Concrete Contractors in Riverside, CA

Riverside is one of the oldest cities in the Inland Empire, and concrete contractors here handle everything from century-old walkways to slabs poured a few years ago. Founded in the early 1870s and incorporated in 1883, the city counted 314,998 people and 100,255 housing units in 2020, spread across 28 designated neighborhoods. A driveway in the Wood Streets and one in Orangecrest may look alike from the curb, but they call for very different decisions.

Older neighborhoods: repair with respect

Riverside takes its past seriously. The Old Riverside Foundation works on preserving the city's built environment and holds an annual Vintage Home Tour of private historic homes. Older blocks near downtown can still have original walks and narrow driveway ribbons, thin slabs poured without a modern base, and panels lifted by decades of root growth.

On older homes we try to keep what works. That can mean:

• Replacing only the lifted or broken sections of a walkway
• Matching a plain gray broom finish rather than adding stamping that looks out of period
• Using an exposed or lightly tinted finish to blend new panels with old ones
• Cutting roots only after the owner and, where needed, an arborist agree it is safe for the tree

Newer neighborhoods: upgrades and add-ons

In newer parts of the city the houses are younger and the projects are different. Owners want wider driveways, stamped patios, pool decks and side-yard slabs. Builder concrete in newer tracts is usually in decent shape, so most of our work there is new pours that tie into existing slabs. We set isolation joints where new meets old and match the slope of the original grading so we do not send water toward the house.

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A very dry city, with hot spells

Riverside is drier than Corona. The airport records just under 9.4 inches of rain in an average year, nearly all of it between November and April, and July afternoons average a little over 93 degrees. Three separate days have reached 118, the latest in July 2018. Dry air and heat pull water out of fresh concrete quickly. We plan summer pours for early morning, wet the subgrade ahead of time and start curing as soon as finishing is done. A slab that cures properly in its first week is stronger and more resistant to surface cracking for the rest of its life.

The upside of so little rain is that the concrete season here is long. Winter is often our most comfortable time to pour, as long as we stay out of the way of the few storms that do come through.

Along the Santa Ana River

The city sits beside the Santa Ana River, with Mount Rubidoux as a landmark on the river's edge. Homes on lower ground near the river and in older drainage paths need slabs that shed water well. We look at how a yard drains during a storm before we set forms, and on patios and driveways we keep a steady fall away from the foundation.

What we pour in Riverside

• Concrete driveways: panel replacement in older areas, full replacement and widening in newer ones
• Concrete patios: plain and colored slabs, covered-patio footings
• Stamped concrete: patios, entries and walkways in newer neighborhoods
• Pool decks: textured, cooler finishes for summer heat
• Concrete slabs: sheds, garages, ADU pads and workshop floors
• Concrete repair: trip hazards, root-lifted walks, cracked panels and resurfacing

Work near the street, such as a driveway approach, can involve the City of Riverside. We check permit needs for your address before we schedule.