Concrete Repair, Diagnosed Before It Is Priced

Most cracks can be repaired if the base under the slab is still sound, which is the first thing we check on every visit. A crack over a failed base, or one running through the full depth of the concrete, is a sign the slab has to come out, and we will tell you plainly which applies before quoting anything.

We sound and tap the slab around the crack. A solid response means the base is still doing its job and the crack is a surface issue. A hollow response means the ground underneath has moved or washed out, and a surface patch over that will fail again within a season or two.

We lift settled slabs with polyurethane foam injected through small drilled ports, rather than the heavier grout traditional mudjacking uses. It cures in under an hour and adds no weight to ground that already cannot fully support a slab, which is why it holds where a heavier fill sometimes settles again.

That is scaling, usually from road salt working into concrete that was not properly air-entrained or finished when poured. Freeze-thaw inside the damp, salt-affected concrete pops flakes off the surface over a few winters. Resurfacing with a bonded overlay fixes the look and protects it going forward.

Crack sealing and foam injection can often be done in colder weather, since neither needs a full cure period the way a fresh pour does. Full replacement follows the same pour window as new concrete, and we will tell you honestly if a job needs warmer weather rather than force a bad pour.

A crack repair or overlay is color matched as closely as concrete allows, but aged concrete has weathered in ways a repair cannot replicate. On a full replacement the new section is a different pour date from the old, and some visible difference at the joint is normal rather than a sign of a bad job.

Crack routing and sealing is usually a single visit. Foam injection to relevel a settled slab takes a few hours and the surface can be walked on the same day. A full section replacement follows the same removal, pour and cure schedule as new concrete, roughly a week from breaking out the old slab to full use.

Usually not. A settled driveway or patio slab and a house foundation are typically on separate footings, and slab settlement is almost always a subgrade issue under that specific pour rather than a sign the house itself is moving. We will tell you if what we see suggests otherwise, which is rare.

A control joint that was cut too shallow or spaced too far apart lets the slab crack somewhere other than where it was designed to, and once a crack starts there it tends to reopen at the same point after every freeze-thaw cycle until it is properly routed and sealed rather than just patched over.

Steps and stoops are some of the most common repair calls we get, because they take a lot of freeze-thaw movement in a small footprint. Cracked treads, settled steps and spalled edges are all repairable the same way a driveway is, once we have sounded the concrete and checked what is underneath it.

Water gets into it, freezes, and widens the crack a little more every winter, which is how a hairline crack becomes a lifting hazard over a few years. Sealing it early is a fraction of the cost of the slab replacement that a neglected crack eventually forces.

A same-day callback is standard, and most repair estimates can be scheduled within a few days. A larger job involving foam injection or a full slab replacement books further out, particularly in spring when everyone is looking at what winter did to their concrete.