Concrete Contractors in Nederland, TX

Nederland grew in a hurry, and that history shows up in the driveways. For concrete contractors working here, the numbers from the Texas State Historical Association tell the story: 3,805 residents in 1950, 12,036 in 1960 and 16,810 in 1970. The city now has 18,856 people on about 6 square miles, about 10 miles from downtown Beaumont. Much of the flatwork poured during that postwar run has reached the age where it cracks, settles and needs to be repaired or replaced.

From rice farms to a mid-county suburb

Dutch immigrants arrived in November 1897, with George Rienstra as the first settler, as part of Arthur Stilwell's railroad plans. Families started truck, dairy and rice farms. Spindletop in 1901 brought oil money, an interurban line linked the town to Beaumont and Port Arthur in 1913, and Nederland incorporated on April 29, 1940. TSHA says it then grew fast as a residential center in the boom years that followed, with refineries as the mainstay of the economy. The Dutch Windmill Museum, built in 1969, is a nod to where it started.

What 60-year-old flatwork looks like

Flatwork from the 1950s and 1960s can be thin, laid on unprepared soil and finished without sawed joints. Signs to look for on those properties:

• Single-car drives that families have outgrown, now with gravel or pavers along one side
• Hairline cracks that turned into wide ones after decades of wet and dry cycles
• Front walks heaved by tree roots or sunk near downspouts
• Back patios that are just a small pad by the door, often sloping the wrong way

Widening a driveway is one of the most common requests on older lots. We saw-cut a clean edge, dowel the new section into the old slab so the two move together, and match the finish as closely as aged concrete allows. When the old drive is too far gone, a full replacement gives you one uniform surface.

Rain that set a national record

Hurricane Harvey dropped 60.58 inches of rain on Nederland in 2017, which Wikipedia lists as the highest total from a tropical cyclone in U.S. history. The city sits at 13 feet above sea level on a coastal plain, and average rainfall is close to 61 inches a year. That much water tests any slab. Drainage is where we start:

1. Slope every new surface away from the house 2. Keep downspouts discharging past the edge of the concrete 3. Build a compacted base that will not wash out at the edges 4. Leave clear paths for water to reach the street or a swale

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Patios, stamped work and slabs

A lot of Nederland homeowners want more usable backyard, and concrete is the simplest way to get it. A plain broom-finished patio is practical and slip resistant. Stamped concrete with a slate or stone pattern looks more finished and costs more to install and maintain because it needs sealing. For a shop, shed or carport, we pour a dedicated slab with thickened edges and reinforcement sized for the load, not just a thicker patio.

Repairs that make sense

Not every cracked slab needs to go. A narrow crack with no height difference can be cleaned and sealed. A sunken panel next to a good one can often be cut out and replaced alone. We recommend replacement when the base has failed, when panels have shifted enough to trip someone, or when patch on patch has stopped working. We explain the choice, write it in the estimate and let you decide.

Working in town

Nederland has its own city government, with a new City Hall finished in 2013. Before work that touches the street, the sidewalk or a drainage ditch, we check what the city requires so the job is done the right way. Most patio and backyard slab work stays on your property, but we confirm that before we start.