How Long Does It Take To Level Concrete?

"Oftentimes within the 1st 10 years that concrete will settle because that dirt is naturally compacting back to where it wanted to be originally."

 

-  Zachary Zaras, Concrete Expert

 

Concrete expert, Zachary Zara from Leveled Concrete, answers this question on the program today - "How Long Does It Take To Level Concrete?"

For more information about Leveled Concrete in Houston, Texas - log on to

leveledconcrete.com or check them out at www.checkapro.com.

 

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Check a Pro Joe here on the Check,
A Pro Radio show if you haven't had this happen to you on your property.
I know in your neighborhood you've seen this and that is concrete that is pitching one way or the other.
And you're like,
gosh,
how does that person walk safely on their walkway or how are they getting in their garage with that concrete?

(00:24):
That is no longer level,
they should get that totally banged out and replaced,
which actually may not be the best way to go.
Zachary.
Zara is joining me here on the program from Level Concrete.
Hey,
Zachary,
how are you doing?
Well,
how about yourself?
I am living the dream.
Thanks so much.

(00:45):
We've talked about this before you guys can go in there and you can fix this problem.
It's a very common problem.
And what I wanna do is talk about how long it takes to do it.
But before that,
let's set this up,
what might cause concrete to no longer be level over time?

(01:07):
Is it erosion?
Is it freezing?
Is it the heat?
All the above?
So,
yeah,
all the above.
I mean,
we don't get a lot of freezing down here.
But,
um,
you know,
oftentimes when they build your house,
those uh dirt work crews and builders don't do the best soil work underneath your driveway and sidewalks.
They do the best under the house there as much as possible or much as needed under the house and they just kind of level things out and pour concrete through your driveway.

(01:35):
And so oftentimes within the 1st 10 years that concrete will settle because that dirt is naturally compacting back to where it wanted to be originally.
And so that's one,
once that starts happening,
that opens up cracks,
it opens up those joints.
And now every time it rains,
that water is gonna go somewhere and it's gonna go right in those cracks and joints.
And then that creates the erosion underneath the concrete.

(01:57):
And then if there are times where water is pooling in your yard or maybe there's a low spot,
it's next to the concrete or pulling on the concrete and it makes the soil super soft and it's like stepping in mud,
your foot's gonna sink right in it.
That concrete is going right in that mud as well.
And so those are kind of the three biggest reasons,
the natural compaction,
the erosion and then the uh the wetness of the soil,

(02:20):
weak,
weak wet soils that everything sinks into.
Those are kind of the big reasons why it happens.
And then we just gotta stop those reasons from happening and then we lift the concrete,
you know,
and you lift it with a foam process and what I like about it is that's not dirt.
Right.
So,

(02:40):
it's less likely I would imagine to move any road over time.
It seems like it's a little more substantial.
It's gonna stay there longer.
Yeah,
absolutely.
So,
the,
the foam is not gonna go anywhere,
it's not going to road and it's also very lightweight.
So to put in perspective,
one cubic yard of our film weighs about £100.

(03:02):
Whereas one cubic yard of dirt is well over £1000.
I wanna say it's closer to 3000,
but you don't,
don't check my math on that.
I'm not sure.
Um,
but it,
it's significantly,
I start putting mud and dirt underneath the concrete.
It just adds extra weight to that wool.
And so we already know if the SWS are settling because of the excess weight of the concrete and you go add,
you know,

(03:22):
four or £5000 in your driveway and just leave it there,
it's going to settle again.
So as adding a little bit of weight on average driveway,
we add less than £200 of material under the entire driveway.
So less than you or I laying on the concrete most likely,
and we spread our weight over the entire driveway.
So there's very little weight and that again,

(03:43):
that material is not going to wash it out either.
So it's in there,
it's in there forever.
We just gotta stop the water at this point.
All right,
Zachary.
So,
questions to come into the radio program and that is,
how long does it take to level concrete now that we know why it happens in the process to do it?
How long does it take to actually get it back in place?

(04:03):
So the actual process takes a couple of hours.
Uh,
some of our crews get it done in about an hour or some,
take two or three hours.
It just depends on how,
how quick they are and efficient they are with work.
Um,
but you know,
they come in,
they drill their holes about the size of a pencil,
3/8 of an inch and they enjoy the polyurethane.
Again,
that product is fully lifted within about 15 seconds,

(04:24):
it's fully risen.
So it's just a matter of how much area needs to be leveled out.
But in most cases,
the driveway takes an hour,
it takes about an hour to two hours to level out and that's to get it back into place.
Um,
often some driveways are real,
real quick.
Some are real long depending on how,
how much leveling needs done on it.
And you will never know that level concrete was there.

(04:48):
You don't have to pour a new slab,
which means everything will match up.
It's the original concrete within a few hours,
you're back to normal and you can drive anything on top of this,
it could be a tractor trailer with,
with a tank on it and it's not gonna move.
Yeah.
So our,
our material is,
it's about £60 per square inch that it can hold.

(05:10):
So if we map that out,
it's somewhere around.
Um,
I wanna say £7000 per square foot.
Um,
so,
well,
more than any,
anything you're gonna put on your driveway,
they make a heavier material f we use for commercial applications,
but you could park your 18 wheeler if you're a truck driver on your driveway and that phone is not going to crash or compress.
Yeah,
it's incredible.
Zachary as always.

(05:30):
Thank you so much for joining me today here on the program.
Oh,
thank you.
Thanks for having me.