Concrete Repair & Replacement in Decatur, IL

Concrete repair & replacement is about making the right call. Some damaged concrete can be lifted, patched or resurfaced for a fraction of the cost of new. Some looks fixable but will fail again within a year or two because the problem is underneath. We inspect driveways, walks, patios, steps and slabs in Decatur and nearby towns, explain what we see, and price the repair and the replacement when both are reasonable.

Why so much repair work in Decatur

Decatur's population peaked at about 94,000 in 1980 and has since declined, according to Wikipedia, and very few homes have been built in the city since 2000. Census figures summarized by Point2Homes show just 4.6 percent of homes built in 2000 or later. That means most of the concrete around town is decades old, and many homeowners are deciding whether to repair what they have rather than starting new.

Common problems and what they mean

• Hairline cracks: usually shrinkage; seal them to keep water out
• Wide or growing cracks: often movement in the base; may need lifting or replacement
• Sunken panels: soil settled or washed out underneath; often liftable if the panel is whole
• Scaling and flaking: freeze-thaw and salt damage to the surface; resurfacing may help if the slab is sound
• Heaving by trees: roots lifting a panel; usually means removal and root work
• Gaps at the house: stoops or patios pulling away, which can send water to the foundation

Repair options

Crack repair: cleaning the crack and filling it with a flexible sealant or repair material to slow water and keep it from freezing inside.

Slab lifting: mudjacking pumps a cement slurry under the slab to raise it; polyjacking uses expanding foam through smaller holes. Both work when the slab is in one piece and the soil underneath is stable enough to hold it.

Resurfacing: a thin bonded overlay on a structurally sound slab whose surface has scaled. It does not fix cracks that are moving or a base that has failed.

Partial replacement: cutting out and replacing only the worst panels, such as a flaking driveway apron or a few sidewalk squares, and matching the height of the panels that stay.

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When a new slab is the better spend

HomeGuide's concrete leveling guide points to replacement when cracks are wider than about a quarter inch, when spalling is significant, or when the concrete is badly deteriorated. A few more signs push us the same way: a slab that tips toward the house, one broken into many pieces, or one that has already been patched again and again. In those cases a new slab on compacted stone, with air-entrained concrete and proper joints, is the repair that lasts.

Why repairs fail

Most failed repairs treat the surface and ignore the cause. Water running under a slab from a downspout will keep washing out the soil no matter how many times the slab is lifted. A thin patch on concrete that is still scaling will pop off in the next winter. Decatur gets about 40 inches of precipitation a year and plenty of freeze-thaw swings, so we look at drainage first and fix where the water is going as part of the job.

What to expect

We look at the concrete, the drainage around it and the base where we can see it. You get a written estimate that explains the problem in plain words, the repair we recommend, how long it should reasonably hold, and the cost of replacement for comparison.

Call (217) 301-2983 and send photos of the problem if you can.