Thrasher Foundation Repair Before & After Photos
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Concrete Driveway Joint Sealant Adds Protection Against Future Damage
Our silicone-based sealant, NexusPro, looks great, and works better than traditional, off-the-shelf caulking to protect your concrete from the elements.
Why should you seal your joints on your concrete?
When it rains, the moisture can wash away the soil or leave it so saturated and soft that it cannot support the concrete above it. Sometimes this is due to improper drainage, or other times it is a matter of unusual amounts of water getting to the soil underneath the concrete. Lines in the concrete are called control joints because they are supposed to control the cracking patterns when the concrete was initially poured. These control joints will eventually crack through the slab after the concrete is poured in place. This is a perfect path for water to flow down and under the concrete slab. This creates more erosion and more wet, weak soil. When this happens, the soil shifts, and there becomes unsupported areas of concrete, which will result in additional cracks in the concrete or unlevel concrete. Another type of movement that could occur in the concrete if the joints are not sealed is heave. Heave is caused by the ground's expansion and is usually associated with clay soils that swell when they get wet. If you get too much moisture underneath your slab, that soil will expand and cause the concrete to become uneven in portions, in parts. This can also occur during the winter months. If there is moisture in the expansive clay soil and it freezes, it will swell. Similar to a pop bottle in the freezer. Sealing the joints between the concrete slabs that make up your driveway or sidewalk is a crucial step to preventing future damage like sinking and cracking.
Urethane or polyurethane caulks adhere well to concrete. This material provides an impermeable adhesive to prevent moisture, air, and debris from entering cracks. The downside to urethane caulk breaks down and degrades when UV light is present. This is not ideal for outside concrete, and we expect to replace it every few years.
Our silicone-based sealant, NexusPro, not only looks great but works better than traditional, off-the-shelf caulking material to protect your concrete - and the soil it rests on - from the elements. It remains highly flexible regardless of the weather conditions. It will not de-bond, and it is UV resistant so that it won't crack or breakdown. NexusPro has a quick curing process, so you only must wait for hours instead of days to drive or walk on the sealed areas.
Expert installation is vital. Our technicians will carefully prep and clean the existing joints and cracks. Then several passes are made with a spatula spoon to make sure there is a perfect result. The final touch of sand is then applied to help blend in the color of the concrete.
By preventing water from seeping through concrete slabs, the soil below is less prone to erosion and settlement, which is the root of almost every issue related to concrete sinking and cracking.
Check out a before and after photo from one of our recent concrete repair projects in Omaha, NE.
Concrete Expansion Joint Prevents Driveway Cracking and Structural Damage
Concrete driveways can crack and heave over time, or worse -cause structural damage to your home. Learn more about our solution to prevent this damage.
Concrete driveways can crack and heave over time, or worse – they could cause structural damage to your home. Temperature changes lead to shifting, breaking concrete, which creeps up against your garage and your home's foundation. Please continue reading to learn more about why this happens and how to prevent it.
WHAT IS A CONCRETE EXPANSION JOINT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
A concrete expansion joint is precisely as it sounds - it is a joint that allows expansion. Concrete will expand or contract due to temperature changes. Specifically, concrete will expand in the heat and contract in the cold. This means your concrete is continuously shifting with seasonal changes. Expansion joints are used to install concrete to control cracking associated with these changes in temperature and shifting of concrete. If concrete is not given properly spaced joints to accommodate the temperature changes and concrete movement, the concrete will crack, heave or buckle, also known as "street creep." Even when installed correctly, expansion joints can deteriorate or close over time, allowing your concrete to move and shift. Even worse, concrete can press up against your home's foundation and cause structural damage.
HOW TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO YOUR HOME AND CONCRETE
Our concrete expansion joint product, CompressionGuard, is a solution that will stand the test of time. CompressionGuard is an engineered expansion joint used to alleviate the pressure that concrete slabs can experience from pushing against one another, sometimes known as "street creep." When soil shifts and there is the inward movement of your concrete, CompressionGuard will compress and prevent the neighboring concrete from absorbing the concrete movement's impact. It allows for the natural expansion, contraction, and movement of concrete slabs – particularly for driveways – to prevent damage that typically results from that movement. CompressionGuard is a preventative measure that protects your concrete slabs before they experience cracks and sinking with the changes in seasons. This prolongs the life of your concrete and protects your home from any issues that may be associated with concrete movement around your property.
