Concrete Removal and Driveway Tear-Out in Hendersonville, NC
Broken out, hauled off, graded back.
Hendersonville's older neighborhoods have concrete that has been in the ground since before the interstate: driveways heaved by tree roots, patios that tilt toward the house, carport slabs with nothing on them. McKinley breaks it out with the excavator, hauls it off and grades the ground back, usually ahead of a gravel drive, a pad or a drainage fix.
- Free on-site estimates
- Owner-run by McKinley
- WNC & Upstate SC
Concrete Removal in Hendersonville
Old concrete in an older town
Hendersonville is the Henderson County seat, about 22 miles south of Asheville down I-26, and it is an old town by mountain standards. Druid Hills, Fifth Avenue, Hyman Heights and Lenox Park were laid out long before most of the county's subdivisions. Nearly a third of the people in town are over 65.
That mix shows up in the concrete. Driveways poured for one car in the 1950s. Patios that sank on one side. Carport slabs that outlived the carport. When a house changes hands, or a retiree decides the sloped drive is more than they want to deal with, the old concrete is the first thing to go.
Driveways that tilt toward the house
Most of the in-town lots sit on a grade, with the house below the street or above it, and a concrete drive on that grade gets undercut from underneath. Water runs along the edge, washes the base out, and the panels crack and drop. Patching it holds for a season.
McKinley breaks the slab up with the excavator bucket, loads the pieces on the dump truck and hauls them off. Then the base that is left gets looked at, because that is why the concrete failed, and the new surface, usually gravel, gets built on something that drains.
What the tear-out usually leads to
McKinley does not pour new concrete, so the tear-out is the start of something else. Most often that is a gravel drive crowned to shed water. Sometimes it is a compacted pad for a shed, or for a carport replacing the one that got taken down.
On the wet lots east of downtown toward Mud Creek, it is a drainage fix. The old patio was holding water against the foundation, and once it is gone the ground can be regraded so the water leaves. He prices the removal and the next step as one job.
Mud Creek and the wet side of town
Mud Creek runs north through the east side of Hendersonville on its way to the French Broad, and it floods. The city has a flood reduction project on lower Mud Creek because high water closes Spartanburg Highway and Greenville Highway on the south side. Lots near the creek sit on soft bottomland.
Pull a slab out of that ground and leave the hole, and the hole fills with water. The fill that goes back in has to be compacted and shaped to a fall, or the first wet week makes a pond. On the hillside lots toward Laurel Park the problem is the opposite: the fill wants to wash downhill, so it goes in with a swale or a stone-lined edge.
Locates and permits in Henderson County
Old concrete often has something under it. A water line to the carport, a conduit to a shed, a drain tile nobody remembers. NC811 marks the public utilities, and North Carolina law calls for the request three working days before digging, so the request goes in as soon as a date is set. Private lines past the meter are the owner's to find, and he probes for them before the bucket goes in.
Building permits for the City of Hendersonville are handled by Henderson County Permits and Inspections on North King Street. Removing a slab usually does not need one, but if the lot is in the mapped floodplain along Mud Creek, ask before bringing in fill.
Getting a price
McKinley comes out, looks at the concrete and at what is under it, and gives one number with the hauling and the grading in it. Thickness matters, and so does wire mesh or rebar, which slows the breaking and the loading.
Access matters too. A drive the excavator can reach from the street is a short day, while a back patio behind a fence and a retaining wall is longer. He says what he sees, and if the slab is fine and the real problem is water, he says that instead. If gravel is going back, what to put down first explains the base.
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
Send a photo of the slab and say what you want there afterward. McKinley walks it with you and gives one figure with the hauling in it.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Concrete driveways. Cracked, heaved or sunk panels broken out, or the whole drive.
- Patios and walks. Tilted slabs beside the house taken out and the ground regraded.
- Pads and footings. Carport and shed slabs, with the footings dug out from below grade.
- Steps and block. Old concrete steps and block walls broken down and hauled.
Hendersonville, NC
The Henderson County seat, 30 minutes south of Asheville, with older in-town lots, apple-country acreage and retirees' houses on sloped lots toward Flat Rock and Laurel Park.
Town pageAlso in HendersonvilleDemolition in Hendersonville, NC
See the pageAlso in HendersonvilleRetaining Walls in Hendersonville, NC
See the pageAlso in HendersonvilleYard Drainage & French Drains in Hendersonville, NC
See the pageAlso in HendersonvilleGravel Driveway Installation in Hendersonville, NC
See the pageThe serviceConcrete Removal
Driveways, patios, slabs, sidewalks, steps and footings broken out, loaded and hauled off, then graded back.
Main service pageHendersonville and the towns nearby
Hendersonville is the south end of the mountain run. McKinley does the same concrete tear-outs up US-25 in Arden and in Asheville, and over the state line in Spartanburg. Flat Rock, East Flat Rock, Laurel Park and Mills River are on the same roads. The rest of what he does in Henderson County is on the Hendersonville page, and the whole map is on the service area page.
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 I need a permit to remove a driveway in Hendersonville?
Usually not for the removal itself. Building permits for the city are issued by Henderson County Permits and Inspections on North King Street, and it is worth a call if a new drive entrance, a new building or fill in the floodplain along Mud Creek is part of the plan.
Can you take the concrete out and leave gravel in its place?
Yes, and that is the most common version of the job. The slab comes out, the old base is dug out if it is bad, and a gravel drive goes in on a compacted stone base, crowned so water runs off it instead of under it. Both parts are priced as one figure.
My patio is holding water against the house. Is taking it out the fix?
Often it is the first half of the fix. A patio poured level, or settled toward the house, sends every rain to the foundation. Once it is gone the ground can be regraded away from the house, and on a wet lot a French drain can go in the same trench.
What happens to the old concrete?
It is broken into pieces the excavator can lift, loaded on the dump truck and hauled off the property. The hauling is in the one number you get, so there is no separate bill for it and nothing left in a pile by the road.
What makes one tear-out cost more than another?
Thickness, steel and access. A thin front walk comes out fast. A reinforced carport slab takes longer to break and load. A patio behind the house on a sloped lot means a longer route to the truck. All of it gets looked at on site before you get the figure.
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 Hendersonville.
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 Hendersonville?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.