Both heaving and settling concrete pose major threats to your outdoor structures, and maybe even your home.
As a homeowner, limiting damage to your driveway, patio or walkway is one of your top priorities. You want your concrete pool deck to stay beautiful for years.
It starts with diagnosing the problem. Do you have heaving or settling concrete? If so, we can come up with a plan to resolve the issue fast, and for good.
Causes of Settling
If your concrete is settling, the inner area is lower than the edges. Settling is a problem because it usually means cracks develop and separate the slab into sections, which begin to sink.
Settling concrete is mainly caused by poor soil compaction. A certain amount of settling isn’t unusual — in fact, it’s expected — but drastic settling is usually an indication that the installation contractor did not compact the soil enough before pouring the building material. Compaction is critical to a long-lasting concrete structure. Soil washout could be another issue, which is likely the result of poor landscaping and drainage.
Luckily, there’s a way to fix it without tearing out the slab and starting over: concrete lifting. By stabilizing the base and eradicating air pockets, slabjacking gives the concrete a firm, permanent position. And as a part of our concrete lifting services, we always provide recommendations on how to resolve the source of the issue, especially if there is a simple preventive measure that can be taken, such as correcting drainage paths.
The Causes of Heaving
With heaving concrete, the center of the slab is pushing upward and the edges are lower. You might also notice crumbling at the edges of the concrete, meaning it’s happened before.
Heaving concrete is almost always due to the soil conditions. Soil with a high clay content is ultra-absorbent. When it rains heavily, the soil expands drastically, pushing the slab upward. During drier times, it shrinks, returning the concrete to its previous level.
While slabjacking is most effective for extreme settling, it can help with heaving as well, since part of the process is to address excessive moisture levels.
Avoid Complications — Get Professional Repair
The best time to fix your heaving or settling concrete is now. Let’s make your concrete a safe, level area you can use without risk of injury. Talk to Lift-Up today!
