Best Concrete Lifting Solutions in 2025 for Sunken Driveways, Sidewalks, and Other Concrete Slabs
Concrete lifting is more than just filling the void underneath a concrete slab and lifting it back to its original state. It’s a geotechnical solution that can last indefinitely and is a wise, economical choice before considering replacement.
When concrete settles, falls or cracks, it can cause all kinds of issues besides aesthetics. Not only can it result in trip hazards, but sloping towards a building foundation can promote water drainage against a home, leading to property damage.
Lifting concrete using polyurethane foam has become a passion for those in the division. This niche market was a natural progression from spray foam insulation that Beyond started with, as it’s the same infrastructure of equipment and similar polyurethane foams, just used in a different manner to help clients address their failing concrete issues.
The price of concrete isn’t cheap, so repairing a driveway or patio, for example, is a much more appealing project than replacing the entirety of the concrete slab.
Prior to concrete lifting, we had mud jacking. It’s a similar practice to what we can do with foam, but much more labour-intensive, and honestly, not as pretty when it’s done.
Mud jacking requires drilling holes in the concrete in many sizes from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in targeted locations and hydraulically pump a slurry cement mixture under a slab of concrete to fill the voids. However, the cored holes can become an eyesore afterwards due to their size.
Spray foam is an updated technology that doesn’t require large holes (only 5/8 of an inch, or the size of a dime) drilled into your concrete, and the finished look is more aesthetically pleasing. The added benefit of foam is that the material is more durable and lightweight than the slurry.
As mentioned before, the foam lasts a long time, several decades actually, not to mention it’s more environmentally friendly – the materials used become chemically inert, so it will not leach into the earth.
Another solution to void filling that we’re excited about is FillFoam - a pre-expanded, air-blown foam product that is pumped in at full volume. The foam hardens and strengthens when cured and produces zero heat as a by-product, so it’s ideal for filling voids of any size.
Traditional polyurethane foam for concrete lifting is created by combining two chemicals, causing a reaction of foam under the concrete, which expands and then lifts, whereas FillFoam becomes fully expanded above ground and is then pumped in and flows to fill a lot more of the voids below.
Fill Foam has only been in the market for about 5 years. and it's been a game changer for big, time-consuming projects that need to be ripped up and hauled away.
A couple of other benefits of FillFoam are that it is made of a combination of open and closed cell foam, so it has the ability to absorb, redistribute, and release water, and it has a life expectancy of 490 years!
FillFoam is not just used for concrete. It can be used to decommission mine shafts or pipelines, and fill void spaces of almost any size because it also doesn't produce heat when it's installed.
FillFoam can also be used in agriculture. Because it’s an organic material, FillFoam can be used to help promote the growth of plants. It’s rich in nitrogen and harmless to the environment, which means it can provide soil with nutrients and water better than soil alone.
FillFoam can absorb water, but it won't hold it and thus creates mold. It will soak up the water and then release it when the ground dries up, ebbing and flowing with the water tables under the ground.
