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
- Install a slab pier system that connects the slab to stable soil or bedrock. Once installed, the system makes it possible to raise settled slab sections.
- 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 lifting and what makes PolyRenewal® an effective concrete repair solution.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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 lift the floor and 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 areas 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 towards its original 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 lifting — 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.