COMPRESSIONGUARD ADVANTAGES
- Prevents damage from slab collision
- An environmentally friendly solution that does not degrade
- Low-cost solution to ease pressure on garage slab and foundation walls
- Can be installed year-round, even in extreme temperatures
- Quick installation with minimal disruption to existing concrete
- Flush design and precise installation add curb appeal
- The driveway can be used right after installation
WHY COMPRESSIONGUARD
To protect against long-term damage to concrete driveways, garage slabs and foundation walls, CompressionGuard replaces the expansion joints made of fiberboard used in most residential driveways with an expansion joint that is engineered to flex with concrete movement during seasonal changes. Your concrete problems will not get better with time. They will get better with CompressionGuard.
Thrasher Foundation Repair offers a free, no-obligation estimate. When we visit your home, you can expect a thorough inspection and education of the issue at hand, paired with a detailed explanation of the solution we propose and why. That's the Thrasher difference: we use a consultative approach to provide an education that allows you as the customer to choose a solution that best suits your needs.
INSTALLING COMPRESSIONGUARD
CompressionGuard comes in 10-foot sections that can be cut or fused to fit any length. To install, we have a simple process.
- Identify the direction of concrete movement to determine the best placement of CompressionGuard
- Create trenches at slab joints to make space for CompressionGuard
- Tailor CompressionGuard to the size of your project
- Install CompressionGuard and ensure there are a seamless fit and clean slab
The photos below show a before and after view of our concrete expansion joint installation. You can learn more about concrete expansion joints and how they work here.
Long Narrow Driveway Repaired with PolyLevel
Long narrow driveways can be difficult to repair, especially when houses are in close in proximity. There are a couple of options when it comes to repairing driveways. Some contractors still use the old-school repair for settled concrete. They use heavy equipment to demolish the cracked, settled sections of concrete. With concrete replacement you often get a damaged areas, such as yards, and that's off limits until the new concrete hardens and cures. More importantly, the new concrete is going onto the same problem soil which caused the issue in the first place. Another method is mud jacking but leaves the concrete with noticeable injection holes that are 1”-2” in diameter. The material used in mud jacking is not waterproofed which could wash out if not properly sealed, but the material is extremely heavy. Knowing the weight of the original concrete, over a poor soil base, is usually what cause settlement in the first place and by adding additional weight you’re asking for additional settling to occur.
Long driveways, comes a lot of concrete to potentially replace. Typically, homeowners won’t replace the entire driveway do to the cost. More common they elect to fix the damaged areas. You can only imagine what, the end result looks like. Yes, a checkered board style driveway. The new concrete that was poured will never matched the original concrete, and usually stands out like a sore thumb. There are several variable which will control the color of the concrete. These include weather, finishing practices, the relative moisture content of the subgrade, the curing process, and the age of the original concrete. These factors are not always consistent. For instance, a cloudy day versus a hot sunny day pour can make the concrete turn out differently.
Even if you considered patching the problem areas, there are still problems that could exists. When concrete is poured there are two things that happens. It gets hard and it cracks. To control the cracking pattern, contractors will trowel or cut lines in the concrete to control the cracking pattern. These control joints will eventually crack through the slab. When it rains, this is a perfect path for water to flow down and under the concrete slab. Your long and narrow driveway accumulates a lot of water to travel down. This creates erosion and more wet, weak soil. When this happens, the soil shifts, and there becomes unsupported areas of concrete. Easy concept to think about is stepping in a mud. Now, imagine not only the weight of the concrete on the unsupported soil but driving a car on a driveway add tremendous added weight. If part of your concrete slab is supported in one section and not in others, the unsupported pieces may crack away from the other section which will result in additional cracks in the concrete or unlevel concrete.
PolyLevel is a state-of-the-art alternative to mudjacking, re-leveling grout or concrete replacement. PolyLevel is a high-density expanding foam that our technicians can use to raise settled concrete. The two-part polyurethane foam mixture is injected through small holes drilled in the settled concrete. Our installers are trained to control the injection process so that just enough foam is used to re-level the concrete deck and to fill additional voids under the concrete. Because the foam's expanding action fills voids in loose soil, this concrete leveling technique improves the soil's stability and load-bearing characteristics. You can feel confident that settlement won't occur again. Once the slabs have been lifted level, we can also come in and provide a silicone polyurethane sealant that will keep water from going through any joints and causing future erosion or a possible heave situations.
