Concrete Wall Repair, Orinda, CA March 2025

This concrete wall repair in Orinda was trickier than it looked. From the outside, it seemed like a simple patch. Once we started, it took a fair amount of demolition to get to sound material, and more time than we’d planned.

That’s common with concrete repair. Damaged concrete is often worse below the surface than it appears. Cracked, crumbling, or loose sections have to come out completely, down to solid, sound concrete, before any repair can go on. Patching over weak material just means the new layer fails along with it. So the first part of the job was cutting and chipping away everything that wasn’t solid, and that turned out to be more than the surface suggested.

The repair itself used a repair concrete with bonding agents. New concrete doesn’t bond well to old concrete on its own. The old surface is dense and dusty, and a patch applied straight over it can crack loose at the seam. A bonding agent creates a strong connection between old and new, so the repair becomes part of the wall rather than a layer sitting on top of it. The repair concrete was then built up and shaped to match the surrounding surface.

In all honesty, we underbid this one, and it took longer than it should have. Concrete work that looks simple has a way of growing once you open it up, and this job is a reminder to price in that uncertainty.

But I’m very happy with the results. The wall is solid again, and the repair blends in with the rest of the surface.