Mudjacking issues

[nmantas]

I'm starting to get quotes to level out the driveway slabs that go from the backyard gate to the garage.

Theses slabs are at least 40 years old and have been in this condition for the 10 years I have owned the house so I think they are pretty much settled. I have one crack right down the middle of one slab that is wide enough they should be able to be lift it without it binding up (if not I will cut the crack out). They formed these with boards then left them in.....which I have seen at a few houses in the neighborhood so the stupid process must have been an option at one of the companies back then, toward the garage they left in two boards so it is like a 4 inch gap between slabs. I didn't bother me too much but now that we have kids it is more of a larger safety issue.

My issue is that with meeting everything with the high side at the garage I will be dealing with a 1.25" lip at my garage that will make it a pain to roll out a jack, etc. The garage floor has a crack so I don't know if it would be possible to lift the garage to match the driveway and I would assume that jacking up the entire garage would be costly and create more potential issues than it is worth.

So the big question is.......what to do with the lip at the garage?

I thought about cutting out a foot or two of the driveway and pouring a new piece to bridge the gap but then would have water running toward the garage so I'd be fixing one issue while creating another. Grinding seems like It wouldn't be an option because it would have to be brought out several feet and over 25% of the slab depth would be compromised. I was thinking of maybe scoring the concrete on the garage side and troweling on some epoxy "concrete" like MG-Krete to keep it level to get into the garage and then ramping it down.

Before you say "I'd just rip it out and repour", that would be my advice too if I didn't have to pay for it but I can't justify that right now, partly because I'd also have them pour a small patio, replace the sidewalk, and add a small walkway next to the driveway in the front of the house which would get my bill closer to 10K.

First company is coming by on Tuesday and I think I'd like an idea of how to deal with the lip before they point it out as an issue. I'll take any thoughts. Thanks.

 

[nmantas]

More pics can be found here when I was trying to get DIY ideas about this last year (I have since found out that the concrete isn't original to the house construction):
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390118

 

[cvairwerks]

Need to do a level survey first, to be sure that you won't cause a drainage problem. Then I'd cut out from the front of the garage to the joint where the big crack starts and replace that section. Stash some more cash and then replace the rest of it. I think you are going to find that with everything you need, jacking and fixing the gaps is just going to be a stopgap and you will need to replace it all at some point.

Is that somewhere around 20' wide and 50' long? If so, it's about 15 yards of concrete, so should be in area of about 3-4K$ to replace it all. That's also making the assumption that you tear out the old stuff.

 

[manwithtools]

If you are getting quotes, then you should see how expensive it is. I'd be cautious jacking that large of pieces of 40 year old concrete. It could end up cracked more and require replacement after all. I'd look at replacing the concrete, be done with the issues for good.

Jacking is probably going to be at least 50% the cost of replacement - with the risk you may have to replace anyway after the fact.

 

[nmantas]

One of the companies I have coming also does small to medium flatwork in conjunction with jacking them up so they might have some better rigged-up solution of saving most and replacing some. I'll also get total replacement quotes but like I said before it would be tough for me to have a cement truck in front of my house without doing the other jobs I want done (patio/walkway) which would balloon that up to out of current budget range. Sure can't wait for my kids to go to kindergarten and have my wife drawing an income again.

 

[cvairwerks]

Priorities man....sometimes the wants take a huge backseat to the needs....It's nice when they can co-happen tho.

My driveway could use some jacking too, but I just discovered a hollow under it in a bad place, so it's probably going to have to all come out and be redone before we sell the place.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Hard to tell without measurements. In the pictures nothing (including the garage)looks square, level or even. The various sections of the slab appear to be slanted different directions.
There is a chance that if they jack the far end the end near the door will drop.

 

[kbs2244]

Do not assume on the mud jacking cost.
Get your quote.
In my experience it has been very reasonable.l

 

[ford33]

My personal experience with mud jacking is not good. After it was done to multiple sections of my sidewalk, it initially leveled the sidewalk sections but within 2 years the sidewalk was tilting again. By the end of year five the sidewalk was cracked and tilted. In year 7, I had the sidewalk entirely replaced and now 6 years later the sidewalk still looks great.

Save your money and do the driveway right.

 

[mcbane]

Seems like an expensive repair that will be very temporary. After the mud jacking how will the inadequate subgrade know that it is time to stop moving?

Usually mud jacking is used to level slabs that can’t be replaced cost effectively, like the slab under a slab foundation house. In that case mudjacking can get things flat long enough to sell the house.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ard]

Pouring a driveway slab is a great job for some friends and family....got any that know their way around a bull float?

Tear out Can take weeks as you have the time. Forming is nothing.

Then it's down to one day of excitement...

 

[Showkey]

When I had jacking done it was 10% the cost of replacement with a whole lot less hassle too.

 

[kbs2244]

The lack of hassle factor can be huge in favor of mud jacking.
Less that a day with a truck or trailer parked at the curb and a hose down the driveway.
When they are done all they leave behind is some patched 2 inch holes.

Have them show you some jobs they have done.

 

[treeguy]

I'd go with the expanding foam instead of mud jacking. It works well. Some companies will give decent warranties as well. Much quicker and cleaner.

 

[iagsxr]

Years ago my grandma had her driveway mud jacked. Didn't stay.

My folks had the driveway at the house I live in now mud jacked. Didn't stay.

My feeling is it's a bandaid. Has it's place for sure. Just don't spend on it like it's forever because it may not be.

