Concrete Leveling in Sandy Springs, GA

When a slab sinks, you can often keep it. Concrete leveling fills the empty space under the slab and lifts it back toward its original height, so you don't have to tear it out and pour a new one. We work on homes across Sandy Springs and the nearby cities, and we'll tell you honestly if your concrete is a good candidate.

What concrete leveling fixes

Concrete leveling raises a slab that has dropped by filling the hollow space underneath it. It works on driveways, sidewalks, patios, pool decks, garage aprons and porch steps that have sunk but are still in a few solid pieces. The slab stays where it is. We drill a few small holes, pump material underneath, and the pressure pushes the concrete up from below.

It doesn't fix every problem. If a slab has broken into many small pieces, crumbles at the surface, or sank because the ground under it is still moving, lifting it only buys you time. Part of every visit is telling you which of these you have.

Signs a slab has settled

Most people notice settling by tripping on it. When you walk around your property in Sandy Springs, a few other signs are worth checking:

Water running toward the house is the one to take seriously. A patio that tilts back toward the foundation sends roof runoff against the basement or crawlspace wall in every storm. Lifting that slab so it slopes away from the house is often the most useful thing concrete leveling does.

• A raised edge between two sidewalk sections, or between the driveway and the garage floor.
• Water pooling on a patio after rain, or running toward the house instead of away from it.
• A gap opening between a slab and the foundation wall, the steps or a retaining wall.
• A patio or pool deck that rocks a little when you step on one corner.
• Joint caulk tearing, or weeds growing in a joint that used to be tight.

What usually causes it around Sandy Springs

Concrete rarely sinks on its own. The soil under it moves. Around Sandy Springs that soil is usually red clay, which swells when it's wet and shrinks and cracks when it dries out. A wet spring followed by a dry August works the ground under a slab back and forth, and over the years small hollows open up.

Water is the other big cause. Summer thunderstorms drop a lot of rain in a short time, and a downspout that empties beside a walkway can wash the fill out from under it. On hilly lots, which are common here, water runs downhill under the slab and carries fine soil with it. The low spot you see is often just where the washout finally showed.

Two smaller causes round out the list. One is fill that wasn't compacted properly before the slab was poured. The other is roots from large oaks and poplars that later rot away. Many homes here sit under big hardwoods, and a dead root under a driveway leaves a soft spot that can show up years after the tree is gone.

Lift it or replace it

Lifting makes sense when the slab is mostly in one piece, the drop is enough to see or trip on, and the cause can be fixed. It is usually faster and less disruptive than tearing out and pouring new concrete. There's no new concrete to wait on, and your lawn and plantings stay mostly as they are.

Replacement is usually the better choice when:

We'll tell you plainly which side of the line your concrete falls on. If replacing it is the better call, we'll say so. We won't lift a slab we expect to sink again.

• The slab has broken into several loose pieces, or the surface is flaking badly.
• It has been pushed up by roots rather than sunk. Lifting can't lower concrete.
• The fill underneath is still washing out and the drainage can't be corrected.
• You were planning to change the size or shape of the patio or walk anyway.

What a visit involves

We start by walking the area with you. We look at where the water goes, not only at the low spot. We measure how far the slab has dropped, look at the cracks, tap for hollow spots, and note downspouts, sprinkler heads and how the ground slopes around the slab.

If lifting is the right fix, the work is usually simple. We drill small holes through the slab in a planned pattern, pump material underneath in stages, and check the slab with a level as it rises. Going slowly matters. Pushing too fast can crack a slab or lift it higher than you want. Once it's where it should be, we fill the holes and reseal the joints where needed.

We also offer mudjacking, which uses a cement-based slurry. We'll explain which material we'd use under your slab and why, and how long you should keep cars or furniture off it afterwards. We'll also talk through any drainage changes that will help the lift last, such as extending a downspout or regrading a strip of soil beside the slab.

Things specific to homes in this area

Many houses here were built on graded hillsides, so driveways are often long and steep. A sunken section at the bottom of a steep driveway takes the runoff from the whole slope, so we look at how water reaches it before we choose a fix. Pool decks are another common job. The fill around a pool can settle unevenly, and a lifted deck has to drain away from both the pool and the house.

Concrete leveling often goes hand in hand with retaining wall work. A patio along the top of a wall can sink if the wall is leaning or the soil behind it is washing out. In that case the wall has to be fixed first, or the slab will drop again. Since we build and repair walls too, we can look at both together and tell you which problem is causing the other.

If you have a lifted sidewalk edge, a patio that holds water, or a driveway that has dropped at the garage, call us at (404) 010-0005 or request a wall estimate. We'll come out, look at the slab and the ground around it, and tell you what we'd do.