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Sinking/Settling Concrete Floor Slabs

Causes & Repair Solutions For Cracked, Sinking Concrete Floors

diagram of a repaired concrete slab floor

Concrete slab piers being used underneath a floor to help stabilize the floor permanently.

Notice how the piers can extend deep below the floor, extending until they reach competent supporting soils.

The Problem:

Your concrete slab floor is showing signs of sinking, sagging, or settling. Your floor may be cracking, or the walls may be separating from the floor below or ceiling above.

Telltale Signs:

  • Cracks in the concrete floor
  • Floors dropping and separating from the walls, forming a gap between the floor and wall.
  • Interior walls separating from the ceiling, forming a gap between the wall and ceiling.
  • Walls pulling away from adjacent walls
  • Interior wall cracks, commonly off the corners of interior doors.

Two options for repairing sinking concrete slabs:

  1. Install a slab pier system that connects the slab to stable soil or bedrock. Once installed, the system makes it possible to re-level settled slab sections.
  2. Raise settled concrete using PolyRenewal® expanding foam. Injecting this high-density foam beneath the slab will fill voids and consolidate weak soil while also raising settled slabs back to their original position. Learn more about concrete leveling and what makes PolyRenewal® an effective concrete repair solution.

Before and After: PolyRenewal® used to raise floor slab

Concrete floor crack and settlement in OH

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We can fix your cracked slab floors once and for all! Call us for a free floor slab repair quote today!

We serve Akron, Cleveland, Strongsville, and many nearby areas in Ohio.

What Causes A Concrete Floor Slab To Settle?

When a concrete floor settles, it can mean serious damage to your home. The causes of floor slab settlement are almost always due to the soils underneath being unable to support the weight of the concrete. They often accompany other foundation problems in your home.

The three most common causes of settling concrete floor slabs are as follows:

(Click for more information.)

Dry, cracking clay soils Drying/Shrinking Of Soils Under The Slab soil erosion Washout Of Soil Underneath The Slab A backhoe excavating a foundation Poor Compaction Of Foundation Fill Soils

Fortunately, there are fast, effective ways to address concrete slab floor settlement issues. if you would like a free foundation slab stabilization quote for your problem, call or e-mail us today!

Installing The Slab Pier System

The Slab Pier System stabilizes the concrete floor slab in your home. It provides the best opportunity to relevel the floor and lift non-load bearing partition walls that may have settled along with the slab. To install our system, our contractor will take these six steps:

Preparing for Installation

Before the installation day, a representative from our company will have already inspected your foundation issue. At that time, a foundation repair proposal was put in writing.

Your foundation repair experts will use that proposal to map out the locations where the slab piers will be installed.

At the beginning of each slab pier installation, a small hole is cored through your concrete slab floor. This hole will create an access point for the slab piers that are about to be installed.

Position Slab Bracket

To give the slab pier something to “lift”, a slab bracket is positioned beneath the concrete slab.

The Slab Pier System uses a three-piece slab bracket that is assembled underneath your concrete floor, allowing for a much smaller hole to be cored in your concrete slab. Additionally, this larger bracket reaches across more area along your floor, creating a more even distribution of weight.

Install Steel Tubes

Steel tubes are hydraulically driven down through the bracket to the competent soils beneath.

These steel tubes are the real strength of the foundation pier system — and are responsible for transferring the home weight to strong supporting soils.

To prevent corrosion, we have slab piers available that are designed using galvanized steel. This ensures the quality and long-lasting strength of your slab pier system.

Transfer Slab Weight To Soil

The weight of the concrete slab is transferred through the piers to the load-bearing strata underneath your home.

As the system lifts your concrete slab floor upwards, the sinking movement of your floor will be permanently halted.

Often, it will also be possible to lift the concrete slab back to a level position.

Inject Grout Fill

Once the concrete slab has been lifted, a void will be present underneath the floor.

Additionally, if your floor had been sinking because of compacted soil or washout, a gap existed even before the installation.

To address this, we carefully pump grout under the slab to fill in all empty spaces.

The Cleanup

At Ohio Basement Systems, we take pride in leaving your home looking clean and neat. Once the installation is completed, we repair all cored holes with concrete, making your final installation virtually invisible.

Any debris generated during the installation is cleaned up and removed by us. And once we’re done, you can rest easy, knowing that you have a 25-year warranty on manufacturer’s defects, as well as a performance warranty from us.

Looking For Foundation Slab Repair Contractors In OH?

At Ohio Basement Systems, we provide proven solutions for concrete slab floor leveling — as well as other foundation repair solutions — to homeowners throughout Ohio. We provide each of our customers with a free, no obligation slab repair quote, in writing, before any work is done. To schedule your appointment, call or e-mail us today!

Our service area includes Cleveland, Akron, Strongsville, Cuyahoga Falls, Mentor, Lakewood, Elyria, Youngstown, Westlake, Lorain, and the nearby areas.

Drying & Shrinking of the Soil Under the Slab

HVAC (Heating, Venting, and Air Conditioning) systems may be installed beneath the floor slab. Over time, the ductwork can leak air, which can dry out the soil.

As the soil dries and shrinks, gaps form under the floor slab, creating voids. Because the soil no longer supports the floor slab, the floor begins to crack and sink into the voids.

street creep symptoms in a driveway in Wadsworth

Washout of Soil Under the Slab

This is usually caused by plumbing leaks. If the plumbing leak is severe and there is a path for the water to flow through, it can wash soil out from under the slab.

With a void underneath the floor, there’s nothing supporting the concrete slab anymore. In time, it begins to crack and sink downwards.

garage walls cracking due to street creep

Poor Compaction of Fill Soil

During construction of a new home, layers of soil are commonly moved around or spread out to get to the desired grade level. When the home is built, footings may be deepened to extend below weak fill soils and avoid a foundation settlement issue.

The slab, however, remains on the fill soils. If the fill was poorly compacted, the fill soil compresses and settles, and a void is formed under the slab. In time, the slab cracks, breaks, and settles into the void.

foundation wall cracks due to street creep in Wadsworth

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OUR SERVICE AREA

We serve the following areas

Our Locations:

Ohio Basement Systems
8295 Darrow Rd.
Twinsburg, OH 44087
(330)269-9990

Ohio Basement Systems
12 E Exchange St Fl 2 Ste 5
Akron, OH 44308
(330)269-9990

Ohio Basement Systems
11 Federal Plaza Central 3rd Floor Office 302
Youngstown, OH 44503
(330)269-9990

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