show the same cracks as the drive. Where the slab is sound we grind and seal it. Where it has dropped at the door we take it out, set a vapor barrier and pour new, flat enough for a coating.
Exposed aggregate suits the front yards of Placentia because it hides the dust off the parkway and reads as stone rather than pavement from the street. We wash the surface to expose the aggregate, band the edges smooth, and cut the joints to line up with the walk and the apron.
Retaining walls in Placentia belong to the north side of the city, around Alta Vista Street, where the lots begin to rise. A wall there is footed into firm ground, drained behind the stem to daylight, and engineered where it holds more than 4 feet or carries a fence on top.
Interior floors come up when a Placentia garage is converted or a casita goes in behind the house on one of the deep lots. We pour over a 10 mil vapor barrier, trowel the slab flat enough for tile, and cut the joints on a grid that follows the room rather than the crew.
Placentia is the closest of the towns we cover to the north. Tustin Street runs from our side of Orange straight across the 91, becomes Rose Drive, and puts a crew in Placentia in about 20 minutes, or Glassell Street does the same as Kraemer Boulevard on the west side of town. Building permits come from the Building Division at Placentia City Hall on East Chapman Avenue, and the walk, the parkway and the drive approach need an encroachment permit from the city on top of that.
Old Town Placentia, along Santa Fe Avenue and Bradford Avenue, is the oldest concrete in the city and the tightest, with lots that open onto narrow streets and the railroad a block away. The tracts either side of Yorba Linda Boulevard and Kraemer Boulevard are deep 1960s lots with wide side yards owners now turn into pads and casitas. North of Alta Vista Street the streets rise, the lots step, and a drive needs a broom finish across the fall rather than along it.
The railroad is a fact of life on the south side. The BNSF line runs along Orangethorpe Avenue, and the grade separations built along it in recent years changed which streets a mixer can use to reach Atwood and the blocks near the tracks. We plan the truck's route at the visit rather than on the morning. Placentia summers run into the 90s from June to September, so pours start at 6 in the morning and joints are cut the same afternoon before the slab cracks on its own.
The tree, the permit and the truck's route are settled at the visit, and the figure is written there, so the counter is dealt with before anything is broken out and the number holds through the job.
Curtis Ballard measures the run, checks how far the roots have traveled under it, photographs the parkway and writes the estimate on site.
We file with the Building Division at City Hall and add the encroachment permit for the walk or apron. The counter is our errand, not yours.
The old panels come out, roots are pruned to the city's rules, a barrier is set, and 4 inches of base is compacted before any steel.
The pour goes in early, joints are cut the same afternoon. Walk on it after 24 hours, park on it after 7 days.
Call or fill in the form and you will hear back within 1 business day with a time. Placentia is a short run from our yard, the measure is done on your own lot, and the figure is written there without charge.
Reviews
What people across the towns we cover from Orange wrote on Google and Facebook once the work was done. Placentia is among the nearest of them, and the drives and walks above are the jobs they mean.
“Our drive goes right down the lot to a garage on the alley, and it had broken into about nine pieces. They took out 540 square feet, put five inches back and got the joints in before they left that evening. Curtis was here at seven for the pour.”
“Three of the pepper trees out front had lifted the walk into a trip hazard and the city had already been round. Seventy feet of panel came out, a barrier went in against each root plate, and the new walk has stayed flat through two winters.”
“The back of our lot falls away hard and the old patio had cracked right across the middle. They stepped the new one down in two levels, 380 square feet of it, and formed a drain along the low edge. Nothing has stood on it since, even in February.”
What owners in the older tracts and on the north side ask before booking, covering what moves the estimate here, the parkway and its trees, the city permit, the slope, timing and the towns nearby.
How much of the run is in the public right-of-way. A drive that stops at the lot line is a straight replacement, while one that takes the apron and the walk with it brings in the encroachment permit, the city's tree rules and a root barrier, and the crew hours that go with each. After that it is the depth of the tear-out and the length of the slab. Every estimate is measured and written on site, with those in it.
The city does, along with the parkway strip and the tree in it. That is why a walk or an apron is replaced under an encroachment permit from Placentia rather than under your building permit alone, and why the roots under it are pruned to the city's rules. The drive inside your lot line is yours, and a like-for-like replacement of it needs no permit at all.
In most cases, yes. The roots directly under the raised panels are cut back only as far as the city allows, a root barrier goes in along the lot line where there is room for one, and the new panels are poured on base with steel through them. A tree that has lifted the same walk twice is a question for the city rather than for us, and we say so at the visit.
Yes, it slopes. Most of Placentia is flat, and the work there is set by the trees and the right-of-way. North of Alta Vista Street the streets rise, lots step from front to back, and a drive is graded and jointed for the fall rather than laid level. A retaining wall up there is footed into firm ground and drained to daylight, and one over 4 feet is engineered.
Nine days, give or take, from the first break-out to the first car. The old run comes out on day one, roots and base are handled on day two, and the pour is usually day three. Foot traffic is fine after 24 hours and a vehicle after 7 days. The walk is closed for a day at most, and we leave a plank across the parkway so the mail still arrives.
Yes, both, and Placentia is on the way to each. Yorba Linda is up Rose Drive past the city line, and Brea is north on Kraemer Boulevard, so a crew booked in Placentia often has a second job in one of them the same week. Fullerton, on the west, is not on our list. The page for each town carries its own ground, and where a street sits on the line either page applies.
Placentia sits between Fullerton to the west, Brea to the north and Yorba Linda to the east, with Anaheim along the tracks to the south. We cover Yorba Linda, Brea and Villa Park from the same yard, and each has a page with its own ground and counter.
Open the Orange Office in Google Maps Send the form and you will hear back within 1 business day with a time for the visit. The estimate is written on your lot at no charge, and the finished work carries a written guarantee.