What causes sunken and/or cracked concrete?
The ground beneath your concrete slabs, flooring or foundation is affected by a variety of factors that can cause changes and movement, called subsidence.
This can be due to water washouts, reactive clay soils and damage from surrounding vegetation. Water washouts commonly occur from leaking pipes, poor drainage, or heavy rainfall that erodes the supporting soil beneath slabs. Reactive clay soils are types of clay that expand when wet and shrink when dry, creating significant ground movement over time. As the unstable ground sinks and moves, it will cause the concrete above it to crack, slump, pump and tilt.
At this point, you need professional services for slab repair.
What are the signs of sunken or cracked concrete?
Subsidence underneath your concrete can be quite obvious without appropriate slab heave repair. At residential properties, it most commonly presents as a sunken driveway. At commercial and industrial sites, it can cause cracked and uneven concrete slab flooring.
You may be at risk if you’ve noticed concrete flooring or concrete slabs that:
- Appear sunken – either unevenly raised or depressed
- Have cracked
- Appear tilted or you have noticed a slant walking over them
- Show movement between them and other fixed structures like railings or walls
- Make very noisy clunking sounds, should you have forklifts traversing slabs
- Has water being squished from under the slabs when traversed by vehicles
- Is an obvious trip hazard between slabs
- Have cracked walls, sticking doors and windows – especially for homes built on slabs that have subsided
- Have visible voids under the slab
If you notice signs of sunken or cracked concrete, your property may be at risk of subsidence and in need of concrete slab heaving solutions. Not only does this compromise the integrity of the property, but it can also represent a significant trip and safety hazard to personnel as well as potential expenses on machinery maintenance.
