Richmond Concrete Experts does concrete work for Kensington homeowners: front steps, garden walks, steep driveways, and retaining walls on the hillside lots of the Berkeley Hills. Kensington is small, residential, and steep, and the concrete here has usually been in place a long time.
About Kensington
Kensington is an unincorporated community of about 5,400 people covering roughly one square mile in the Berkeley Hills. It borders Berkeley and Albany to the south, El Cerrito to the west and north, and Wildcat Canyon and Tilden regional parks to the east. Surveyors named it in 1911, borrowing from the London district, and the first subdivisions, Kensington Park and Berkeley Park, used English place names for their streets. The population grew fast through the 1930s and 1940s and peaked around 6,600 in 1950. It's almost entirely single-family homes, with small shopping areas on Arlington Avenue and around the Colusa Circle.
What Hillside Homes Here Need
Steps from the street
Many Kensington homes sit well above or below the street, connected by long flights of concrete steps. After decades of rain and settling, treads crack, risers become uneven, and handrail posts loosen. We rebuild steps with consistent riser heights, footings below the topsoil, and a slip-resistant finish.
Walls that hold the hill
Older walls built without drainage often lean or crack once water builds up behind them. A replacement wall needs a footing sized for the slope, drain rock and pipe behind it, and weep holes. Walls over 4 feet from the bottom of the footing, or walls supporting a driveway or slope above, need permits and engineering. Read more on our retaining walls page.
Narrow, steep driveways
Short, steep driveways need careful grades at the street and garage, a textured finish for wet-weather traction, and drainage that doesn't send runoff down onto the house.
Working on Tight Sites
Kensington lots are small and streets are narrow and winding, so we plan access, concrete delivery, and where the crew stages before the pour, and we keep neighbors' driveways clear.
Permits Through Contra Costa County
Kensington is unincorporated, so permits are handled by Contra Costa County rather than a city. We confirm what your project needs before scheduling.
Get a Free Estimate
Call (510) 621-6126 or send the form. We'll look at the slope, the access, and the drainage before we put a number on paper.