Have you ever had to mud jack or replace sinking and cracking concrete? These issues often occur in driveways, stoops, walkways, garage floors and patios – but fortunately this hassle can be prevented.
Most often the culprit behind a sinking or cracked concrete surface is that the concrete was installed over a poorly compacted sub grade. Many builders and contractors use fill dirt during construction, which is difficult to properly compact and can eventually, though sometimes quickly, lead to sinking concrete.
The best preventive action is to backfill at the time of construction all porch areas, garage excavations, walk out frost wall excavations, patios, concrete landing areas, walkways over trenches and other concrete areas with granular fill from the base of the excavation to the underside of the concrete. It should be properly compacted to remove air voids. See the attached diagram for an example of our typical slab support over excavated areas.
We have used this method for a long time and our driveways, sidewalks and porches provide many years of service for our homeowners without settlement due to consolidation of fill in the excavation below.
When building a new home or replacing a garage floor, patio or stoop, ask your builder or contractor about backfilling with granular fill to ensure you get the maximum years of performance from your concrete. Your architect can also specify it on your custom home plans.
To learn more about our custom home building practices or to schedule a free consultation, contact our team; and to follow our projects, like us on Facebook.
