Concrete Contractors in Apple Valley, CA

Apple Valley sits at about 2,900 feet on the east side of the Mojave River, and the owners who call concrete contractors here tend to stay put. Census QuickFacts lists a 69.9% owner-occupied rate and says nine in ten residents (90.7%) had not moved in the past year. When people expect to use a driveway or patio for another twenty years, the conversation shifts away from the cheapest slab and toward the one that will still be flat and in one piece.

Weather that ended an industry

The town's name is a reminder of what the climate can do. Commercial apple growing here ended after a fungal outbreak combined with frost, heat and hail in 1944 through 1946, and rising water costs from electric pumps added to the decline. A small orchard survived on the grounds of the Apple Valley Inn until it closed in 1986. Concrete will not die the way an orchard did, but it faces the same cool winters and very hot, dry summers that Wikipedia describes for the town, plus seasonal high winds in spring and fall.

What those conditions mean for a slab

• Fall and spring wind. Gusts dry a fresh surface early. We plan pours for calm mornings and start curing as soon as finishing ends.
• Summer heat. Hot concrete sets fast and leaves less time to finish. We start early, dampen the base and keep the slab moist or sealed with curing compound.
• Winter nights. Water that sits in an open crack can freeze and wedge it wider, so we seal stable cracks before cold weather and slope new slabs to shed water.
• Daily swings. Expansion and contraction are constant here, which is why we lay out control joints before the pour rather than after.

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Planning for the years ahead

QuickFacts puts residents 65 and older at about 18.4% of Apple Valley's population. That number shapes a lot of practical requests. A raised lip at the back door, a narrow walk that will not fit a walker, or a sunken panel near the garage are small problems until they cause a fall. Useful projects here include:

• Pouring a landing at the slider so stepping out is level.
• Replacing a step with a gentle ramp where the grade allows it.
• Widening a side walk so bins, carts and wheelchairs pass easily.
• Cutting out a heaved panel so joints sit flush again.

A broom finish gives grip without being rough, and we keep cross slopes mild so the surface still drains.

A planned town on open land

Apple Valley was developed by Newton T. Bass, an oil company executive who built the Apple Valley Ranchos, and it had a resort side; Richard Nixon spent three months at Bass's home in 1961 writing his first book, Six Crises. That history of selling open land shows in some neighborhoods today, where a house sits on more ground than a typical tract lot. Owners use the extra room for detached shops, longer driveways and larger patios. A big slab needs more planning than a small one: where the truck can reach, how the joints break up the area, and where storm water leaves the concrete.

Checking with the town

Apple Valley incorporated in November 1988. If a driveway approach, curb or sidewalk is part of your project, we check with the Town of Apple Valley about permit requirements before we set a date. Work entirely inside your lot can follow different rules, and we sort that out at the estimate.

Old irrigation and soft fill

Many yards have decades of landscape watering behind them, and some older lots may still hide traces of earlier ranch use. Old irrigation lines, buried roots and soft fill can sit right where a new patio is planned. We probe the area at the estimate, dig out anything organic or loose, and compact the subgrade in lifts before forms go in. If an old sprinkler line runs under the slab footprint, we suggest capping or rerouting it first, because a slow leak under new concrete washes out the sand base within a few seasons.