Pool Patio Repair Techniques
Sunken concrete can cause quite a headache. It can result in pooling water where you don't want it, trip hazards on a sidewalk or pool patio, and overall a very unsightly surface. Especially around a pool. For a homeowner, this is frustrating as there is seemingly a timely, costly repair needed.
When it comes down to it, concrete is heavy. Considering concrete comes in 60lb or 80lb bags at the lumberyard, it's easy to understand why. And while soils are generally compacted and prepared during concrete installation projects, at the end of the day, the concrete is putting massive pressure down on these soils. Soils are also susceptible to shrinking or erosion, and so combined with the weight of the concrete, sinking occurs.
When a concrete pool patio settles, one option coming into consideration is total replacement. This requires jackhammering the existing patio, hauling away the broken material, addressing the soils and compacting them once again, and finally pouring in new concrete. This is a multi-day project, if not a week, not to mention intrusive to the rest of the property. Such replacement requires lots of labor and the coming and going of crews and trucks.
Another option is resurfacing the concrete patio. While the surface is out of level, pouring new concrete on the surface to straighten it out might seem like a good solution. However, this does not solve the problem at hand, which is sinking concrete. The issue is the void which has been created underneath the concrete. Adding a layer of new concrete on the surface is a temporary fix, and also would be susceptible to chipping and discoloration.
Over the years, Erickson Foundation Supporworks has repaired a number of concrete pool patios with PolyLEVEL with great success, and for a fraction of the cost of other repair or replacement methods. PolyLEVEL is a fast and efficient method to raise sinking concrete. This simple foam injection can stabilize your concrete slab and fill the voids created within the soil beneath the patio. One benefit of PolyLEVEL, it weighs only about 4lbs. per cubic ft., however it is strong and durable enough to lift any concrete patio. Due to it's light weight, as the foam fills the voids and cures, very little extra weight is added to the already sinking soils. The PolyLEVEL installation process is also quick and efficient, in most cases taking no more than a single day. The foam itself is completely cured within 30 minutes, and so the patio or surface can be used almost immediately after installation.
See for yourself how PolyLEVEL works by checking out our various videos and photos. Have a sinking patio issue yourself? Erickson Foundation Supportworks provides free estimates and would be happy to come out and take a look.
