FAQ
Concrete and Masonry in Pacoima, answered
The questions we hear most from Pacoima homeowners.
Excavation and base, every time. We strip the old surface and any soft soil, set the subgrade to the depth the finished work needs, and compact it in lifts until it stops moving under the machine. On a poured slab a layer of crushed rock goes down over that and gets compacted again. Masonry starts lower still, with a footing trench dug below the loose surface material. The visible part of the job takes a day or two. What sits underneath decides whether the work is still flat and tight in twenty years.
Most of it is original to the house. Driveways and walks poured in the postwar decades were commonly placed thin, over whatever soil was already there, with little or no steel and joints spaced by eye. Decades of vehicle weight, watering, and root growth then push panels out of level, and once a corner drops, water collects on it and speeds the rest along. That is why replacement rather than patching is the honest recommendation on most of these properties. Grinding a lip or filling a crack does nothing about the base that failed below it.
For the ordinary single family driveways that make up most of this area, four inches of concrete over a compacted rock base handles passenger vehicles well. Where a truck, an RV, or a loaded trailer parks regularly, we increase both the thickness and the steel rather than hoping a standard section survives it. Walkways and rear patios can sit at four inches because nothing heavy ever crosses them. The apron section where the driveway meets the street takes more abuse than anything else on the lot and gets built accordingly.
Both have a place, and placement matters more than the choice. Rebar tied into a grid is standard for driveways, aprons, and anything carrying vehicles. Mesh can serve on light duty patios and walks. Either way the steel is lifted onto chairs so it ends up inside the slab rather than lying on the dirt, which is exactly where most failed older concrete around here has its mesh sitting. Reinforcement is not what keeps concrete from cracking. It holds the two sides of a crack together so the panel stays level and closed.
Wherever the slope sends it, and on ground this level there is no natural fall to rely on. Finished grade gets set before any concrete is placed, pitching the surface away from the house at a consistent fall, with a destination chosen for the water first, whether that is a planted area, a gravel bed, or a drain inlet piped out toward the street. Skip that step on flat ground and water simply stands on the slab after every irrigation cycle and every winter storm, staining the surface and working into the joints.
Concrete shrinks as it cures, and that shrinkage relieves itself somewhere, so the real goal is deciding where. Control joints are cut or tooled to roughly a quarter of the slab thickness, laid out in nearly square panels, and aligned with inside corners and post bases where stress naturally concentrates. Cracks then form down inside those joints where nobody sees them. Isolation material separates the slab from the house wall and from columns so each element moves on its own. Leaving joints out does not prevent cracking. It only lets the cracks wander.
It works against you, and full sun on an unshaded lot makes it worse. Concrete needs to hold moisture while it gains strength, and a hot dry afternoon pulls water out of the top faster than it can rise from below, leaving a weak, dusty surface and inviting early shrinkage cracking. On summer pours we place during the cooler part of the day, keep the finishing crew moving steadily, and then cure deliberately with water or a curing compound. Rushing that stage costs the slab strength it never gets back later.
A broom finish is hard to beat for plain value. The texture stays sure underfoot when wet, it hides ordinary wear, and it is the least expensive finish to place. Exposed aggregate washes back the surface paste to reveal the stone, giving a durable texture with more character to it. Stamped concrete presses pattern and relief into the wet surface and reads as stone or brick for a fraction of the material cost. Integral color mixes pigment through the batch so the tone runs the full depth instead of sitting on top and wearing off in the tire lanes.
Yes, and the trick is choosing where the money shows. Budgets around here are practical, so we frequently put the decorative finish on the one area people actually sit in and keep a plain broom finish on the side yard, the service walks, and the driveway. Integral color is better value than a surface applied color because it does not wear through at the traffic points. Sealers deepen the tone and make cleanup easier, though they are a maintenance item that gets renewed periodically, and we say so before anyone commits to them.
Reinforcement and a proper footing carry the wall, not the mortar. A footing sized for the wall gets poured below the loose surface soil, with horizontal steel in it and vertical bars projecting up on a spacing that matches the block module. Those bars run inside the hollow cells, which are then filled solid with grout so steel and block behave as one unit. Horizontal steel goes into the bed joints as the courses rise. Built that way, a wall moves as a single element instead of hinging at every mortar line.
Since the ground here is level, retaining walls in this area usually hold a raised planter, a sunken seating area, or a grade change created on purpose rather than a hillside. The build is the same regardless. A footing sits below grade, vertical steel comes up through grouted cells, and the back face gets waterproofed. Clean gravel is placed behind the wall with a perforated drain pipe at the base running to daylight, and weep holes are left through the face. Saturated soil is what pushes walls over, so relieving that water is structural work.
Above a certain height, yes, and it also needs an engineered design rather than a rule of thumb. Pacoima is part of the City of Los Angeles, so that review runs through Los Angeles Building and Safety. Surcharge conditions such as a driveway, a slope, or a structure bearing above the wall can pull engineering in at a lower height than owners expect. We tell you at the estimate which side of that line your wall falls on. Building an over height wall without the permit becomes a problem later, usually when the house sells.
The apron is the piece between the sidewalk and the street, and it sits in the public right of way rather than on your lot, so it is handled separately from the concrete inside the property line. That portion is permitted through the City of Los Angeles, with inspection of the section, the slope, and how it meets the existing curb and gutter. We identify the requirement at the front end and coordinate the private driveway with it, so the two meet in matching grade and finish instead of forming a lip you feel every time.
Usually yes, provided what sits behind the veneer is sound. Veneer is a facing, so it needs a solid, plumb backing of block or concrete, correct preparation, and a mortar bed that keeps it attached for the long run. On older homes here we check the existing footing and the condition of the substrate first, because facing a wall that is already moving only hides the problem for a season or two. Column bases, seat walls, planter faces, and low front yard walls change a street elevation more than almost anything else for the money.
Phasing is common here and it is a sensible way to work. The usual order puts safety and access first, so a broken driveway, a sunken entry walk, or steps with a bad rise get replaced before anything decorative happens. A rear patio slab or a block seat wall can follow in a later stage. What we do ask is that the grading and drainage intent for the whole yard is settled at the start, so every phase drains to the same destination and nothing poured this year has to be broken out to correct the next one.
One licensed contractor handles it from demolition through the final finish. The same people who tear out the old slab set the base, tie the steel, place and finish the concrete, and lay the block. That is why the finish matches from one panel to the next, and why nobody on site is unclear about what was agreed at the estimate. It also means you deal with one company for scheduling, for questions while the work is running, and for anything that comes up after it is done.
Access planning, mostly. Lots in this neighborhood are regular in size and the streets are established, so we stage the demolition, keep broken concrete moving into the truck instead of piling it on the parkway, and clear the work area at the end of each day. Driveway work is sequenced so you know precisely which days a vehicle cannot be parked behind the house. People here know their neighbors, and we would rather leave a clean site every evening than find out how patient the block is willing to be.
Reach Daniels Landscaping at (818) 443-9300 and we will arrange a time to walk the property together. We look at the existing flatwork, the grade, where water currently sits, and what you want the finished area to do, then put together a free written estimate spelling out the scope, the section thickness, the reinforcement, and the finishes. Our California contractor license is number 1138709. Nothing gets scheduled until you have read the estimate and agreed to it, so the entire scope is in front of you before any work begins.