Concrete Driveways, Slabs & Patios in Beaumont, TX

What should you know about concrete work here?

Concrete in Southeast Texas lives on some of the most restless ground in the state. The clay under Beaumont swells when it rains and shrinks when it dries, and flatwork that was poured on a thin base shows it within a few summers. Rocha's General Construction forms, pours and finishes driveways, patios, sidewalks, carport and shop pads, and house slabs across Jefferson County, Orange County and Hardin County.

The work you do not see, the base, the steel and the joints, is where we spend the time.

What goes into a concrete job?

Walk any older street in Beaumont or Port Arthur and you will see the same thing: driveways broken into plates, one side sunk an inch lower than the other, and sidewalks lifted by tree roots. Some of that is age. Most of it comes back to what went under the concrete.

On a new driveway or patio we start by cutting out organic topsoil and roots, then bring in select fill or crushed base and compact it in lifts. We set forms to a grade that moves water away from the house and toward the street or the yard drain, not back toward your slab. Rebar on chairs or wire mesh held up in the pour gives the slab something to hold it together when the ground moves. Control joints are cut at the right spacing so the cracks that will come follow a straight line instead of wandering.

Concrete cracks. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What good prep does is keep cracks tight and the slab level, so a hairline stays a hairline.

Replacement jobs start with demolition. We break out the old concrete, haul it away, correct the base, and pour new. If a single panel failed, we can often replace just that section and dowel it into the sound concrete next to it.

Shop pads and carport slabs are a big part of our rural work, from Lumberton and Silsbee along Highway 96 to the acreage west of town. For a metal building, the pad needs thickened edges and anchor bolt locations that match the building plans, so we work from the manufacturer's drawings. House slabs for additions and new homes are poured to the plans provided for that structure; we do not design foundations. Slab design in the coastal wind zone and the floodplain comes from the engineer or designer on the project.

Near Pine Island Bayou and the other low ground that flooded in Harvey and Imelda, slab height and yard grade deserve extra thought before anything is poured.

In the floodplain, grade and fill matter to more than you. Jefferson County Drainage District 6 and the other drainage districts care where water goes, and fill in a mapped floodplain inside Beaumont needs a floodplain permit. Driveway approaches and sidewalks in the public right-of-way also need city approval. We check before we form.

Upper Gulf Coast summers are hard on fresh concrete. We pour in the cooler hours when summer heat would flash the surface, and we cure the slab so it does not dry too fast in the wind.

Materials and methods

Ready-mix concrete, crushed limestone or select fill base, plate compactor, 2x4 and 2x6 forms and steel stakes, #3 and #4 rebar on chairs, welded wire mesh, expansion joint material, bull floats, hand trowels, broom and stamp tools, walk-behind saw for control joints, curing compound, skid steer and dump trailer for demo and haul-off.

How does a concrete job run?

1. 01

   Site visit first. We measure, check drainage, look at trees and utilities, and talk finish options: broom, smooth, exposed aggregate or stamped.

2. 02

   The written estimate lists thickness, base, reinforcement, joint layout and finish.

3. 03

   We call in utility locates, pull any permits, and schedule demo and haul-off if old concrete is coming out.

4. 04

   Prep day: dig out to depth, place and compact base, set forms to grade, place steel.

5. 05

   Pour day: concrete arrives, gets placed, screeded, floated and finished. Joints are tooled or saw-cut.

6. 06

   We cure the slab, strip forms, backfill the edges, and tell you when it can take foot traffic and when it can take a vehicle.

Why hire Rocha's General Construction?

We would rather lose a bid than pour a driveway on a thin base. Our estimates spell out the base, the steel and the joints so you can see what you are paying for and compare it against other bids.

We are local, we know what our clay does in a dry August, and we plan drainage so your new slab does not send water toward your house or your neighbor's.