La Porte Indiana Concrete Curbs After Plow Season

La Porte sits south of Lake Michigan, in northwest Indiana. Winters here bring repeated snow on residential streets. Plows run the gutter again and again. So the blade meets the curb right where a driveway drops to the street. The first chips on Concrete Curbs in La Porte are at the nose of the curb. Those chips are on both sides of the apron. After a long plow season, chips break off the edge. The apron slab often cracks back from that same spot.

On older blocks we have worked, the curb dips at the driveway. The dip is where the blade rides up. But a steel edge doesn’t follow that dip on every pass.

After winter, people call us about that broken piece at the street. We have pulled up curb sections the plow caught at the radius. A jagged lip sat in the gutter. Salt water sits in the chip through the thaw. Then the next freeze pops more of the face off. When the lip sits above the gutter, a tire thumps it on every turn-in. Because the break sits where the driveway meets the street, homeowners ask us to fix it. They ask for the work before the next winter.

New Concrete Curbs in La Porte at the Driveway Apron

That broken apron curb is the section we cut out and repour. Then we cut both sides of the driveway where the chip runs. If the gutter edge has broken away, that comes out too. Then we break it out and haul it off. The new curb has to meet the street grade the plow will ride next winter. So we set the forms off the gutter and the apron we are keeping. We line up Concrete Curbs in La Porte with the gutter the plow already rides.

A patch on the face doesn’t hold here. The blade hits the same spot every pass, and a thin skim breaks off. A small chip with sound concrete behind it can take a repair. We tear out and replace the panel when the crack runs into the apron. For example, a driveway that already rocks at the street usually needs a new apron too. On these streets we form Concrete Curbs in La Porte to the curb height beside it.

Tear-Out Work on Concrete Curbs in La Porte

We start with a saw cut so the break line stays straight. The concrete we keep shouldn’t shatter. After the cut, we lift the old curb and the failed apron edge. Then we check the base. When the gravel is soft or full of old chips, we dig it out. Then we put new stone down before the pour. If we pour on a bad base, the curb settles at the gutter. The plow will catch that low spot next year. We do that base work on Concrete Curbs in La Porte before any new concrete goes in.

We also look at the joint by the garage floor. We do that if the crack has traveled that far. A garage floor is a separate pour. When a homeowner wants the walk done while we are there, we add it to the visit. So the street cut and the walk don’t need two separate trips.

The visit can cover more than the curb nose. If the service walk has cracks where it meets the apron, we can tear that out the same day. An upper walk in the same shape can come out with it. Concrete removal and a pour-back are how we handle a driveway past a patch. Our concrete curb work covers the cut-out and the new pour on residential driveways. We have done this kind of cut-out since our doors opened in 2006.

Cabe’s Concrete is family owned and operated. Because a curb at the street sits in salt and meltwater, we pick an exterior mix. We keep photos of apron and curb pours in the photo gallery. So on a La Porte street the finished curb should sit flush with the gutter. We form that radius so a tire can roll over it.