Living in Calgary, anywhere in Alberta really, comes with the ebbs and flows of the cool and warm weather cycles, which over time can impact concrete work on your property.
From walkways, patios, and driveways, concrete is not immune to the freezing and thawing of the ground causing cracked and uneven concrete slabs.
"concrete is not immune to the freezing and thawing of the ground"
As a do-it-yourselfer (DIY) homeowner, there are some ways to tackle a concrete fix. Three conventional options are to remove and replace a pad (usually done for more severe unevenness), grind the unlevel trip hazard, or patch up the transition (the gap between two slabs).
Unfortunately, both grinding and patching options are temporary. They fix the condition, but not what’s causing it.
If a concrete slab has settled, it will continue to settle until under the slab is repaired properly. If a homeowner decides to grind a part of the slab down to even it out with surrounding slabs, the integrity of it is diminished by making it thinner, and exposing the aggregate material, not to mention it just looks ugly.
Patching a transition to build up a lowered end of a slab of concrete that is continuously settling, will result in the trip hazard coming back as the patch material will continually flake away, and again the finished results never looks as good as in its original state.
Aesthetics are usually important to homeowners, so neither of the above conventional DIY fixes are going to make a walkway or driveway look as good as new.
When a professional looks at an uneven concrete area, the first thing they ask is: why? What is making it uneven?
Most often the answer is that the ground beneath has shifted, or perhaps the concrete was never poured with the slope it should have had.
Using polyurethane foam to raise and stabilize the area is a relatively quick job; no grinding or patching is needed! It saves the concrete, restoring it back to how it was without having to replace any concrete.
Injecting foam under the affected area to raise and stabilize the concrete pad again, not only makes the area safe again, but it will last a long time.
Of course, having a company come in to replace the affected area with new concrete is an option, however, it is a much more expensive and messy one.
From the labour fees to cost of material, and the time to remove the old concrete, properly prepare the area, install rebar and pour the concrete again, it all adds up. Plus, the new area will stand out against the older concrete that’s been weathered and will have a different colour than the other slabs.
Some homeowners are very handy and can save money attempting a replacement job themselves. The discolouration and even the grain between the slabs will still be an issue, but if that’s nota concern, then a job done well is a job done right.
Hardware stores have polyurethane foam lifting kits available for DIY homeowners, but those are not recommended for big jobs. However, for smaller touch up jobs, these kits can be useful, but it’s still a risk to do it yourself.
There are safety concerns for DIY people with limited experience who might not realize the hazards of the foam product. It’s an application where the foam expansion can easily get away from you, and the job can quickly get out of hand.
So, if you are using such a thing, please do your due diligence and read the labels and be safe!
Another note of importance is that foam products in hardware stores are not going to be high quality materials. Companies like Beyond Group use a professional-grade, plural component, foam product with ranging densities and installers that are trained and certified to use it.
"foam products in hardware stores are not going to be high quality materials"
An example of good intentions getting out of hand, is a story of a fellow that Beyond Group came to help a few years ago. We came to the rescue of a DIY homeowner who needed help fixing what he tried to fix on a portion of his uneven driveway and walkway.
A fellow tried to raise his settled concrete driveway using a store-bought foam lifting kit, but because the scope of the area was so big, he ended up over-lifting areas and made a mess of the whole project.
While we gave him kudos for trying, the fellow was happy to have us help him out.
We were mostly able to fix his botched job, although foam stains were still abounding, but we got him back to where he was happy with the finished result.
Depending on the type of concrete project homeowners might attempt themselves, a quick fix of patching or grinding down is just that: a quick fix. It’s a short-term solution that doesn’t address the cause of the problem in the first place.
Using a store-bought foam kit for a small area of concrete is another solution, but inexperience can have the job backfire and overwhelm a DIY homeowner resulting in having to call in the calvary anyway.
There’s no harm in calling professionals to get their take before trying any of these DIY options. At Beyond Group, we’re happy to chat and offer a helping hand for your concrete needs.
"a quick fix...is just that"
