Concreters in Mitcham for sloping driveways, steps, paths, alfrescos and slabs

Mitcham, in short

Mitcham was settled in 1840, one of the first villages outside the city, and the old village around Mitcham Reserve and Brownhill Creek still has its stone cottages, its church and its institute. It sits about seven kilometres south of the city where the suburbs start to climb: Belair Road runs up through it toward Belair National Park, the Belair railway line follows the creek, and Brownhill Creek Recreation Park runs up the valley behind. Torrens Park, Kingswood, Lower Mitcham, Netherby and Springfield are its neighbours, with Scotch College and Mercedes College among the big old grounds, and it is the centre of the City of Mitcham.

It is leafy, sloping and protected, with heritage streets, huge significant trees and a council that guards both. We come in along Belair Road or Goodwood Road most weeks.

The houses, and what they need

Mitcham's houses span the whole history of Adelaide: 1850s stone cottages in the old village, 1900s villas and 1920s and 30s bungalows on the tree-lined streets, 1950s and 60s homes climbing the slope toward Belair, and, increasingly, renovations and rebuilds that open a house up to a terraced backyard. Blocks slope, driveways climb, and there is almost always a big gum tree involved.

So the Mitcham job list is sloping driveways replaced with grip and a drain; front paths with proper steps and a porch; side paths and stairs down a block that drops toward the creek; alfrescos and pool surrounds on the terraces behind the renovations; and shed, studio and garage slabs cut into the slope.

The ground under Mitcham

The foothills are clay over rock, and the clay is reactive: it swells through a wet winter and shrinks through a dry summer, and on a slope it moves downhill with it. Brownhill Creek runs through the middle of the suburb, and the blocks beside it are lower, wetter and on old creek deposits that settle. Then there are the roots: Mitcham's river red gums and blue gums are the reason most of the old driveways and paths cracked and lifted. Every Mitcham slab we pour gets a compacted rubble base, mesh sitting mid-slab on chairs, and saw-cut joints at tight centres so the movement shows up as a straight line rather than a crack; we cut back roots where the council allows, install root barriers where they'll help, and tell you honestly when a tree will win.

Stormwater on a slope is the other thing. A Mitcham driveway sends every downpour toward the garage and a terraced backyard sends it toward the house, so a fall built into the formwork, a strip drain across the garage door and a grated drain at the bottom of a path are standard here, not extras.

The council, and getting to you

Mitcham is in the City of Mitcham, which protects its significant and regulated trees closely: work near the roots of a big gum can need approval and an arborist's say on how close a slab can go. The strip between your boundary and the road is council land too, so a new or widened crossover needs a permit, has to be poured to their specification, and is inspected. We prepare and lodge the application, pour to the spec, book the inspection and work within the tree rules, all inside the quote, and we'll tell you at the measure if a tree changes what's possible.

We're in the southern foothills most weeks, so a measure and quote in Mitcham is usually within a few days of your call, and a job is usually booked one to three weeks out depending on the weather and the pour schedule.