What Causes Sidewalk Settlement?
There are a few reasons why your sidewalk may be sinking. Sometimes a brand new concrete slab will begin settling after a few months due to improper soil compaction by the contractor that poured the slab. Other times poor drainage will cause a channel to wash out the soil underneath a slab, causing it to sink. Some communities are more likely to have sidewalk settlement issues due to an underlying issue with the local soil quality- this is especially true in areas around waterways, such as Hampton Roads. Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Newport News have soil qualities that lead to higher settlement rates. While there are plenty of reasons for sidewalk to sink, JACKCRETE can almost always help- or, at least, point you in the right direction of how to get it fixed.
Leveling Sunken Concrete Sidewalks
Polyurethane foam injection works great for sidewalks, usually only requiring one or two holes per slab. Since our holes are only the size of a penny and are filled with color-matching grout once we’re done, there is almost no visible evidence that we were there. The whole process is quick, too. Most of our sidewalk leveling projects take less than 2 hours. We are often completed in only 30 minutes! Once we’re finished jacking the sidewalk and our material fully hardens, the compromised soil that led to the concrete settling is fully reinforced and is no longer at risk of further problems.
Is Your Concrete Raised?
Usually raised concrete is a sign of tree roots growing under the concrete. This is a gray area for JACKCRETE; sometimes we can help, but sometimes the concrete needs to be replaced. As a rule of thumb, anything with a height difference over 2 inches likely has to be torn out and re-poured.
Sometimes it’s hard to determine if tree roots are the culprit for your concrete problem. A trick we use is to look above the concrete problem area; if you see branches, the root system extends at least that far and can be interfering with the concrete.
What Can I Expect During My Meeting?
Our estimates generally take about 30 minutes to an hour depending on how many areas you’d like us to look at. We never use high pressure sales tactics- we don’t even discuss pricing during our first meeting. Our focus is to provide you with the best advice on how to fix your problem, whether or not it involves our service.
Once our estimator arrives back to the JACKCRETE office, your proposal is created and sent out either the same day or the following morning. Whenever you have questions about the estimate, we’ll be here to answer them and provide as much help as we can!