Concrete Slab Removal in Sacramento, CA

Which slab types do we remove?

• Driveway slabs (residential and commercial)
• Backyard patio slabs and pool decks
• Garage floor slabs (often with footings and curbs)
• Outbuilding and shed slabs
• Post-fire house foundations (slab-on-grade)
• Old equipment pads, AC pads, and storage-shed pads
• Decorative or stamped concrete with integral color (treated like standard slab for demo)

How do we assess thickness and reinforcement?

A 4-inch unreinforced patio slab is a different job than a 6-inch driveway with #4 rebar on 18-inch centers. We assess thickness, mesh vs rebar, fiber reinforcement, post-tension cabling (rare in residential), and any plumbing or electrical buried in the slab before quoting the breakout method. Post-tension cabling is a serious safety issue and requires a different scope — we will flag it on the walk if we see signs of it.

Which breakout method fits the job?

How do we control dust and saw noise?

Concrete demolition makes silica dust. We use water suppression on saw work and limit jackhammer time per cycle so dust does not drift into the house or onto neighbors. On noise-sensitive sites we plan the loudest work in the early morning window and finish detail breakout later in the day. We also tarp ornamentals, AC units, and pool surfaces inside the splash zone.

Where does the broken concrete go?

Broken concrete from a residential slab typically heads to a recycling yard, not a landfill. The same goes for asphalt and clean rubble. Mixed debris (wood-framed, painted, attached lumber) usually has to be sorted before disposal. Haul cost depends on tonnage, the route from the slab to the truck, and how far the recycling yard is. Long carry distances or tight side yards add labor for the loadout.

What happens to the ground after the slab comes out?

Pulling the slab is only half the job — the ground under it usually needs work too. Most Sacramento-area slabs sit on a few inches of base rock over native clay, and once the concrete is gone you are left with a depression, a compacted sub-base, and sometimes the trench scars of old plumbing or conduit that ran under the pad. If anything is going back on the footprint — sod, decomposed granite, pavers, or a fresh pour — the subgrade has to be brought back to grade, moisture-conditioned, and recompacted. Valley clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry, so a replacement slab that skips proper compaction telegraphs cracks within a season or two. Rebar and welded-wire mesh get pulled out of the rubble on the way to the truck: clean concrete is crushed and recycled at an aggregate yard, the steel goes to a metal recycler, and only the genuinely mixed or contaminated fraction rides to a permitted C&D facility such as Kiefer Landfill on the county's southeast edge. Separating those streams keeps disposal cost down, since clean recycled concrete tips far cheaper than mixed debris by the ton. As a rough planning figure, a single-car 4-inch driveway is often one to two concrete debris loads; thicker or double-poured slabs run heavier and haul in more trips. We rough-grade the open footprint as part of the haul-off so the area sheds water instead of ponding on the exposed clay.

What affects price?

• Thickness — 4-inch patio is much cheaper than 6-8 inch driveway
• Reinforcement — rebar adds breakout time and saw-cut effort
• Fiber-mesh in the pour (modern slabs)
• Plumbing or electrical buried in the slab (gas, conduit, drains)
• Access — how close the truck can park to the slab edge
• Disposal distance from the property
• Whether subgrade restoration (regrade, compaction, base rock) is part of the scope