Mobile Concrete Tips - Preparing, Forming & Finishing Ready Mix Concrete Projects

Mobile Concrete is always happy to provide expert advice and tips on preparing, forming, and finishing for concrete-related projects in the Los Angeles and Orange County regions. Whether you are working on a new driveway, sidewalk, floor, block wall, foundation, or footing, the below tips and best practices will prove helpful--often saving our clients time, effort, and money.

Concrete Forming Tips

  • To avoid ordering too much or too little concrete, we recommend taking very accurate measurements of your concrete form. To do so, carefully calculate the length x width x depth of the area you are filling. Always take these measurements at the widest and deepest points. This will give us a very clear idea of the volume of concrete you'll need and ensure that you won't run out of concrete during your project. If you have an odd shaped form, give us call; we can help.

Concrete Preparation Tips

  • Pull permits or obtain any approvals that you may need from the city or your homeowners association, prior to our visit. You'll also want to notify your gate attendant or anyone else that might possibly delay or interrupt your pour.
  • Make sure that your form is smooth, level, and cleaned out of all old concrete.
  • Soil needs to be damp or moist--not dry. Dry soil will remove the water from the concrete mixture, making it hard to finish. However, the soil should also not be too wet or muddy.
  • Make sure all of your lines as well as any sleeves are put in prior to your pour.
  • Check that the form is level with the ground. For proper drainage, also verify that your concrete form slopes away from your home or business.
  • Consider whether or not you'll want to put in any type of structural steel, such as rebar or wire mesh. Steel provides concrete with added reinforcement that can be particularly helpful in places where there is a lot of mud or wet soil. However, some cities don't allow it, or you may decide you don't want it; this is the case when you are pouring concrete over a water or gas line.
  • Think about how you are going to get the concrete to the job. Unless we can back right up to the site, our clients usually use one or more wheelbarrows (all projects require at least one wheelbarrow; more than one wheelbarrow is required if you are moving more than a cubic yard of concrete) or they request our pumping service.
  • Concrete can splash and splatter just as easily as water; cover any areas you wish to protect with Visqueen or plastic sheeting.

Concrete Finishing Tips

  • Because there is such a broad range of finishing choices for concrete, we generally provide finishing tips on site on the day of the pour. If you would like more information prior to our arrival, just give us a call. We are available day and night to assist you.

Reviews

Richard of mobile concrete was a pleasure to work with. He provides a fantastic service at a reasonable rate. Richard was great at communicating, calling ahead to verify that we're still on track, showed up on time and was very friendly. He was happy to provide advice and made it really easy to work with him. He gave me the perfect amount of concrete and the job was done. I had a great experience and won't hesitate to call him back and obviously refer him to others. I will be giving him a call for my next short load needs.

Brody C., Tustin, CA Via Yelp Testimonial

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