Help! Slab sloping towards house

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Bob in St. Louis

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Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #20 on: 24 Sep 2015, 11:44 pm »
I've tried a lot of temporary solutions in my day only to end up doing it properly in the end.
Wise words.  :thumb:

santacore

Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #21 on: 25 Sep 2015, 12:13 am »
I hear you guys. We are planning to start a remodel soon, and the exterior slabs are part of the plan once the inside is done and we finalize an outdoor design. Doing it right is the only option, but with a crazy El Nino winter coming, I want to take some temporary precautions until we can take care of it properly.

JLM

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Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #22 on: 25 Sep 2015, 12:36 am »
With 8 years of structural engineering experience and another 30+ years of civil engineering experience, I agree that a good base is essential and that the source of the slopping must be determined and eliminated, but the injection method (foam or concrete) are viable and permanent.  Injection would (by the very nature of how it works) fill in the voids (under pressure to lift the slab) and should be a cleaner/faster solution than hammering the slab, use of skid loader to remove debris and bring in new sub-base material, running a compactor, then pouring the new concrete.

In your case it's not being subjected to heavy loads (trucks at speed), so the slab (if properly poured and reinforced) should be structurally sound.

OTOH if you're considering tearing it out soon anyway please consider a properly slopping slab as only a partial solution to basement infiltration.  A better solution might be to rip it out and install drainage lines (plastic drain "tile") to direct water away, maybe with some heavy visqueen (would need to know more about your situation to advice further).  We built on heavy clay (open clay mines for brick factory nearby) with a finished basement, so we:

- Surrounded most of the house with garage and deck (barely gets wet underneath)
- Built on the high point of the lot (ground slopes away from the house on all sides)
- Footing drains flow by gravity away from the house plus have a sump pump connected as a backup
- Entire roof has 2 foot overhangs with 6 inch gutters and downspouts connected to underground drains that also gravity away
- Perimeter walls have waterproofing and pea stone backfill
- Surrounded the entire perimeter with concrete slab (in front of garage and at front door) or landscaping fabric under stone

Wayner

Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #23 on: 25 Sep 2015, 11:50 am »
What's the deductible on your Homeowner's policy? A claim should be considered if you can get the pad removed and replaced right now.

How would a home owner's police cover that? It wasn't caused by a storm, it was settling from around the foundation........

Wayner

Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #24 on: 25 Sep 2015, 11:54 am »
Slabjacking around here costs as much as new. I would simply lick the wounds and have the whole thing removed and re-poured. Of course, proper compaction around the foundation should be done before re-pouring.

That's my advice. I've lived in my house for 23 years and have replaced my front sidewalk to the front door because of it tipping, and this year, replaced the entire driveway (24' x 40').

Wayner

mick wolfe

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Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #25 on: 25 Sep 2015, 04:17 pm »
Exactly. Why would one jack up a cracked/compromised piece of concrete? A band-aid approach that leaves one with the same ugly cracked piece of concrete. Makes absolutely no sense when costs are relatively the same as replacement. Removal of existing concrete also lets you investigate the possible original cause of the settling in the first place.

Bizarroterl

Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #26 on: 7 Oct 2015, 10:59 pm »
The short term issue as I see it is the slab shedding water towards the house.   If full replacement isn't wanted I suggest just having it removed and do a little grading to divert any rain away from the foundation.  When you do the remodel you can then do a proper base and pour a pad (or do pavers)

rif

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Re: Help! Slab sloping towards house
« Reply #27 on: 19 Dec 2015, 05:06 pm »
Sandbags as a temporary measure?