Concrete Removal and Slab Tear-Out in Arden, NC
Out, not dragged across the lawn.
Arden is South Asheville's subdivision country, and the concrete there is the same age as the houses: 1950s ranch drives in Royal Pines and Oak Forest, 1980s patios off Hendersonville Road, builder-grade pads behind the newer places toward the airport. McKinley breaks it out, hauls it off and leaves the ground ready for what comes next.
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Concrete Removal in Arden
Subdivision concrete, thirty years on
Arden is unincorporated southern Buncombe County, between Skyland and Fletcher, and it filled in by decades. Royal Pines and Oak Forest are 1950s and 60s ranches. Then came the streets off Sweeten Creek and Hendersonville Road, and since 2000 more than a third of the housing stock.
So there is concrete of every age here, and the older runs are at the point where owners stop patching. The call is usually about a driveway that has cracked into pieces, a patio pulling away from the back door, or a slab where a shed stood. In a neighborhood, that work has to happen without wrecking the lawn next door.
Working in a tight yard
Lots in Arden's subdivisions are closer together than mountain lots, and the concrete is often behind the house. McKinley sizes the machine to the gap. The mini excavator gets through a side yard and a gate opening that the big machine never would, and it still breaks a four-inch slab without trouble.
Broken pieces are carried out to the dump truck in the street rather than dragged across the grass. Where a fence panel is in the way, it comes out and goes back. The aim is that a week later the only sign of the job is the concrete being gone.
The flat lots and the sloped ones
Arden sits in the French Broad valley and is flatter than most of Buncombe County, which is a big part of why it grew. Flat ground is easy to work on and bad at shedding water. A patio that was poured level has usually been holding rain against the house for years. Once it is out, the fill is graded away from the foundation so the water has a direction.
Toward Avery Creek and the ridges east of Sweeten Creek the lots steepen. A drive cut into the hill there may have a bank behind it that needs holding up once the concrete that was bracing it is gone.
Gravel, a pad or a drain afterward
McKinley does not pour concrete. What he does is leave the ground ready for the next thing, and in Arden that is usually one of three. A gravel drive on a proper base where the broken concrete drive was. A compacted pad for a new shed or carport, sized before the building is ordered. Or a French drain along the side of the house where the old walk was sending water to the crawlspace.
If the slab is under a shed or carport that is coming down too, the demolition and the tear-out happen as one job, footings included.
Utilities and the county office
Buried lines run everywhere in a subdivision, and some of them are under the concrete. NC811 marks the public ones, and the request goes in three working days ahead, which is the law in North Carolina. Irrigation, landscape lighting and the line to a detached garage are private and do not get marked, so he asks and looks before he digs.
Arden is outside Asheville city limits, so building permits run through Buncombe County Permits and Inspections on Woodfin Street. Taking out a slab usually does not need one, but a new pad or any work near a creek is worth a call first. Many Arden neighborhoods also have an HOA that wants to know.
One number, hauling included
He comes out, looks at the concrete and the route to it, and gives a price with the hauling and the finish grading in it. Thick slabs with rebar take longer than a thin walk. A drive at the street is quicker than a patio behind the house.
He will also say when a slab is sound and the better money is a drain or a regrade instead. If a pad is going in where the concrete was, the house pad cost guide covers what moves that part of the price.
Concrete Removal
Driveways, patios, slabs, sidewalks, steps and footings broken out, loaded and hauled off, then graded back.
See the serviceTalk to McKinley(828) 540-6856
Two photos of the concrete and one of the route from the street. McKinley prices the removal and whatever comes after it as one job.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Driveway tear-out. Ranch-era and newer drives broken up, loaded and hauled off.
- Back patios. Sunken or tilted patios out, and the ground graded away from the house.
- Shed and carport slabs. Pad and footings broken out, the hole filled and compacted.
- Walks and steps. Front walks and stoop steps removed without tearing up the lawn.
Arden, NC
South Asheville along Hendersonville Road and Sweeten Creek, dense with subdivisions from the 1970s on and newer ones on every side road toward the airport.
Town pageAlso in ArdenDemolition in Arden, NC
See the pageAlso in ArdenRetaining Walls in Arden, NC
See the pageAlso in ArdenYard Drainage & French Drains in Arden, NC
See the pageThe serviceConcrete Removal
Driveways, patios, slabs, sidewalks, steps and footings broken out, loaded and hauled off, then graded back.
Main service pageArden and the towns nearby
Arden runs into Skyland on one side and Fletcher on the other, and McKinley does the same tear-outs in both. He also handles concrete removal north in Asheville, south in Hendersonville and up I-26 in Weaverville. Biltmore Park, Avery Creek and the streets off Long Shoals Road are all in reach. The Fletcher and Arden page lists the rest of what he does along the Hendersonville Road corridor.
You get McKinley. Not a crew he sent.
You call
You call or text. McKinley comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the finish grading in it.
He runs the machine
Then he shows up and runs the machine himself.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled, water is given a way out, and the ground is left so you can build, pour or seed.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full concrete removal service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (828) 540-6856 and ask McKinley, or read the guides.
Can you reach a patio behind my house in Arden?
Usually. The mini excavator fits through most side yards and gate openings, and a fence panel can come out for the day if it does not. The pieces are carried out to the truck rather than dragged across the lawn. The route gets checked on the first visit, and you hear what it means for the price.
Do I need a permit to remove concrete in Arden?
Removing a slab on its own usually does not need one. Arden is unincorporated, so the office is Buncombe County Permits and Inspections on Woodfin Street in Asheville, and a call is worth it if a new building, a new drive entrance or work near a creek follows. Check your HOA covenants too.
Can you take out the slab under my shed as well as the shed?
Yes. The shed comes down first, then the slab and the thickened edge or footings under it are broken out and hauled with the rest. The hole is filled, compacted and graded, so you are left with ground you can seed, gravel or put a new pad on.
What goes where the concrete was?
Whatever you want next, except new concrete, which McKinley does not pour. Most Arden jobs end as a gravel drive on a compacted base, a pad for a new shed, or a yard regraded and drained so water stops reaching the house. The ground is left compacted and shaped to drain either way.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Concrete Removal in other towns
Gravel Driveways
A new drive cut into the hill, based in lifts and crowned to shed water.
Learn moreDriveway Repair & Grading
Washouts, ruts and potholes fixed at the cause, not just regraded.
Learn moreDrainage & Erosion Control
French drains, catch basins, culverts and riprap so the property sheds water.
Learn moreRetaining Walls
Block, boulder and riprap walls that hold a cut bank up.
Learn moreLand Clearing
Lots, building sites and overgrown acreage cleared, stumps and root mat out.
Learn moreHouse Pads & Site Prep
Pads cut, filled and compacted on ground that started at anything but level.
Learn moreFree estimate in Arden.
Where it is, how long the drive is, how steep it gets and what it is doing now. We come out, walk it, and give you a real number.
- Free on-site estimates across WNC and the Upstate
- One crew from clearing through to the last load of stone
- Drainage designed in, not sold to you afterwards
Need concrete removal in Arden?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.