Concrete Lifting

Every area has different potential problems. This is especially true when it comes to problems like sinking concrete, which can have many different reasons for their proliferation. In Indiana, these are two of the things that can cause sinking concrete issues most frequently.  

• Snow 

Because Indiana sometimes experiences snow, you need to be aware of any problems that can happen due to snow. Freezing is an especially important one. If water gets into minuscule cracks in a concrete slab, then freezes, it can expand those cracks, causing your concrete cracks to get much more prominent and much more worrying. 

Another problem has to do with the way the snow will melt. When the snow melts, it tends to do so relatively slowly. That thin trickle of water coming from the melting snow is more likely to run underneath your concrete slab and cause soil washout.  

• Clay Soils 

Indiana sometimes struggles with clay soils. Although it’s not as common to see sandy soils in Indiana as it may be in more beachy areas, clay soils continue to be a problem in some areas of the state. If your home is on clay soil, you might need to talk to an expert about how to mitigate issues with shifting, sinking, and even cracks in your concrete. 

Clay soils are expansive soils, which means they tend to expand more when they come into contact with water. If any of your concrete slabs rest on clay soils, you might need to put defensive features into place to make sure the expanding and contracting nature of the clay soil won’t impact the health of your concrete slab. 

You might not be completely convinced that a sinking concrete slab is a problem that you need to worry about. There are multiple problems that you might experience due to sinking concrete slabs that you need to pay attention to.  

• Foundation Concerns 

A sinking concrete slab isn’t just something that you can brush off. It can cause very serious foundation concerns, such as cracking walls, stuck windows and doors, and, in some cases, even the collapse of support joists. When it comes to basement concrete, it can open the door for leaking and mold formation. 

Essentially, sinking concrete slabs showcase that the area underneath your concrete slab has a problem. Whether that problem is soil washout, soil preparation, or even just an issue with the initial home construction, a sinking concrete slab should be a sign that your foundation needs repair or the soil needs evaluating.  

• Issues with Tripping and Falling 

Tripping and falling might not seem like a very big issue to you in general, but as a matter of fact, it can be a serious concern. This is especially true for homeowners who have mobility issues, but if you miss the ledge just once, you’ll see why it’s important for everyone. 

When your concrete slab is sinking, one of the most obvious signs is when you start feeling unsteady while standing on top of it. This can lead to stumbles for even the most sure-footed person. Sinking concrete may also develop cracks, which can catch shoes or even toes, leading to wounds or nasty falls. Even the uneven nature of a sinking slab can make it difficult to traverse stairs or steps at any kind of speed. 

Many homeowners ask this question in hopes of saving funds in the long run. Others simply prefer the DIY approach, giving them weekend projects to work on and new skills to learn along the way. However, DIY often backfires when it comes to serious jobs like concrete lifting. 

• DIY 

When choosing the DIY approach, it’s important to understand its implications and what it entails. Some have gone with a DIY way to fix unlevel steps through the use of wooden planks in the right spots. Of course, in some way, this could help and alleviate the unlevel steps, bringing them back up if they’ve sunk into the ground. 

Unfortunately, this would not work long-term, since wood is too pliable and prone to moving with the soil around it. The result would be either having to keep adding planks or calling into a professional service to remove the DIY fix and start again. Likewise, the steps may grow more uneven and lead to injury, since the concrete wasn’t properly leveled and secured the first time.  

• Professionals 

Hiring professionals from the start can prove fruitful and productive. Though it sounds like a pricey endeavor to have professionals come out for unlevel steps, they bring with them the right tools and a wealth of knowledge. From the get-go, experts will know how to tackle the problem and make sure it doesn’t get repeated. 

The benefits of using a professional will far outweigh the costs associated with them. The expert who comes out to your home will know exactly how to identify the root issues, the subtle problem signs, and can recommend a solution that’s worked (and lasted) in practice. For example, the PolyRenewal^TM technique uses very strong polyurethane foam that holds up the concrete, so it doesn’t sink again. 

Concrete sinking is a complicated process that doesn’t have just one cause. However, there are two main reasons that you might run into when it comes to understanding the reasons for concrete sinking.  

