Sunken soil is a common consequence of an onslaught of storm water. This, in turn, can lead to sunken concrete near your house. To prevent soil loss, unlevel porches, steps, and sidewalks, and foundation problems, stabilizing the soil with concrete jacking might be in order.
Back when your house was built, your contractor should have positioned it properly so that water drains away from the house rather than toward it. The soil on which it was built should have been properly compacted to facilitate drainage and reduce the potential for settling. As a finishing touch, the builder should’ve added a proper system of gutters and downspouts that would pull storm water away from the house during rainfall or when snow melted. Failures in any of these three 'should have' areas can set you up for soil erosion and water problems that compounds what you are likely to experience as your home settles.
After the fact, you can keep water away from your home by keeping your gutter system in excellent condition and even by adding downspout extensions to direct water away from your home. Correcting a poor grade or compensating for poor soil or poorly prepared soil is a more extensive (and expensive) task. You can approach the problem by adding a drainage system around your home or by stabilizing the soil near your home with mud jacking or foam jacking.
Jacking processes provide soil stabilization to the ground around your home to prevent further washing away of soil. Low viscosity, single-component polyurethane or a slurry-based compound are pumped into the ground in places where voids in the soil have developed due to poor compaction. The materials pumped into the ground bind loose soils and make them stable and less likely to wash away. Within about two hours, the soil is hard and no longer a conduit of moisture that threatens your foundation and nearby concrete.
Stabilizing the soil through jacking techniques costs an average of $3-$10 per square foot, which makes it a feasible solution even if a large area needs stabilization. In some cases, you may have additional costs to repair the foundation, or other damage caused by erosion, but in contrast to other methods of approaching drainage and erosion problems, soil stabilization is cost-effective. It not only increases the structural integrity of soil and reduces the ability of soil to absorb more water, but it is durable, long-lasting, and effective. Variations on the process are also effective at lifting concrete slabs on driveways, porches, steps, and sidewalks that sunk as a result of unstable soil.
For information on how jacking processes can lift sunken soils and make them more stable, contact Lift Right Concrete today.
