What is Mudjacking? And how important it is when it comes to Foundation Repair

Some years back, your patio may have been the apple of your eye, the prettiest area in your house. A few years later, it has tilted and does not add beauty to your house anymore. Mudjacking, however, is the magic way to fix it.

On the surface, mudjackingwhich is also known as slabjacking and concrete filing is simple. It involves lifting concrete slabs so that the structure is at level again.  Simply put, a patio that has gone down from one side can rise back again to the level of the structure with mudjacking.

You can understand this by simply comparing slabjacking to filling balloons. Consider that half of aballoon is filled with hydrogen, but the other half is deflated and is ruining the look of the entire balloon. By filling in more gas in the balloon, you can achieve a fully inflated balloon.

Mudjacking is this process of filling concrete to sunken parts of your house’s foundation. Let’s explore this further.

How does mudjacking work?

Water erosion, tree roots, earthquakes, and poor soil stability are some of the reasons that can chip in sunken or uneven concrete. Naturally, when this concrete sinks, it affects your house’s curb appeal.

Mudjacking can easily repair this issue. It works for all concrete-based structures such as the basement, decks, porches, sidewalks garage floors, patios, and driveways. By slabjacking, you can drill holes into concrete slabs.

After this, a mixture of cement, water, soil, and sand termed as slurry or mud is pumped into the holes. This is much like pumping gas into a sunken tire. The mixture creates a stable fill that solves the concrete settlement issues,and the slab lifts up.

The role of mudjacking in foundation repair

Keep in mind that concrete filling cannot lift the entire foundation of your house. It works on only some areas of the foundation and helps maintain the curb appeal. In other words, mudjacking assists in House Leveling.

In doing so, slabjacking can help repair your house atinstances where only one side of the house is sinking. Besides, it can also save the structure from further damage. To simplify, mudjacking plays two chief roles:

1. Fills voids

Foundation problems are often due to the perimeter of the setting. A contractor levelsthe settled sections of a foundation with push piers. When these push piers are installed under the perimeter grade beam, and the foundation rises, there is a void created under the slab.

This is where concrete filling comes into the picture as it fills the void. About two-inch holes are dug through the perimeter grade beam,and cement mud is pumped into the void.

2. Raises interior floors

In some instances, interior portions of the slab foundation settle or sink. The concrete filling can, however, fill the sunken portion to return the interior floor to its original position. The process is same as the one explained above – filling slurry mixture into 2” drilled holes.

Benefits of mudjacking for foundation repair

The significance of mudjacking is immense. It is a simple, effective, and quick way to lift a section of the foundation without having to repair it fully. The latter is, of course, a costly expenditure. But slab jacking is reasonable comparatively.

Home Advisor highlights that the average cost of concrete filling lies anywhere between $546 and $1,323. If the work is less, the expense can be as low as $300. In other cases, it can go as high as $2,300.

In contrast, the same source reveals that the average cost of foundation repair lies between $1,848 and $6,433. The costs can shoot to almost $11,898 and drop to $450 for small works.

Therefore, mudjacking is a money saver that helps lift the sunken concrete areas of your house’s foundation. As the concrete settles and the surface levels,mudjacking boosts the curb appeal.

Undeniably, a poor visual appearance of your property can lower its value. A good looking curb can increase the value of your house by 5-20%.Moreover, mudjacking is a quick process as compared to other traditional rip-and-replace approacheswhere the contractor breaks up the concrete and then removes and replaces it.

In contrast to these approaches, mudjacking can be complete in a small time depending on the size of the affected area. Additionally, you can use the reworked concrete area almost immediately.

The settlement takes between 24 hours and 48 hours as the slurry cures and is ready to bear the load. On the other hand, replaced concrete takes about almost a month to cure before it can be used.

In several cases, slabjacking is also more cost-effective than replacing concrete. Since no cement needs to be disposed of, mudjacking is also safe for the environment.

Summing up

Simply put, mudjacking is the practice of filling concrete slabs with a cocktail of ingredients. This levels and settles the sunken area to the rest of the foundation. It is a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly, and quick way to solve foundation problems.