• Soil Washout and Water 

Water, in general, can be very damaging to concrete, but one of the greater issues can be soil washout. Essentially, with soil washout, water runs underneath the slab of concrete and picks up tiny particles of the soil, carrying them out from underneath the concrete slab. Over time, this can lead to a significant lack of soil underneath a concrete slab, making it unstable and tilted. 

In general, if water gets into the soil underneath the concrete, it’s also possible for the water to cause it to expand. This is especially the case with clay-type soils. Then, when the water seeps out again, it’ll retract, causing the concrete to sink back into its original position. This push-and-pull process with the soil can be immensely harmful to the concrete slab and eventually result in the concrete slab sinking.  

• Problems with Preparing the Soil 

It’s also possible for the problem to arise simply from not preparing the soil appropriately. When a construction crew gets ready to build a home, they tamp down the soil in preparation. However, if they aren’t able to tamp down the soil enough, they may end up leaving some amount of sinking for the concrete after they pour it. 

Homes often weigh many tons, which is why this tamping down process is so important. If there’s any amount of soil that isn’t appropriately compressed, the home’s weight will slowly compress the soil on its own. That compression can end up causing serious issues, including sinking concrete slabs.

If you have noticed unevenness or sinking in sections of your concrete flooring, it’s best to act quickly. The likely causes of these issues are many and none of them are benign. From environmental factors to fundamental defects in the structure of your property, they are all serious and require expert intervention. 

Foundation Problems 

The most common cause of sinking and cracking in an interior concrete floor is damage to a property’s foundation. This kind of damage can also cause pitting and spalling because of the immense pressure that it puts concrete under—a network of stress fractures can weaken concrete to the point that it starts to deteriorate at an incredibly fast rate. 

The most common foundational issues that you might encounter in Indianapolis, Indiana, homes include settlement and subsidence. Both of these issues have their root in problem soils beneath the property and both can cause widespread damage to the rest of your property. Settlement is most likely to occur in periods of drought when the soil under a property can shrink or become dry and loose. Subsidence, by contrast, is far more likely to result from periods of heavy rainfall when the soil becomes soft and marshy. Either way, specialist concrete lifting services are the best response. 

Defects and Damage 

If you have exterior concrete surfaces that are starting to flake, spall, and even sink, then the most likely causes are damage as a result of exposure to harsh environmental conditions and chemicals or defects in the concrete itself. Concrete defects are not overly common, but when one property in a certain area has issues with them it is likely that others will too. 

An outlier issue is something like soil washout or erosion that removes the soil from around and under a structure gradually, leaving it without support. This will often cause concrete surfaces to dip and sink under their own weight, thereby cracking and crumbling in many places. The weight of cars on a driveway will only make this worse. This is why it is best to act quickly; if you leave concrete damage to get too bad there is a chance that replacement will be your only option and this is far more expensive than repair. 

While we understand that DIY is an attractive prospect, we urge you not to try to lift and repair damaged concrete alone. There are simply too many things that could go wrong, causing injury to you and damage to the property itself. 

DIY Often Goes Wrong 

The main issue with trying to lift sunken concrete alone is that this is a form of structural repair. This means that if you make a mistake, even a small one, the consequences will be huge. Success is dependent not only on your ability to properly assess the damage and diagnose the underlying problems but on having the right tools and products to do the job. 

The products and tools used to lift, repair, and secure damaged concrete that has started to sink or crack are specialized. In the wrong hands, they can be very dangerous. As well as the chance of injuring yourself, you run the risk of damaging your home. If you do enough damage, you could end up having to replace the concrete entirely. 

Professionals Can Cost Less Overall 

Structural repairs are expensive. You could be forgiven for thinking that DIY will save you money, but this is really not the case. As well as the possibility of a botched DIY job adding expenses, there are hidden costs to trying to do this alone. First, repair products like polyurethane foam and foundation piers are so specialized that they may not be sold in hardware stores.  

There is also the matter of getting and using the appropriate equipment. Lifting a single, sunken concrete slab is one feat, but foundation issues are another entirely. These processes require heavy excavation equipment and hydraulic lifting tools to actually make repairs possible. When you calculate the costs that come with hiring the equipment and buying tools, DIY can actually cost more.