 

[nmantas]

Hard to tell without measurements. In the pictures nothing (including the garage)looks square, level or even. The various sections of the slab appear to be slanted different directions.
There is a chance that if they jack the far end the end near the door will drop.

The garage slab is right on the money......shockingly.

I'd go with the expanding foam instead of mud jacking. It works well. Some companies will give decent warranties as well. Much quicker and cleaner.

I have one coming with a 10 year warranty.....with all the folks saying the cement slurry didn't last I might have to give the foam my money if they are reasonable. I'm sure soil types/water/age of the cement are factors in whether or not it will hold.

Pouring a driveway slab is a great job for some friends and family....got any that know their way around a bull float?

Tear out Can take weeks as you have the time. Forming is nothing.

Then it's down to one day of excitement...

I've been apart of those before. I'm all in but I don't know if I could sell my wife on it.

 

[nmantas]

I have received several quotes for leveling it out. Since I only have one crack I think this is worth saving and since this extremely old concrete the job (settled ground) has a high probability of being permanent and doesn't seem nearly as expensive as I thought.

The poly guy seemed great but didn't want to commit to the job like I wanted (meeting the highest point) because he was convinced the two highest points would teeter down....if they didn't I would have to live with two huge tripping hazards as there was no recourse (probably too much foam). I had a smaller mudjacker with manual mixing pump cart that would get rolled to the backyard and a couple of larger companies that have an automated pump on the truck and long hose to the holes.

I plan on going with the larger automated system as they might have a tendency to be more generous with the material because the truck does all the bullwork where as the guys with the cart (although cheaper) might have a tendency to skimp on filling voids because slinging bags and shovels stinks. At least that is my read. The manual system is sand/portland slurry whereas the truck uses agricultural lime and portland.

I invested in a used 7" grinder/diamond wheel/vac shroud for the larger lip at the garage.....this thing eats concrete for breakfast (the edge next to the grinder was ground for less than 2 seconds and I was shocked at how much material was gone):

 

[Hawkerpilot05]

I would add one thing. I had my cement slab aprons in front of my garage doors mud jacked. Came out perfect. There is only 1 issue, in the winter, the slab that was mud jacked up 5" or so actually rises about a half inch in the winter. It is enough that it is just slightly above the garage slab. The other 2 slabs are less but do rise. I assume that this is from the water in the mud jacking that expands in the winter causing the rise. It isn't from water runoff as that was the original problem and the gutters were rerouted so water no longer flows over the slabs. Then when winter is over, they return to their original position which is perfect. Does this year after year going on 15 years. Something to think about.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[SGKent]

bust and replace. You'll never look back. If you have root problems then you have to deal with that too.

 

[Bretny]

Mud jacking is just a bandaid to me. Unless the sub surface is fixed your just putting off the problem again. At 40yrs old i would replace that whole driveway one section at a time. You can do it your self with a bit of manual labor. Dig down, compact the base real good and allow for drainage.

Keep gutter drains away from the driveway also.

 

[nmantas]

We'll see, there are so many variable in play. I've read that regional soil types and the types of mudjacking materials and the delivery methods are all factors....let alone trees. I have seen with my own eyes mudjacked slabs that were leveled out so long ago that the patch plugs are heavily deteriorating and should be replaced while the cement is dead level so it can be more than just a bandaid.

I know my slabs have moved a little since the vinyl siding was installed (almost 20 years ago) but most of the movement occurred well before that so they are basically settled but we'll see. I'll have a 4 year warranty so I would find it strange to be leveled out during the warranty period and then suddenly turn into a sink hole. The company has been in business for 30 years and claims to have leveled over 30,000 separate jobs (each of their 4 pumping trucks does multiple jobs per day during the nonwinter months)....they also claim a less than 1% call back but I know they can claim basically anything so we'll see.

I'll post pictures when they come.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Good mudjacking crew could lift that and make it good again, no sweat. You *might* have to grind down the lip on the garage, but when you pring the slab up it might fulcrum the high part down - if not, get out a concrete grinder.

We used to jack freeway slabs, some of which dated back to the 1940's, and didn't bust anything up. And once it's done (IF they use grout, not foam) it will be good to go for quite a while, AND restabilize the ground beneath.

Just hire someone who kows what they're doing, get references and look at their previous work.

 

[nmantas]

Well today was judgment day.

Before:

77 holes drilled:

After:

The guys were shocked at how much lime the job took, there were no voids but just a lot of adjusting. I'm 100% satisfied with how it came out and feel like a jackass for not doing it years ago. 4 year warranty so we shall see. Now I just have to fill in the large seam, grind the 1 inch by the garage, and caulk everything with self leveling.

 

[Bretny]

Cost?

 

[nmantas]

Cost?

$1,200 with me caulking myself. The foam was $2,000 but they didn't want to do the job the way I wanted it (less foam that way) and there were cheaper quotes but I went with the large-scale operation with the automated pump truck (other operations use a pump wagon and involves much manual labor......I figured the less manual labor the more likely they are to not skimp on material).

 

[manwithtools]

Glad you are happy with it. You need to keep it caulked well or it will move again.

It might be good idea to get the neighbor to route his downspout somewhere else or you may end up doing this again in a couple of years...

 

[Slednut]

My sister's driveway was terrible, I called a company called SlabJack Geotechnical. They made it look perfect, filled the cracks and come back by every 6 months to make sure it still looks good. I was so impressed with these guys.