Fix it while it is small
Cracks sealed, chipped corners rebuilt and trip edges taken down before they turn into a tear out.
Repairs
Concrete rarely fails all at once. It starts with a crack you can slide a coin into, a corner that broke off under a tire, or one panel sitting a half inch higher than the next. Left alone, water gets in, the soil underneath moves, and the small problem grows. Dealt with early, many of these are a small fix with a grinder and a bucket, not a new slab.
Repair calls are the smallest jobs in the trade, and the hardest to get anyone to show up for. There may be no truck involved at all, only bagged material, a grinder and some care. A company built for big pours has no slot for that. We do repairs on the days we are already working in your town. Text a close photo and a wide one, with something in the frame for scale.
Typical repairs
- Crack sealing
- Cracks cleaned out and filled with a flexible sealant so water and weed seeds stay out.
- Chipped corner or edge
- A broken corner on a step, a driveway edge or a porch cut square and rebuilt with repair mortar.
- Trip edge
- A raised lip between two panels ground down to a smooth ramp.
- Surface patch
- A small pitted or flaking spot cleaned back to sound concrete and patched.
How the job goes
- 1
Look at the cause
We start by asking why it cracked or chipped. A thin shrinkage crack is cosmetic. A crack with one side higher than the other means the ground moved. The fix, and whether it is worth doing, depends on which one you have.
- 2
Clean and prep
Repair material only sticks to clean, sound concrete. We grind or chisel out the loose edges, clear the dust and dirt, and square up the hole so the patch has shoulders to sit against instead of a thin feathered edge.
- 3
Fill, patch or grind
Cracks get a flexible sealant that can stretch when the slab moves. Chips get a repair mortar made to bond to old concrete. Trip edges are ground to a gentle slope. Each problem gets a different material on purpose.
- 4
Blend and protect
We texture the patch so it sits close to the broom finish around it, then keep traffic off until it has set. Many repairs can be walked on within a day. We tell you what to watch for afterward.
What makes it last
Concrete fails from the bottom up. These are the parts you will never see once the job is done, and they decide how the slab holds up.
- Sealing out water
- Water is what turns a crack into a sunken slab. It washes soil from under the concrete, and in the high country it freezes and pries the crack wider. Sealing the crack helps close off the way in.
- Flexible where it moves
- Slabs grow and shrink with heat, and the swing between a July afternoon and a January night is large here. A rigid filler in a moving crack pops out. A flexible one stretches with the slab and tends to stay put.
- Sound edges on a patch
- A patch that tapers to nothing at its edges peels up. We cut the area so the patch has real depth all the way around, which does more than anything else to keep it in place.
- Knowing when not to patch
- Some slabs are not worth repairing. If the base has failed, a patch only hides it for a while. We say so when that is the case and point you to a replacement instead.
Start with a photo.
435·220·5536Text us a photo of the spot and rough measurements. We will tell you what we can from the photo, or come out and take a look. Rather type it out? Use the form.
Repairs: straight answers
Will the repair be invisible?
No. A sealed crack looks like a sealed crack, and a patch is a slightly different shade than the slab around it. The goal is to keep water out, remove the trip hazard and slow the damage down. If looks matter most, replacing the panel is the cleaner answer.
Are cracks a sign of a bigger problem?
Usually not. Thin cracks that stay flat on both sides are normal shrinkage. Worry more when one side is higher, when the crack keeps widening, or when the slab tilts toward the house. Those point to soil or water trouble under the slab.
Can you fix a sunken slab?
A panel that has sunk is usually a tear out and replace job. We break it out, rebuild the base that let it settle and pour it at the right height. If the drop is small, grinding the raised edge next to it can take away the trip.
How long does a repair last?
It depends on why the damage happened. A sealed crack on a stable slab can go years before it needs a touch up. A patch on a slab that is still moving will not hold long. That is why we look at the cause before we fix anything.