Harbor Costa Mesa Concrete cuts out and replaces the failed panel of a 1990s drive, walk or patio in Aliso Viejo, at the far end of the 73 from Costa Mesa. The visit and estimate are free.
5.0 Stars Rated by our customers · Google, Facebook and the BBB
A 30 year old slab in Aliso Viejo is not finished. At home we break out 1950s drives whole because every panel has failed. Here one panel has, and replacing the rest would be tearing out good work.
The builder's concrete of the 1990s was poured on a compacted pad with joints on a grid, and most of it has done what it should. The failures are local. A drive panel at the garage door settles where the utility trench under it was backfilled loose, a walk panel lifts where a parkway tree's root has run under it, and a patio corner drops where it reached over the edge of the pad. Cut those out and the rest is good for another 20 years, so the job is a panel, its base and the match.
So we saw the panel free on its joints, break out only that piece, and find what moved under it, a soft trench or a root, and fix that first. The base goes back as 4 inches of compacted rock, the new panel is doweled into both neighbors so it cannot step, and it is poured 4 inches on steel to the same finish and joint lines as the old. Matching is the craft here. The broom runs the same way, the edges take the same radius, and the new gray weathers to the old in one summer.
Aliso Viejo houses went up in the 1980s and 1990s, so their concrete is halfway through its life. The drive has one settled panel at the garage, the walk has one lifted at a root, and the rest is sound, so the job is the panel and the match.
An Aliso Viejo drive fails one panel at a time, usually the one at the garage door over the utility trench. We saw it free on its joints, compact the trench line, dowel the new panel into both neighbors and pour it 4 inches on steel, broomed in the same direction as the rest.
A patio in Aliso Viejo drops at the corner that reached over the edge of the pad, and the corner is cut out and replaced on a deeper base while the rest stays. Where an owner wants more patio we extend it to the setback, 4 inches on compacted rock, doweled to the old slab.
Stamped concrete in Aliso Viejo is usually a match, since the builder's stamped entries are 30 years old and one panel has cracked. We take a mold of the pattern from a sound panel, color the new one to the weathered tone, and seal it in 2 coats against the sun on the pad.
A walk in Aliso Viejo lifts at one panel where a root has run under it. We saw that panel out, cut the root back at the tree's edge, compact 4 inches of rock, and pour the panel 4 inches, broom finished to match, with a joint every 5 feet to line up with the old ones either side.
A garage floor in Aliso Viejo was poured with the house over a vapor barrier, so it is usually sound and asked for a flat surface to coat. Where it has cracked at the door we cut out that strip, dowel the new pour into the old slab, and trowel it flush, ready to coat in 28 days.
Exposed aggregate in Aliso Viejo is matched from a sound panel first, since the builder's stone and its exposure vary by tract. We source the same stone, pour the panel 4 inches with the same border band, wash it to the same depth the same evening, and seal it after the cure.
A retaining wall is how an Aliso Viejo yard gains flat ground from its slope. We footing it into the cut below the fill, drain behind the stem with gravel and a perforated pipe run to the area drain, and the city inspects any wall over 4 feet before the backfill goes in.
An interior floor in Aliso Viejo is a garage or a room over the slab the builder poured, so most are a topping ground flat rather than a new slab. Where a new one is poured we lay a 10 mil barrier on compacted rock, trowel it flat for tile or polish, and cut joints to the room.
Our office is on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, and the 73 starts a few miles from it and runs through the hills to Aliso Viejo, about 18 miles, so the crew is on an Aliso Viejo drive in 25 minutes without touching the 5. Plans go to the City of Aliso Viejo at City Hall on Journey, and because the city incorporated in 2001, after most of its houses were built, the tract's joint layout and finish are on record and are what a replacement panel is matched to.
The city was planned as one piece, so most homes sit under the Aliso Viejo Community Association as well as the city, and a panel that shows from the street is expected to match its neighbors, which is one reason a whole drive is not replaced for one failed square. About 3 in 5 homes here are owner occupied, and the townhome courts off Pacific Park Drive replace their shared drives a panel at a time too, by the association's list, with the tenants' cars moved for a morning.
