Concrete Lifting Fixes Uneven Garage Floors

When your garage floor settles and becomes uneven, concrete lifting may be the solution you need to re-level it. This process, also known as slabjacking, mudjacking, or foam jacking, fixes the root of the problem that causes settlement.

Problems of Settled Concrete Garage Floors

The effects of settling are not just cosmetic. Settling often results in unsightly cracks, unevenness that may cause your garage to lean, and tripping hazards when the slab is uneven with adjacent concrete.

Settling can cause even more problems. Your garage door is designed to go up and down on a parallel track; when one side of your garage is lower than the other, the door may not operate correctly or may perform erratically. Doors that lead to the outside or even into your home can be unlevel, which means that they will not fit correctly into the door jam; this can pose security risks and let extra air into your home, raising your energy bills.

Your first thought might be to replace the slab, but the solution is both costly and expensive. Depending on where you are in the country, your garage was either built on top of the slab or set in a slab with a thick edge. In either case, replacing the floor would require moving or removing the garage to do the job. If the sloping occurred due to underlying problems beneath the slab, new concrete would be a short-term fix at best.

Why Slabs Sink

The slab beneath your garage may sink for several reasons:

• The concrete may have been laid on top of base material that was not properly compacted
• The soil under the slab settled unevenly
• The slab was not properly reinforced which leads to cracking and "differential settling," where one part of the slab sinks lower than the other
• Drainage from downspouts or grading around the building eroded the soil.

Even if you lay new cement, problems are likely to emerge again unless the soil problems underneath the slab are corrected. The best solution to fixing garage floor settlement is through concrete lifting. By drilling small holes in your floor and pumping in organic or foam material to stabilize the soil, the slab is lifted up and made level once again.

Why Concrete Lifting Works

There are several advantages to this approach:

• Slabjacking costs less than half what it would to replace the concrete
• The process can be completed without removing the contents of your garage
• You can use the floor almost immediately
• The process fixes the root of the problem, reducing the likelihood of future settling

Once the floor is even again, you will find that your doors shut properly and concrete joints are level, which makes your property both safer and more attractive.

For information about concrete lifting for your settling garage floor, contact Lift Right Concrete today.