Concrete Contractors in Navasota, TX

Navasota is about 22 miles southeast of College Station on State Highway 6, and we work there as concrete contractors on everything from front walks on old Washington Avenue houses to driveways in newer neighborhoods. The city grew from 7,049 people in 2010 to 7,643 in the 2020 census, and Wikipedia's latest estimate passes 9,400. A town adding homes that quickly needs a lot of new flatwork.

Old streets, new edges

Navasota's story goes back to 1822, when Francis Holland settled the area that was first called Hollandale. The Houston and Texas Central Railway arrived in 1859, the town incorporated in October 1866, and in its early years it had an opera house that could seat 1,000. Wikipedia notes that a number of historic Victorian homes remain on Washington Avenue. In 1980 Navasota was one of five Texas cities chosen for the National Main Street program, and in 2009 the Texas Historical Commission named it a Visionaries in Preservation city.

Working around older homes calls for a lighter touch:

• Walks and steps should keep the scale of the house, not look like a new subdivision.
• Broom finishes and simple scored joints often fit better than heavy stamping at the front of a historic home.
• Old pier-and-beam houses need careful drainage at the walk so water does not run under the floor.

At the newer edges of town, the needs flip: wider driveways, side parking pads, back patios and slabs for storage buildings.

Grimes County ground

The Handbook of Texas describes Grimes County uplands as gray sandy loams over clayey subsoils, with dark loamy-to-clayey alluvial soils in the river bottoms and Wilson clay blackland soils on the prairies in the south. Navasota sits at 213 feet on a bend of the Navasota River, a tributary of the Brazos. That mix means two lots on the same street can behave differently. Sandy topsoil drains fast but the clay under it can still swell. We dig down past the topsoil to see what the slab will really sit on.

The county averages about 40.5 inches of rain a year and July highs around 96 degrees, according to the Handbook. Both matter for concrete: rain tests your drainage, and heat speeds up the set.

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Curing in the heat

Fresh concrete needs water to gain strength. In a Navasota summer the surface can dry before the slab underneath has set, which leads to dusting and fine cracks. We dampen the base before the pour, finish without adding water to the surface, and apply a curing compound or keep the slab wet for the first several days. Give a new driveway about a week before parking on it.

Services for Navasota homes

Driveways. Full replacements, widening, and new driveways for new construction, with thickened aprons where the drive meets the street.

Patios and stamped concrete. Plain or stamped back patios, pool surrounds and covered patio slabs. Integral color holds up better than surface-only color in strong sun.

Sidewalks and walkways. Front walks, side walks to the back gate, and replacement of single heaved or broken panels.

Slabs. Shop floors, carport and shed pads, and equipment pads.

Repair. Crack sealing, joint resealing, and saw-cut replacement of damaged sections.

Old foundations, new walks

Many older houses sit on piers, with a crawlspace under the floor. When a new walk or patio meets a house like that, its top has to sit below the sill and slope away so rain does not run under the floor. Where an old walk is mostly sound, replacing only the broken panels keeps more of its original character than tearing it all out. If you live in the historic part of town, ask the City of Navasota whether any design review applies to your property before you settle on a finish, and we check with the city on any permit for work at the street.