Slab Foundation Repair

Causes of Slab Foundation Settlement

Slab foundation repair is necessary when the slab foundation begins to noticeable settle. Slab foundation settlement is most commonly caused by the soil becoming dry and then shrinking leaving a space under the concrete slab. Wherever these gaps and holes are created, the house will begin to sink in to fill the spaces.

Thankfully there’s five things you can look out for:

Signs You Need Slab Foundation Repair

It’s important to notice the signs you need slab foundation repair before it’s too late. We’ve put together this quick list to help you recognize when it’s time to give us a call. Be sure to keep an eye out for these signs:

1. Uneven Floors – Home floors feel or look uneven. There’s the old-fashioned test of setting a ball in the middle of the floor and if it begins to roll without pushing it, the foundation isn’t level.
2. Cracked Slab – Walk around the outside of your home and look for cracks in the slab.
3. Inspect the Expansion Joint – This expands and contracts when needed to prevent cracking in the foundation with weather.
4. Separated Windows – Check windows for separation and gaps. Sometimes these have been covered up by caulk or your first thought might be to seal them. But, this can be a sign of serious foundation issues.
5. Stuck Doors – Doors getting stuck or obviously uneven with the door jam.

The best news of all is that if you even begin to suspect that your house is sinking, we can come out and do an evaluation for FREE. No cost to you and we’ll let you know if your home needs leveling or not. We’ll also let you know the exact measurements to within 1/10th of an inch for every corner of your house.

Repairing Your Slab Foundation: Our Process

For complete transparency, we bring you the Discount Foundation Repair Specialist process to leveling a house. There’s a lot of work involved, but we stand by our work with our satisfaction guaranteed warranty. Here’s how a standard concrete slab foundation repair goes:

5. For each pier we will dig a hole 2 ft by 2 ft and 4 ft deep, then dig 12 in. under the house.
6. Insert hardened concrete cylinders (These can support up to 10,000 psi), force it into the ground w/ piston, and repeat until point of refusal (usually around 7000 psi) and then use a spacer until there’s 10-12 inches of space for the house jack.
   • *For 2-story homes we placed dual concrete cylinders 5 in. apart from each other.

7. Now we put the 20-ton house jack in the gap and lift the house slowly by hand in each hole without compromising the structure.
8. At this point I head inside and measure the level changes during the lifting process.
9. To ensure accuracy we place metal shims that are 1/4 in. thick plates for the last 0.5-1 in gap and force them in the space with a sledge hammer nice and tight.
10. Now we remove the jack.
11. Next we back fill the hole and turn the dirt to mud to fill the cracks and gaps.
12. Place extra dirt to create a 6 in. – 8 in. slope to prevent water from pooling up and saturating.
13. We also adjust and rehinge the outside doors when necessary so that they can lock for safety. Sometimes this is only a temporary fix until you have time to call a specialist to come out to replace the doors completely.

Certified Slab Foundation Repair Professionals

We’ve been in the slab foundation repair business for more than 30 years serving local Dallas/Fort Worth Texas home owners by elevating homes to their original height with support from bedrock which is a better foundation than the home is originally built on. You can trust that you’re in good hands with a certified slab foundation repair professional when you call Discount Foundation Repair Specialist.