The hills take the weather differently from the coast. Aliso Viejo sits inland of the Laguna ridge, so a summer afternoon on a south facing pad runs warmer than our yard by the sea, and a panel poured there starts at 6 in the morning from July to September so its surface does not dry ahead of its neighbors' shade line. That same sun is what weathers a new panel to the old, and a panel poured in spring is hard to tell from the tract's by fall.
Four stages from the visit to the matched panel, and the first one decides how many panels there are. The whole slab is sounded, so a panel about to go is replaced with the one that has gone.
Julian Mercado taps every panel, probes the ground under the failed one, and writes the estimate at the property, each panel on its own line.
A panel needs no permit, but a wall, a footing or a walk at the curb does, and a change seen from the street is drawn for the association.
The panel is sawn free on its joints and broken out, the soft trench or the root under it is dealt with, and 4 inches of rock is compacted.
Dowels go into both neighbors, the panel is poured 4 inches on steel, broomed the same way, and carries a car after 7 days.
Call or send the form and we call you back within 1 business day to book the visit. The estimate is free, written at the property with each panel on its own line, and the drive down the 73 is one we make most weeks for the towns on that side.
Reviews
Reviews left on Google, Facebook and the BBB by homeowners across the towns we cover, Aliso Viejo among them, with the job named in each one and how the new panel has matched since.
“Our driveway on the State Streets was the 1955 original, broken into plates that rocked underfoot. They dug out a foot of old planter fill, compacted it, poured 560 square feet at 4 inches with a 5-inch apron and pulled the curb permit themselves. Eighteen months in and it is flat.”
“I own a fourplex in Fountain Valley and the garage slabs were sweating every winter. They cut out all four, laid a vapor barrier and 4 inches of gravel, poured them at 5 inches over two days and gave me one estimate per unit. First winter since, the floors are dry.”
“We needed a slab for a detached studio behind our Newport Beach house. The owner dug the footings 12 inches, set the rebar and the vapor barrier, had the City inspect it, and poured 400 square feet in one morning. The framer said it was the flattest slab he had worked on all year.”
What Aliso Viejo homeowners ask before they book. What moves the estimate for a panel, who has to approve it, how far we come, what is under the pad, how long it takes, and the towns nearby.
How many panels, then access. A single drive panel is a morning's saw and break and a small pour, and a second one on the same visit costs less than a second visit. A patio at the back of a pad is reached through a side gate 4 feet wide, so the concrete is barrowed, and that is crew hours on the same square. Every estimate is measured and written on site, with each panel on its own line and the barrow on another.
Not for a panel. Replacing part of a drive, walk or patio on your own pad is exempt under the California Residential Code, and so is the whole slab. A retaining wall over 4 feet, a footing for a cover and a walk at the curb need a permit from the City of Aliso Viejo at City Hall on Journey, and anything seen from the street goes to the Aliso Viejo Community Association for review. We draw for both.
About 18 miles, most of it the 73. Our office is on Newport Boulevard, the toll road starts a few miles from it, and the crew comes off at Aliso Creek Road about 25 minutes later. A panel job is a morning, so it is paired with another visit on that side of the hills, and we call back within 1 business day to book the visit around your week.
Because the ground under that one panel was different. The pad was compacted to carry the house, but the trench for the sewer or the gas line was dug through it afterward and backfilled by hand, and the drive panel over the trench settles as that backfill does. The panels either side are on the compacted pad and stay put. We dig the trench line out to firm material and compact it in layers first.
One morning on site, then the cure. The panel is sawn out, the ground under it dug and compacted, the dowels drilled and the concrete poured before noon, with the joints tooled the same afternoon to match the neighbors. Walk on it after 24 hours and drive on it after 7 days. The association's review, where the panel shows from the street, takes longer than the work, so we file it the week the estimate is signed.
Yes, all the ones that touch it. Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods and Laguna Beach share a line with Aliso Viejo, and Mission Viejo and Lake Forest are a few minutes east, and every one has its own page on this site. The crew serves them from the same office on the same terms, and a street that sits on a city line is served under whichever city issues the permit.
Aliso Viejo is ringed by Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods and Laguna Beach, and we cover all four from the same office, along with Mission Viejo and Lake Forest beyond them. If your street sits on a city line, the town next door has its own page.
Open the Costa Mesa Office in Google Maps Send the form or call and we call you back within 1 business day to book the visit. The estimate is free and written at the property, and the work carries a written guarantee.