What to Know About Slab Foundation Repair
Slab foundation problems cause homeowners many issues, from misaligned doors and windows to floor and drywall cracks. Understanding what causes these problems and how to repair them is essential to maintaining your home’s safety and value.
This page explains what you need to know about concrete slab foundation repair.
What Causes an Uneven Concrete Slab?
Uneven or sinking concrete slabs can be caused by several factors, including:
- Soil Movement: Expansive soil expands when saturated by heavy rain and contracts when it dries out during drought. This movement can cause uneven, sinking concrete slabs.
- Erosion: Water pooling around your foundation can cause soil washout and erosion, leading to voids that cause uneven settlement.
- Poor Construction: If the foundation isn’t built on stable soil or compacted properly, it might sink or crack over time.
- Tree Roots: Invasive tree roots near the foundation can push against the slab, causing uneven settlement and a cracked foundation.
Concrete slab foundation repair may be necessary if you notice wall cracks, sticking doors and windows, or uneven floors. It’s crucial to address these problems early to prevent further damage to your home.
Concrete Slab Leveling Methods
Several concrete slab foundation repair methods are available. The best method for your home depends on the cause and extent of the damage, soil conditions, and regional costs.
Slab Piers
Slab piers are designed explicitly for slab foundations. They are inserted into the ground beneath the slab and help lift it back to its original position while providing permanent support. Slab piers are ideal for significant settlement issues.
Push Piers
Push piers are commonly used to stabilize and lift homes suffering from foundation settlement. These steel columns are pushed deep into the ground to reach stable soil layers. Once in place, they transfer the home’s weight from unstable soil to more stable ground, preventing further sinking.
Helical Piers
Helical piers function similarly to push piers but are screwed into the ground (hence their “helical” design). They are best for lighter structures, like porches or patios, and can provide stabilization without requiring the heavy weight of a larger building.
PolyRenewal™ Concrete Lifting
Slab leveling and repair are also available for concrete garage floors, patios, sidewalks, and other areas. PolyRenewal™ involves a polyurethane concrete lifting foam. Professionals inject this foam beneath the slab to fill gaps and lift the concrete back into level positioning. It is cost-effective, minimally invasive, and less disruptive than traditional methods.
Groundworks’ Slab Foundation Repair Process
We recommend a repair solution tailored to your unique needs and budget. Here’s the Groundworks approach:
- Foundation Inspection: We begin with a thorough foundation inspection to determine the cause and extent of the slab damage.
- Customized Repair Plan: Based on our findings, we recommend the most effective method—whether installing foundation piers or using the PolyRenewal concrete lifting system.
- Professional Installation: Our trained professionals handle the entire repair process, ensuring your home is safe and secure.
- Ongoing Support: We provide support through maintenance plans to help you maintain your home and avoid future slab foundation issues.
Groundworks: Trusted Concrete Slab Foundation Repair
Groundworks is the nation’s trusted leader in slab foundation repair. With expertise and advanced tools, our team uses proven repair methods and a customer-first approach to ensure your satisfaction.
Want to learn more about concrete slab foundation repair? Contact Groundworks today for a free inspection and a tailored repair recommendation.
Slab Foundation Repair FAQs
At some point, you may have heard that a concrete slab foundation will often crack. This may have come from someone who had cracking problems with the concrete slab foundation and didn’t know how to prevent it. Understanding cracks in a slab foundation can be beneficial to ensuring you invest in the right response for your slab foundation.
- Early Hairline Cracks
One thing that may occur in a concrete slab foundation is that you might notice hairline cracks forming in the first few months after pouring the concrete. Because the concrete will continue to shift and shrink very slightly as the months go by, it’s possible for you to experience hairline cracks within about the first year after pouring.
- Cracks Long After the Pouring Process
However, if you start to notice cracks that are forming long after the pouring process is complete, it’s likely there’s something wrong. This is one reason it’s a good idea to do regular inspections of your concrete. Even if the cracks are only hairline, it’s a good idea to take a look at potential underlying causes if you notice hairline cracks out of nowhere.
- Bigger Cracks
Pretty much all larger cracks are a problem. If you notice any cracks that are larger than a business card’s width, it’s a good idea to call in an expert. It’s likely that these cracks are coming from an underlying cause, like foundation shifting, and you may need to tackle those underlying causes.
In most situations, you can fix your slab foundation without having to repour the entire thing. However, it is possible to end up with a slab foundation that’s cracked beyond repair. In this case, a complete repour will be necessary. Here’s what you should know about this worst-case scenario.
- Repouring the Foundation
This nightmare is more likely to occur if you ignore the early warning signs. Hairline cracks that are too small for a business card to slot into may be fine. However, larger cracks or those which stretch for several feet are worthy of your concern. These should be addressed by a professional, especially when it’s in your foundation because it supports the entire weight of your home.
If you avoid dealing with your slab foundation cracks for long enough, you can certainly end up with too much damage. Filling in cracks will only buy you a little time and the foundation may need to be entirely repoured eventually. This is invasive and frustrating, but it typically only happens if you’ve genuinely avoided managing the slab foundation for a long time.
- The Benefit of Calling in an Expert
Any damage to your foundation must be handled by an expert. With DIY fixes, you can always make a mistake or use an ineffective solution. A cracked slab foundation may cause the walls, support beams, and your roof to sag, crack, or even collapse. If your foundation needs to be repoured, you will need to contact a local expert.
The good news is, contacting an expert can also help you avoid this entire problem. It takes a long time for your foundation to become this unhealthy. So long as you call in a foundation repair expert when you first start noticing problems with your slab foundation, they can catch the early warning signs, recommend ways to fix the existing damage, and suggest ways to preserve the foundation going forward.
Some homeowners just replace their concrete slab foundation when they notice cracks and sinking problems. You might even run into an expert who suggests replacing the slab from the beginning. Here’s why it’s a better idea to fix the foundation you currently have.
- Complicated and Intrusive Process
Replacing your foundation slab can be very complicated. You need to make sure you do it properly. Otherwise, you’re running the risk of ending up with a foundation slab that doesn’t hold up your home at all, which could end up being a big problem.
The process of replacing your foundation is also ultra-intrusive. Foundation replacement requires a significant amount of wait time because you’re going to have to pour concrete and maintain that new concrete. The intrusion into your life can be extremely frustrating to deal with, especially if you’re also dealing with other foundation problems.
- Might Not Fix the Problem
The basic problem is that you’re experiencing foundation settlement. This typically happens because the soil around your foundation can’t support your foundation anymore. There can be a variety of reasons for this, including soil erosion and other foundation concerns. Getting to the bottom of the problem should be one of the most important things to consider.
You shouldn’t expect that foundation settlement will go away if you use a new foundation, so you should instead fix the one you have. This will be less intrusive, less expensive, and often more effective. Replacing your foundation slab usually won’t fix the underlying causes with your foundation, which may come from a variety of areas.
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