FAQ
Concrete and Masonry in North Hollywood, answered
The questions we hear most from North Hollywood homeowners.
Most of our work here falls into two halves. The poured side covers driveways, front walkways, patio slabs, entry steps and pool decks, all of it built over a compacted base with steel inside the slab. The mortared side covers block walls, brick, stone veneer, seat walls, pilasters and engineered retaining walls, built on a footing sized for the load. Plenty of North Hollywood properties need both at once, since a new patio often wants a low wall to hold a raised bed or to close off a sight line from the lot next door.
Narrow side yard access is normal around here, so we plan the route before anything is ordered. Sometimes a mixer truck can reach the back with a chute extension. More often we run buggies or wheelbarrows through the side yard, or bring in a concrete pump and put the hose over the roof line. Block, sand and gravel get staged in the driveway in staggered loads rather than dumped all at once, because there is nowhere to store a mountain of material on a compact lot. Demolition debris leaves the same way it came in, with surfaces protected along the path.
A great deal of the concrete still in service in this part of the valley was poured decades ago, and the standards then were thinner. Those slabs frequently have no steel at all, a shallow or unprepared base, and no planned joints, so the concrete cracked wherever it wanted to. Add tree roots, an irrigation leak softening the subgrade, and years of vehicle weight on a driveway, and the panels drift out of plane. Resurfacing hides none of that for long. Replacing the section with a proper base, steel and joints is what actually ends the problem.
The subgrade decides how the slab ages. We remove the old surface, dig out soft or organic soil, then shape the ground to the slope the finished surface needs. Crushed aggregate base goes down in lifts and gets compacted with a plate compactor, judged by how it behaves underfoot rather than by eye. On a driveway we compact harder and go deeper on base than we would under a garden path, because the wheel paths concentrate weight into two narrow strips. Uneven support beneath a slab is the most common reason concrete breaks apart early.
Thickness follows load. A residential driveway carrying daily vehicle traffic gets poured noticeably thicker than a walkway that only carries people, and the section near the street gets the same heavier treatment because delivery and trash trucks cross it. Patios and paths can be thinner, though we do not go so thin that the slab loses the ability to span a small soft spot. Thickness by itself is never the whole answer. A thick slab over a poor base still fails, while a properly supported slab of normal depth holds up for decades.
Yes, and where the steel sits matters as much as whether it is present. Rebar or mesh belongs inside the slab, roughly in the middle to lower third, held up on chairs so wet concrete flows underneath it. Steel laid on the dirt and left there ends up buried at the very bottom, doing close to nothing. Reinforcement does not prevent concrete from cracking. What it does is hold the two sides of a crack together and in plane, so the surface stays flat and safe instead of separating into pieces you can catch a toe on.
Concrete shrinks as it cures, and shrinking material in a rigid shape has to relieve that stress somewhere. Control joints give it a planned weak line to crack along, below the surface where nobody notices. We place them on spacing tied to slab thickness, keep panels close to square rather than long and skinny, and line joints up with inside corners, posts and anything else that concentrates stress. Joints do not eliminate cracking. They decide where it happens, which is the difference between a clean straight line and a random split running across your patio.
Concrete does not dry, it cures, and that chemical reaction needs moisture to continue. Valley heat and dry air pull water out of a fresh slab quickly, and a slab that loses moisture too early ends up weaker at the surface, dustier underfoot, and far more prone to shrinkage cracking. So we protect the pour, keep it damp or covered through the early period, and shift the pour away from the worst heat of the day when the forecast calls for it. Curing costs nothing but attention, and the difference shows in the slab for its whole life.
On flat ground nothing drains by accident, so the fall has to be built in deliberately. We set finished grades to move water away from the house and toward a place it can actually leave, then confirm that path exists before pouring. Where there is no natural outlet, which is common in this area, we add collection, meaning area drains or a channel drain across the low point, piped out to the street or another suitable discharge. Adding a large impervious surface without planning for runoff simply moves the puddle somewhere less convenient.
A broom finish remains the workhorse because it gives traction, hides wear, and is straightforward to repair later. Exposed aggregate reads richer and grips well underfoot, which suits pool decks and entries. Stamped patterns imitate stone or plank, and they look best when the pattern is used with restraint and the color stays close to natural. Integral color runs through the whole slab rather than sitting on top, so a scuff does not reveal a gray core. Sealers deepen color and slow staining, though they require reapplication, so we suggest them where appearance matters most.
Phased work is common on these blocks and it is easy to plan around. With rental and multi family property the priority is usually durable and low maintenance rather than decorative, so we begin with surfaces that carry traffic and liability, meaning walkways, entry steps, the trash enclosure pad and the driveway. A later stage can add a patio slab or a seat wall once the budget resets. The critical part is settling the full layout and the drainage plan up front, so each stage pours to the correct elevation and nothing gets broken out later.
Yes. The apron is the section between the sidewalk and the street, and that ground sits in the public right of way rather than on your property, so the city reviews and inspects it. The private portion of the driveway inside your property line is handled separately. We manage the sequence so the right of way work is permitted and inspected properly and the private section is poured to match it. Skipping that step invites a correction notice, and correcting concrete after it has hardened is the expensive way to learn the rule.
Close spacing makes the property line the first conversation. We confirm where that line actually runs before digging, because a wall built on assumption becomes somebody else's problem later. The footing goes below grade and is sized for wall height, with vertical rebar set into it and carried up through the block. Those cells get grouted solid rather than left hollow, which is what turns a stack of block into a wall. Where clearance to the neighboring structure is tight, we plan the mixing station, the staging and the cleanup route before the first course goes down.
Once a wall retains soil above a certain height it stops being a garden feature and becomes a structure, and at that point it requires an engineered design and a permit. A surcharge behind the wall, meaning a driveway, a slope or a structure sitting close above it, can push a shorter wall into that category as well. The engineering sets footing dimensions, steel size and spacing, and how the wall carries its load. We would rather tell you a wall needs a design than build something that starts leaning after a few wet winters.
Water is what knocks walls over, not soil. Behind the block we place clean gravel against the wall so water travels down instead of pressing on the face, then a perforated pipe at the base within that gravel, sloped to daylight or to a line that carries it away. Filter fabric keeps fine soil from clogging the gravel over time. Weep holes through the base course give trapped water a second escape. On flat ground the outlet takes planning, since there is no convenient hillside to aim that pipe toward.
Usually yes, provided what sits underneath is sound. Veneer is a facing rather than a structure, so it needs solid backing, correct preparation, and the right mortar setting bed to bond and stay bonded. We inspect the existing wall or step for movement and cracking first, because covering something that is still shifting only hides the issue for a season. Thickness matters at doorways and stair nosings, since a facing changes tread depth and clearances. Done properly, veneer over a plain block pilaster or a builder grade porch changes the entire front of a house.
One licensed contractor, start to finish. One licensed contractor stays accountable for the work. The people doing the demolition, preparing and compacting the base, tying the steel, setting the forms, placing the concrete, finishing it and laying the block work under one licensed contractor, working under our supervision on our schedule. That is why quality stays consistent from one job to the next, and it is why nobody on your property is a stranger to us. If something needs correcting, we correct it ourselves rather than chasing another company to come back out.
Phone Daniels Landscaping at (818) 443-9300 and we will arrange a time to meet you at the property. We look at access, existing grades, the condition of what is already poured, and where water needs to go, then prepare a free written estimate that spells out scope, materials and finish so you can compare it honestly against anything else you receive. We are licensed in California, license number 1138709. If the project makes more sense in stages, we will say so and lay out an order that works.