Concrete Removal and Slab Tear-Out in Asheville, NC
Broken out, hauled off, graded back.
Asheville's concrete is old and most of it is on a slope: driveways poured when the house was built, patios that have heaved, slabs left from garages that are long gone, steps and walks that have split. McKinley breaks it out with the excavator, hauls it off and grades the ground back. He does not pour new concrete.
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Concrete removal in Asheville
Old driveways on a slope
Across the Asheville area the driveway is usually the first piece of concrete to go. It was poured decades ago on a lot that drops away from the street, water has been running under one edge ever since, and now it is cracked into plates and heaved at the joints. Patching it does not last, because the base underneath is what has moved.
McKinley breaks the slab with the excavator, loads the pieces and hauls them off. What goes back is often a gravel drive, based and crowned to shed water, which is easier to keep right on a hill than another slab.
Patios, pads and the garage that is already gone
Behind the older houses in West Asheville, North Asheville and out along the rivers there are patios that have settled toward the house, slabs where a garage or a shed used to stand, and footings from a porch that came off years ago. They are in the way of an addition, a new building or a yard that drains.
They come out the same way: broken, loaded, hauled. Footings and the part of a slab that is below grade go too, because a buried edge of concrete is what the next contractor's machine hits.
Breaking it out, loading and hauling
Concrete is heavy and the pieces are awkward. McKinley sizes the machine to the lot: the full excavator where there is room, the mini excavator and the tracked skid steer on a narrow in-town lot, in through a side yard and out to the dump truck at the street.
Slabs with wire or rebar in them take longer to break and separate than plain ones, and that goes into the price up front rather than being discovered on the day. The load leaves in the truck; you do not arrange a dumpster.
What is under it, and why the fill matters
Pull a slab out of a hillside lot and you have a hole with the uphill side higher than the downhill side. Leave it and water collects there and heads for the house or the crawlspace. In the river bottom along the French Broad and the Swannanoa, the hole simply fills with water.
So the void is backfilled with material that compacts, in lifts, and graded so water keeps moving. If a new drive is going in on top, the guide to what to put down before a gravel driveway explains the base. If the concrete was a block wall holding a bank, a proper retaining wall in Asheville can take its place.
Permits, NC811 and the river bottom
Whether a slab on its own needs a permit depends on where it is and what else is happening on the lot, so ask first. Inside the city, Development Services handles building and land-disturbance permits; outside it, Buncombe County Permits and Inspections. If a building is coming down along with the slab, the Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency requires a permit for that.
NC811 locates buried utilities with three working days' notice, as North Carolina law requires. Old slabs around here sometimes have a water line or a conduit running under them that nobody mentioned. In the mapped floodplain along the rivers, ask before bringing in fill.
McKinley does not pour concrete. Here is what he does next
If a new slab is going where the old one was, he gets the ground ready for the concrete contractor and stops there, with the base compacted and at the right level. Most people replacing a drive here go to gravel instead; see gravel driveway repair in Asheville for a drive that is part concrete and part not.
Where a whole building is coming down along with its slab, the job is covered at demolition in Asheville. The estimate is free and on site, with one figure that includes the breaking, the hauling and the grading.
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
Tell McKinley what the concrete is, roughly how big it is and how a machine would reach it. He comes out, looks and gives you one figure.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Driveways and parking pads. Cracked and heaved slabs broken into pieces, loaded and hauled.
- Patios and walks. Settled patios, split sidewalks and steps out, the ground graded back.
- Old slabs and footings. What a long-gone garage or porch left behind, including the part below grade.
- Block and old walls. Failing block walls and footings out, with a proper wall to follow if the bank needs one.
Asheville, NC
The city M&S works out of: steep in-town lots in West Asheville and North Asheville, river-bottom ground along the French Broad and Swannanoa, and older houses with old outbuildings and concrete.
Town pageAlso in AshevilleDemolition in Asheville, NC
See the pageAlso in AshevilleRetaining Walls in Asheville, NC
See the pageAlso in AshevilleGravel Driveway Repair in Asheville, NC
See the pageThe serviceConcrete Removal
Driveways, patios, slabs, sidewalks, steps and footings broken out, loaded and hauled off, then graded back.
Main service pageAsheville and the towns nearby
Concrete tear-out is done across the Asheville area, not just inside the city. South along Hendersonville Road it runs through Arden to Hendersonville, where the older in-town lots have the same cracked drives and settled patios. North it goes to Weaverville and the farm slabs on new homesites there. On the Upstate side, Spartanburg and Greer have their own pages. The Asheville service area page lists everything else M&S does in town.
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.
Do you pour new concrete after the old is out?
No. M&S breaks out, hauls and grades. If a new slab is going in, McKinley leaves the ground ready for the concrete contractor. If a gravel drive or parking area is going in instead, he can build that straight after the tear-out.
Can you take out a concrete driveway on a steep Asheville lot?
Yes. Steep drives are most of the driveway work here. The slab is broken with the excavator and loaded from the lot or staged near the street, depending on the access. The base is then graded and crowned, usually for a gravel drive.
Do the footings and the buried part of the slab come out?
Yes, if anything is going back in that spot. A buried edge of concrete is what the next machine hits. The holes are filled with material that compacts and graded so water does not sit in them.
Does breaking out a slab need a permit in Asheville?
It depends on where the slab is and whether a building is coming down with it. Ask the City of Asheville Development Services inside the city or Buncombe County Permits and Inspections outside it. If a structure is involved, the Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency requires a permit for the demolition.
How is concrete removal priced?
On the area, the thickness, whether there is wire or rebar in it, and how far the pieces have to be carried to the truck. McKinley looks at it on site and gives one figure with the hauling and the grading in it. The estimate is free. Call or text (828) 540-6856.
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 Asheville.
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
Concrete Removal where you are
Each town has its own page: what the ground is like there, who issues the permit, and what McKinley gets called for most.
Need concrete removal in Asheville?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.