Concrete Repair & Leveling in Germantown, TN

Concrete repair and leveling make sense when the concrete itself is still sound but the ground under it has let it down. That is common in Germantown. Silty loess loses support when it gets wet or is disturbed, and Wikipedia's climate table for nearby Memphis shows close to 55 inches of rain a year to wet it. A driveway panel that dropped an inch at the garage, a walk that tips toward the house or a patio that holds a puddle can often be brought back without breaking anything out.

Repair or replace?

Repair is usually the better choice when:

• The panel is in one or two large pieces, not many small ones
• The surface is in fair shape
• The cause, often a downspout or washout at an edge, can be fixed

Replacement is usually the better choice when:

• The slab has broken into many pieces or is crumbling
• Roots are still pushing it up
• Cracks are wide and offset; HomeGuide's resurfacing guide notes cracks over a quarter inch can point to a deeper problem
• The slab is too thin for what it carries

We price both when both are realistic, so you can see the difference.

Lifting sunken slabs

There are two main ways to raise concrete. Mudjacking pumps a cement-and-soil slurry through holes drilled in the slab, filling the void and floating the panel back up. Foam lifting (polyjacking) injects expanding polyurethane foam through smaller holes; it weighs far less and cures quickly. HomeGuide's leveling guide lists mudjacking at $4 to $9 a square foot and polyjacking at $8 to $25, with most contractors charging a minimum of $300 to $700. It puts the life of a leveling job at 5 to 10 years or more depending on method and soil, with mudjacking around 5 to 7 years when drainage is maintained. That last part is the key: if water keeps washing out the silt, the slab will drop again. So every lifting quote includes a look at downspouts, edges and joints.

Crack and joint sealing

Open joints and cracks are where water gets under a slab. Sealing them is one of the cheapest ways to protect a driveway or walk. HomeGuide lists crack filling at $0.50 to $3 per linear foot. The City of Germantown's sidewalk guide describes the same basic method it accepts for marked public walk cracks: clean and dry the crack, use backer rod where it is deeper than half an inch, fill at least a quarter inch deep and finish level or slightly concave. We use that approach on driveways and patios too.

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Resurfacing

A slab that is level and solid but rough, stained or worn can get a thin cementitious overlay. HomeGuide's resurfacing guide lists $3 to $5 a square foot for a basic driveway resurface and $3 to $7 for patios and walks, with a typical life of 8 to 15 years. It also notes that if the repair would need a layer more than 2 inches thick, replacement is the better option. Resurfacing will not fix a slab that is moving.

Fixing the cause

A repair only lasts if the reason for the damage is dealt with. Around Germantown that usually means moving a downspout away from a slab edge, filling and grading a washed-out edge, sealing joints, or deciding what to do about a root. We note the cause on the quote, along with what we recommend for it.