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| What Is Slab Jacking? |
| By Greg Vanden Berge |
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Slab jacking is an inexpensive way to repair certain types of building foundations, sidewalks, driveways, concrete stairs, fireplaces and patios that have been damaged from soil erosion. Companies that do slab jacking can lift a concrete floor slab back into its original position by drilling holes through the floor slab and then pumping a grout type mixture of Portland cement and crushed limestone underneath the concrete floor slab. This system operates like a hydraulic jack. As more of the grout type mixture is pumped into specifically positioned holes in sidewalks, driveways and even floor foundations, these areas can be lifted up and repaired, usually within a short period of time. I don't know if most structural engineers would recommend slab jacking, because you could have re-occurring problems with structural footings and building foundations, especially if the soil compaction or erosion problem isn't rectified. |
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| If a section of your driveway or sidewalk has sunken
or lifted and you wanted to use the slab jacking process, I wouldn't
really have a problem with that. If it lasted five years before the
problem came back, it's not going to create a structural issue that
could lead to structural failures in the building. Using the slab jacking process to repair sidewalks, driveways and patios, that aren't used to hold up structural posts and beams, shouldn't be a problem. These areas can probably be repaired over and over again, if necessary. I'm not suggesting that slab jacking won't work effectively for home building foundations. What I would like to say though is that once the structure has been compromised or damaged, it will remain damaged. In other words, just because you've lifted the concrete floor slab back to its original position, the structural crack is still going to remain until it's repaired. With slab jacking, you can definitely solve your immediate problems, but I really don't know how effective it would be long-term.
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