Concrete Contractor in Historic Summerville, SC

Curved broom-finished concrete front walkway leading to the porch steps of a historic white clapboard home under pines and azaleas in Summerville

Historic Summerville is the town the brochures show: the National Register district listed in 1976 with some 700 structures, 70 percent of them built before World War I, the deep-porched houses on the curving streets around Azalea Park, Main Street's old storefronts on US 17-A, the pines the planters' doctors prescribed. The ground is the best in the county — the Dorchester County soil survey says the planters built on 'the higher, well drained soils in the community they later named Summerville' — which means a driveway or a walk here doesn't fight the water table the way one in Ashborough or Ladson does. What it fights is the review: the Town requires Board of Architectural Review approval for exterior work in the district before a building permit can even be applied for, and a front walk, a driveway, a patio visible from the street or a new apron is exterior work.

So our work downtown is brick-pattern stamped walks and tabby-look exposed aggregate the BAR approves, driveways kept to the Town's 12-foot curb cut with the $25 encroachment permit for the Town street, patios behind the houses laid out around the old trees (the Town's own tree ordinance protects anything over eight inches, and the grand trees over 16 go to the Tree Protection Board), and the occasional foundation for an addition to a 1900 house, built to seismic D2 with an engineer's plan the BAR has also seen. The lot-coverage cap applies downtown like everywhere — 30 percent in the GR districts — and the big old lots usually have room; the subdivided ones don't.

What we do in Historic Summerville

BAR submittals

The Board of Architectural Review package prepared with the material and pattern the Board approves; brick and tabby looks pass.

Brick-pattern & tabby finishes

Stamped brick, exposed oyster-shell aggregate and bordered broom to fit the street.

Town encroachment permits

The $25 permit for aprons and walks in Town-maintained streets, filed with the drawing.

Tree-aware layout

Driveways and patios routed around protected trees; the Town's tree permit when roots are in the way.

Additions to old houses

Seismic D2 footings matched to brick piers and crawlspaces, with the engineer's plan.

Good ground

The sand ridge drains; base and reinforcement still go in, but the water table is finally not the problem.

Neighborhoods and areas we cover

Azalea Park
Main Street / US 17-A
Hutchinson Square
Sumter Avenue
West Richardson Avenue
South Main Street
Carolina Avenue
Marion Avenue
Linwood Lane
Old Town
Summerville Presbyterian area
Flowertown Players / Town Hall district

Concrete services available in Historic Summerville

Questions from Historic Summerville homeowners

Do I need BAR approval for a driveway?

In the Historic District, yes — exterior work needs the Board of Architectural Review's approval before the Town will take the permit application. We prepare the submittal with the drawing and the finish samples.

What finishes does the Board like?

Brick, brick-pattern stamped concrete, tabby-look exposed aggregate and plain broom with a border. Bright stamped slate patterns, less so. We know what has passed.

Can I widen my driveway to park two cars?

Within the Town's rule — a 12-foot curb cut on lots under half an acre, flaring to 20 feet at the garage — and within the BAR's view of the street. A pervious second strip often solves it.

Is the ground really better downtown?

Yes. The district sits on the well-drained sand ridge the planters chose. Base and steel still go in, but the slabs here don't heave on clay or sit in water the way they do in the subdivisions.

Nearby: Ashborough · Pine Forest & White Gables · Knightsville · Lincolnville · full service area

Concrete in Historic Summerville — the sand ridge, the pines and the Board of Architectural Review