Guides
Notes from the yard
Plain advice on concrete and stone from Mateo and the crew: sealing a new driveway, why concrete cracks, and stamped concrete or pavers.
When to seal a new driveway
Not the first week, and not never. Why we wait twenty-eight days, what sealer does, and how often to do it again.
Why concrete cracks (and where we let it)
All concrete shrinks as it cures. The trick is telling it where to crack, and what the cracks you do see mean.
Stamped concrete or pavers?
Two ways to get a patterned patio, priced and compared honestly, from people who build both.
Care notes, four times a year
Short notes from Mateo: when to seal, what a freeze does to new concrete, and what to look at on a retaining wall after a storm.