Walkway construction in San Angelo TX - a walk that sheds rain and stays even

Most people call us when the path they've got is a worn line in the grass, a row of stepping stones that have sunk, or an old slab that's cracked and lifted at the joints. The price mostly follows size, since walks are usually priced by the square foot, and after that it turns on the material you pick, how much old walk or dirt has to come out, and how deep the base needs to be for your ground. The schedule turns on the dig, the curing time a concrete walk needs before you use it, and the weather on pour day. The estimate visit is where you get your own figure, and if the walk is part of a bigger front-yard job, it can make sense to plan it alongside driveway pavers.

First we mark the route and the finished height, then dig out the old walk or the sod and soft dirt, because a walk is only as good as what's under it. We pack the base in layers so it doesn't settle later, then set forms for concrete or edge restraints for pavers. We give the walk a slight fall, usually away from the house, so rain runs off it instead of sitting there and soaking into the base. For concrete we pour, give the surface a finish that isn't slick underfoot, and cut joints so the cracks every slab wants to make land in a straight line instead of wandering. For pavers we level a thin bed of sand, lay the pattern, cut the edges and compact it all together. Before we clean up and leave, I walk you through the curing and sealing schedule so you know when to use the walk and when to reseal it.

A walk usually runs up to something else. If it ends at a garden wall or needs a low wall beside it, we can lay that with our brick wall installation work, and if you'd rather have natural stone for steps or an edge along the path, that falls under our stone masonry. Planning them together means the heights and the drainage line up the first time.

On a paver walk, one paver maker's spec says the depth of the packed base depends on traffic, soil type, drainage, moisture and climate, and Tom Green County's dominant soil has a High shrink-swell rating. That's why I don't pick a base depth from the truck. I look at the soil and the way water moves across your lot first, and that sets how deep we build under the pavers. We do the same on jobs all over San Angelo and the cities around it, and a lot of the old walks we pull out were sitting on very little base at all.

I don't decide whether a new walk needs a permit. The city does, and its Building Permits & Inspections office is the place to ask. When a job needs a permit, we handle the paperwork with them and plan our work around the inspections.