Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Sakrete Home Additions & ADU: The Los Angeles Owner's Guide
Home additions and ADUs built on Sakrete concrete products in Los Angeles typically run $53,100 – $153,400 installed, with ADU construction ranging $106,200 – $259,600 depending on square footage, foundation work, and site access. We stock Sakrete-compatible materials on our trucks for repairs, slab pours, and structural tie-ins, and we can usually get a crew to your property within a few days of your call. Most Los Angeles homeowners discover a problem the same way: a hairline crack that widens after rain, a door that starts sticking in its frame because the slab shifted, or crumbling concrete around anchor bolts where an addition ties into the original foundation.
If you're standing in front of cracked, spalled, or settling concrete that was supposed to hold up a new room or a backyard ADU, you need straight answers about what's failing, what it costs to fix, and who's going to do the work. That's what this page covers.
Which Sakrete Models This Applies To
Sakrete doesn't make "models" the way an appliance brand does. They make concrete and mortar products: High-Strength Concrete Mix, Crack-Resistant Concrete Mix, Fast-Setting Concrete Mix, Sand Mix, Mortar Mix, and a line of concrete resurfacers and sealers. The compatibility question is really about which Sakrete product was used in the original pour and whether the replacement material matches its compressive strength.
Here's the gotcha we see constantly in Los Angeles home additions: a homeowner or a previous contractor pours a footing with Sakrete High-Strength (4,000 PSI) and later someone patches it with a basic 2,500 PSI mix because it was on sale at the big-box store. The patch fails within two seasons. If you're adding onto a slab or tying a new ADU foundation to an existing one, the concrete's PSI rating, aggregate size, and cure time all matter. For structural work we require 3,500 PSI minimum, and 4,000 PSI for anything load-bearing or within 6 inches of anchor bolts in Los Angeles's expansive clay soil. The bag or the original invoice usually lists the PSI. If you can't find it, we can core-sample and match it.
Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles is an independent service provider and is not affiliated with Sakrete. We work with their products because they're consistent, widely available in LA, and their fast-setting line performs well in our dry climate. We also stock parts and materials for KraftMaid cabinetry, Cambria and Silestone countertops when an addition involves finish work.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Sakrete Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Stair-step cracks in the foundation wall or slab edge. This usually means differential settling: one part of the pour is moving while another stays put. In Los Angeles, the cause is almost always expansive clay soil that swells when it rains and shrinks when it doesn't. Left alone, it gets worse every winter.
- Doors and windows that stick or won't latch in the added space. When concrete settles unevenly, the framing above it twists. If the door was fine a year ago and now catches, the slab under it is moving.
- Crumbling or spalling concrete around anchor bolts at the connection point. This is where the addition meets the original house. Water gets in, rust starts, and the concrete pops apart. It's a structural warning sign, not a cosmetic one.
- A visible gap between the addition's foundation and the ground. Southern California's dry spells cause soil to pull away from slabs. If you can slide a paint stirrer under the foundation edge, water is finding its way in and eroding the base.
- Standing water or white mineral deposits on the slab after rain. Efflorescence and pooling mean the grade isn't draining and moisture is moving through the concrete. It's the early stage of the spalling you'll see in a few years if it's not addressed.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What's Included
For Los Angeles home additions and ADU work tied to Sakrete products, here's the honest money:
- Home Addition (full project, including concrete work): $53,100 – $153,400
- ADU Construction: $106,200 – $259,600
- Garage Conversion: $35,400 – $94,400
- Isolated concrete repair / small slab replacement: usually $2,360 – $7,670, priced per job after we see it
What drives the range in Los Angeles? Three things: square footage, soil conditions, and whether the existing concrete is salvageable. A 400-square-foot addition on flat, stable soil is a different project from a 900-square-foot ADU on a hillside in Silver Lake where the old pad has to be ripped out and re-engineered. Every price we give includes parts, labor, haul-away of demo debris, and a written line-item quote before any work starts. You get the price in writing. If the work's not right within 365 days of completion, we come back and make it right at no cost to you under our 365-Day Done Right Promise.
DIY or Call Us?
There are things a homeowner can safely check, and then there's concrete work that can hurt you and cost double to fix if it's done wrong. You can mark cracks with a pencil and date them to see if they're moving. You can keep water away from the slab with gutters and grading. You can seal small non-structural surface cracks with a Sakrete crack filler from the hardware store. That's the end of the safe list.
Do not attempt to pour a new footer, tie into an existing foundation, or level a settled slab by yourself. A mixing bucket of concrete weighs about 80 pounds. A full pour is thousands of pounds. Mixing it wrong (too much water is the usual mistake) gives you concrete that looks fine for a year and then crumbles. And any work that touches the structural connection between old and new construction requires a permit in Los Angeles. Getting that wrong means the inspector red-tags it and you pay to tear it out and redo it. Call us at (213) 632-5711 and we'll look at it, tell you what's actually wrong, and put the fix in writing.
FAQs
Properly mixed and poured Sakrete concrete in a Los Angeles addition should last 50 years or more, but the soil underneath it moves a lot faster. The concrete itself rarely wears out; what fails first is the base, the drainage, or the rebar placement. In LA's clay soil, we expect to address some settling or cracking within the first 5 to 10 years of an addition's life. Call (213) 632-5711 for a free site assessment and we'll tell you where your project stands.
Yes, in most cases. Hairline cracks can be routed and sealed. Spalled areas can be cut out and re-poured with a matching Sakrete mix. Settled slabs can sometimes be lifted with mudjacking or polyurethane foam injection. Full replacement is only called for when the concrete has lost structural integrity: deep cracking, rebar exposure, or a foundation that's moved more than an inch out of level. We'll always quote the repair first if it's safe. Call (213) 632-5711 and we'll come look before anyone starts talking about a full re-pour.
A typical crack repair or small slab patch takes one day on-site. A full section replacement, like re-pouring a 10-by-10 section of an ADU pad, takes two to three days: one to demo and form, one to pour and finish, and one for initial cure before foot traffic. Full home additions or ADU builds run three to six months depending on scope, but the concrete phase of those projects is usually about a week. We'll give you a day-by-day schedule in writing before we start.
Yes. Our trucks carry Sakrete High-Strength Concrete Mix, Crack-Resistant Mix, Fast-Setting Mix, Sand Mix, and mortar in standard bag sizes, plus the matching sealers and bonding agents. For unusual pours or specific PSI requirements, we can source what's needed within a day or two through our Los Angeles suppliers. If you want a specific Sakrete product used for your repair, say so when you call and we'll confirm it's on the truck before we arrive. Call (213) 632-5711 to schedule your free estimate.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co at Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
