Concrete and Foundation Removal in Monterey

Driveway and Patio Concrete Removal in Monterey

Peninsula driveways crack for a few reasons: tree roots from pines and oaks, settling in sandy fill, and decades of salt air rusting the reinforcing steel until it swells and splits the slab. Patios and walkways get the same treatment. When the concrete is past patching, we saw-cut clean edges where it meets anything staying, break it out and haul it. Steep driveways in New Monterey and Monterey Vista take extra planning. Trucks cannot always back up them, so we load from the street, use a skid steer or small excavator to move broken concrete down, and keep the road open for neighbors.

Driveway aprons and sidewalks at the street belong to the city, not the owner. When the job includes replacing an apron or a section of sidewalk, an encroachment permit is needed before the concrete is touched. We pull or coordinate that permit and set up cones and signs while the work is open to the street.

Foundation and Slab Removal Before a Rebuild

After a house or garage comes down, the foundation is usually the heaviest part of the job. Older peninsula homes may have unreinforced brick or concrete stem walls, piers on pads, or basement walls. Newer homes in Seaside and Marina are usually slab on grade. We remove whatever the new plans call for and leave the excavation compacted and graded.

When part of a foundation is staying, we saw-cut at the line the engineer marks and protect the remaining concrete from vibration damage. Cutting carefully costs less than repairing a cracked footing later. If the engineer wants dowels or new steel tied into the old footing, we leave enough exposed rebar at the cut for the foundation crew to work with.

• Stem walls, footings and piers
• Slab on grade and garage floors
• Basement walls and floors
• Saw-cutting at engineered lines

Retaining Wall Removal on Hillside Lots

Hillside lots above downtown Monterey and in Carmel Valley often have old concrete or block retaining walls holding back soil. Removing one without planning can let the slope move. We work from the engineer's plan, remove the wall in sections, and set up temporary shoring or cut the slope back when needed. Walls along property lines or sidewalks may need a permit from the city or county before they come out. We check that during the quote and schedule removal around the replacement wall so the slope is not left open in wet weather.

Loose sand behind a wall is a particular problem near the beaches of Seaside and Del Monte Beach. Once the wall is gone, dry sand runs freely, so we keep removals short and get the new wall or slope protection in place quickly. A temporary cut slope is never left open longer than it has to be.

Recycling Concrete From Peninsula Jobs

Clean concrete is crushed and reused as base rock rather than buried, which is the standard way to meet CALGreen diversion on demolition jobs. Rebar is pulled and sent to metal recycling. We keep concrete loads free of trash and wood so the recycler accepts them. Loads with dirt mixed in cost more to dispose of.

On jobs where the new work needs base rock, recycled concrete aggregate can often come back to the same site. Ask your general contractor whether that fits the plans. It saves a trip each way and cuts the amount of new quarry rock the job needs. The engineer has the final say on gradation and compaction.