Old drive cracked, sinking or holding water? We dig out, pack the base and pour a new slab built for what you park on it.
Balch Springs Concrete builds concrete driveways in Balch Springs, TX, from tearing out the old drive to a finished, cured slab, so you end up with a driveway that carries your vehicles and sends water away from the house.
Most calls start with a drive that's cracked, sinking at one end or holding a puddle after it rains. The cause is usually underneath, a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, or a slab that tips water back toward the house, so pouring new concrete without fixing that just gives you the same problem again.
The price mostly turns on the size of the drive, how thick it needs to be and how much steel goes in for what you park on it, plus the tear-out and whatever base work the ground needs. The schedule turns on the city's inspection before the pour, the weather on pour day and the curing time before you can drive on it, and we check with the city on each job and file the permit when one's needed. Your written estimate gives you your own figure and lists what it covers.
I started Balch Springs Concrete in 2023, three years ago, after learning the trade beside my dad on weekends and summers. Here's how it goes from your first call, with one promise behind it. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
After you call or send a message, I come out to measure the drive and look over the ground, the slope and the approach at the street with you. If the old slab is sinking or pooling water, that's when we start working out why.
You get a written estimate that spells out what the price covers, from tear-out to the finished slab, so you can compare it line by line. If there's something I can't know until the old concrete is out, I'll say so in writing instead of guessing.
Once you say yes, we take care of the permit side and set the pour date around the city's inspection. I'm on the job with our crew from the forms through the pour and the cleanup, and we're licensed and insured.
Before I price a driveway I ask what it'll carry, because a work truck or a trailer can change how thick we pour and how much steel goes in. On the job we break out the old slab, dig down and pack the subgrade, which is the ground the slab sits on, and grade it so water runs toward the street and not the house. Then we set the forms and tie in the rebar, the steel that holds the slab together, pour it and give it a broom finish, a light texture so tires and shoes grip when it's wet. We cut the control joints, shallow grooves that tell the concrete where to crack, early enough that it doesn't pick its own spots. If a budget gets tight, I'd rather trim the finish than the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides whether the slab stays flat.
A new driveway often ties into other work. If you want somewhere to sit out back, we can plan concrete patio construction at the same time so both slabs drain the right way, and if plain gray isn't the look you want, our stamped concrete services can add a pattern to a border or the whole drive.
Most of the work that decides how your driveway holds up happens before the truck shows up. Here's what each stage means for you and your house.
Before anything gets broken out, we go over the edges, the approach at the street and the way the slope will run, so there's no surprise about where the water goes. Changes are easy now and hard once the concrete's in.
We break out the old slab and dig and pack the base, so you'll need your vehicles out of the drive from here on. It's the stage I won't rush, because a base that's only raked flat settles along with the dirt under it.
On hot days we plan the pour for a cooler part of the day, because midday heat can leave a weak, dusty top that shows up later. We place the concrete, finish it and cut the joints while it's still the right time to do it.
The new slab has to cure, which is the wait while it gains strength, before it can take a car, and we'll help you work out where to park in the meantime. We pull the forms, clean up and tell you when it's ready to drive on.
Tell us what vehicles the drive will carry and when you'd like the work done, and we'll reply within one business day. The on-site estimate is free and comes with no obligation, and I'll come out to measure, look the site over with you and write down what the price covers. If you'd rather talk it through, call (214) 286-6733.
(214) 286-6733For passenger vehicles, driveway planning usually starts around a 4-inch slab, but heavier loads or weak ground can call for a different design. Industry figures put going from 4 to 5 inches at about 20% more on the concrete cost for nearly 50% more load-carrying capacity, so the extra inch is worth weighing if you park something heavy.
Give it at least a week of curing before you drive on it. Plan other parking for at least that first week, so nobody's tempted to pull in early and mark the slab.
It may get some cracks, but random cracks are generally not a structural problem and won't shorten the driveway's life, though they can be an eyesore. Steel in the slab can help keep cracks narrow and hold the pieces together, but it works with even ground support and joints, not in place of them, which is why we give the base and the joints as much attention as the steel.
We do. The city takes all inspection requests by email at inspections@balchspringstx.gov, so once the permit's filed we send the request and tie your pour date to it. You can see how the city handles this on its permits and inspections page.
A lot of the ground around here is Blackland Prairie clay, the Houston Black soils that stretch from north of Dallas down to San Antonio and shrink and swell a lot as they dry out and take on water. Dallas County's dominant shrink-swell rating, taken across its mapped soils, is Very High. That matters because weak or uneven support can call for a different driveway design, so I look at the ground and how it drains before I settle on thickness and steel.
In Balch Springs, the city has a flatwork permit that covers driveways and driveway approaches, and the steel and forms have to be inspected before the pour. Once the permit's filed, the pour date waits on that inspection, so build it into your plans. We're based in Balch Springs and do the same driveway work across the cities around it, including Mesquite, Garland, Forney and Lancaster.
Call (214) 286-6733 or use our contact form, because the sooner the permit gets filed, the sooner your pour date can go on the calendar.
If you've got a question about your driveway before you're ready for an estimate, send us a message and I'll answer it.
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