The polyurethane foam system offers numerous features and benefits:
Lightweight - Our polyurethane foam weighs approximately 4-6 pounds per cubic foot when installed, in comparison to traditional mortar-based material which weighs 120 pounds per cubic foot.
High capacity - Lifting action is a result of the expansion of the polymer, allowing for lifting of a much higher load than traditional mudjacking, which relies on hydraulic pressure being contained under a slab.
Accurate lift - Calculated reaction time of the expanding polyurethane foam allows for targeted, precise lifting of the slab.
Waterproof - Polyurethane formula is fully waterproof, so it won't wash out, won't be impacted by freeze/thaw cycles and can be used to under-seal slabs and stop a variety of infrastructure leaks.
Non-invasive - PolyLevel equipment can be used in extremely limited access areas and won't disturb lawn or landscape.
Quick cure time - Within just 15 minutes after injection, the concrete slab is ready for heavy loading; compared to conventional mudjacking which takes several days to cure.
Environmentally-friendly - With PolyLevel there's no need to demolish the concrete and transport the waste to a landfill.
The photos speak for themselves with this concrete driveway repair project in Lincoln, NE. After the concrete slabs were lifted and leveled back to their original position, we used NexusPro silicone-based caulking to seal the joints and cracks. The result not only looks great, but at a fraction of the cost of full replacement, this driveway is protected against future sinking and settlement problems.
Retaining Wall Replacement
A local homeowners’ association was experiencing deteriorating timber retaining walls that required complete replacement.
Thrasher Foundation Repair replaced the retaining wall and addressed drainage issues.
Thrasher engineered a more structurally sound foundation repair solution by constructing modular block walls. The new block walls offer a more pleasing curb appeal and design, while still providing a structural and permanent foundation.
Thrasher successfully gave this property an effective and beautiful makeover.
A drainage issue that was affecting the growth of some of the association’s decorative trees was also addressed. The trees were saved by integrating a drainage system behind the new block retaining walls and managing the runoff water.
French Drain or Curtain Drain Installation
Installing French drains, also known as curtain drains, is one way to handle water in a yard with grading issues. Here is an example from our customer in Lee's Summit, MO.
Installing French drains is an option in circumstances where excessive surface water must be managed.
Water management can take on many forms. In most cases, a home is built so that the yard can be graded to properly drain water away from the foundation. Swales are even graded into the landscape to provide a path for water to drain away from structures and toward storm drains. In some cases, though, grading is not correct or has to be changed. Sometimes a neighboring property will change their landscape and change the original drainage that was planned for the neighborhood.
When grading is done well, and gutters and downspouts are installed correctly, water will shed away from the foundation helping to prevent wet basements and bowing basement walls. When those problems persist, and interior French drain, draintile, or another form of interior drainage is the usual recommended solution. However, if there are major grading issues, they must be addressed outside. Not addressing the pooling water can lead to extreme flooding or excessive pressure that can push a foundation wall in causing cracks and other structural issues.
The best approach to solving grading issues is to regrade in a way that water can runoff of the yard naturally and without pooling in the yard. Unfortunately, there are rare cases where that isn’t possible. That is when a change in landscape design should be considered. One tool in the landscape toolbox is the exterior French drain or curtain drain.
For this customer in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Thrasher was able to work with them on both their yard drainage issues and dealing with the water that was already getting into the basement. An exterior interceptor drain was installed in this home’s back yard. Since the yard was not naturally sloped to move water away from the home, it was collecting in areas close to the foundation. While an interior waterproofing drainage system may have kept the basement dry, the pooling water still had a chance to cause structural damage. The homeowner also did not like having a muddy mess in their backyard after ever rainfall and even after watering the lawn.
Thrasher Foundation Repair prides itself on working with homeowners to find the best solution for their circumstances. Even in situations where we cannot perform all the work ourselves, we will make recommendations to the homeowner that they can do themselves or hire a landscaper to perform. If you aren’t sure what you need to do to solve your problem, we are happy to provide a free inspection to help you figure it out.
“From start to finish, I received total professionalism and up-to-date progress. The crew respected my property and cleaned up after the job was completed. Thrasher Foundation Repair came highly recommended to me and I see why. My neighbors are interested in having work done. My brother and mother have also used Thrasher. Top notch company. In today’s world, it is hard to find great customer service.” – R. R., homeowner
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