Concrete Repair in Pueblo, CO

Concrete repair is often the smartest money you can spend on an older Pueblo home. Not every cracked driveway or sunken walk needs to be torn out. If the slab is mostly sound, sealing cracks, resurfacing a worn top or lifting a sunken panel can buy years for much less than new concrete. But repair is not always the answer, and a patch on a slab that has failed underneath is money gone. At the estimate we tell you which situation you are in.

Common problems and what we do

• Hairline and shrinkage cracks: blown out and closed up with a flexible sealant to shut out water
• Wider cracks with no height difference: routed, cleaned and filled; HomeGuide prices crack filling at $0.50 to $3 per linear foot
• Scaling and flaking: the loose surface removed and a resurfacing layer applied over sound concrete
• Sunken panels: lifted back into place, or cut out and repoured if lifting will not hold
• Broken corners and edges: cut back to solid concrete and patched or repoured
• Gaps at the house: joints between the slab and foundation sealed so water does not run under

Why Pueblo concrete scales

Scaling is the classic freeze-thaw failure. The city's Wikipedia climate table shows an average January high of 48.4 degrees and an average low of 15.4, so water that soaks into a slab on a sunny afternoon freezes inside it at night. Over many winters that cycle breaks off the top layer, especially on concrete that was finished with extra water, mixed without entrained air, or salted when it was young. If the concrete underneath is still hard, resurfacing restores a smooth top. If the damage goes deep, the slab needs to be replaced.

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Repair or replace?

HomeGuide's resurfacing guide says to replace rather than resurface when concrete has large cracks, crumbling or structural problems, notes that a crack over 1/4 inch wide tends to signal trouble below the slab, and says replacement is the better option when a repair would need a new layer more than 2 inches thick. Here is how we usually call it:

• Repair when the slab is in a few large pieces that are still level, the surface damage is shallow, or only one or two panels have sunk
• Replace when the slab is broken into many pieces, sections have heaved or dropped by different amounts, the base has washed out, or the whole surface is scaled deep
• Partial replacement when one area is bad and the rest is sound, such as a garage apron or the last few panels of a walk

Lifting sunken concrete

When a panel has dropped but is still in one piece, it can often be lifted by pumping material underneath it. In HomeGuide's leveling guide, mudjacking runs $4 to $9 a square foot, foam (polyjacking) runs $8 to $25, and small jobs usually carry a minimum fee, and says leveled concrete typically lasts 5 to 10 years or more depending on method and soil. Lifting is a good fit for a walk panel or patio that settled once. It is a poor fit where the ground keeps moving or water keeps washing out the base, because the slab will sink again.

Fixing the cause

Most concrete damage starts with water. A downspout dumping against a slab, sprinklers soaking an edge, or a grade that sends runoff under the concrete will undo any repair. The Colorado Geological Survey names poor surface drainage as a factor in damage on expansive soils. With every repair we look at where the water is coming from and suggest the simple fixes, like downspout extensions or regrading a strip of yard, that make the repair last.