Mudjacking Your Patio or "Help, my floor is falling!"

Unfortunately, when a builder of homes backfills the cement slab foundation, sometimes they backfill around the house with construction debris. As you can imagine that does not make a very stable foundation once the ground starts to settle. In time, the weight of the house will compact all those building leftovers and everything above it will come too.

A young couple, who had just bought a home in Olathe that was a fairly new construction, called asking for help. They called us because we had done patio mudjacking in Gardner for his wife’s parents. They reiterated the problem they were having and her parents told them that it sure sounds like your home and patio needs mudjacking. They were more than a little concerned because the foundation was pulling away from their patio and home. We went right out and inspected to find the problem.

Well, they were correct. The foundation had pulled away, as much as three feet in some spots and under the laundry room, and the patio was separating from their home. This caused the piping for waste under the laundry room that was located right in front of the garage, to pull apart. The homeowner allowed us to make a small hole in the wall so we could take a look at things unseen. We used a fiber optic camera and observed that the waste piping was also undersized and would need to be replaced with the proper one.

But we needed to sawcut or breakup concrete, without the concrete falling. We can only do this if it can be done safely. The other issue was to distribute the backfill evenly after repairs are made to the waste piping. Otherwise, you end up with the original problem all over again. We decided we would drill small holes in the concrete slab foundation and patio for mudjacking, inject a stabilizing slurry mixture under the slab that would fill the voids beneath and raise the slab back up to where it should be. But then we had the complication of the very real possibility of the slurry mixture traveling into the open sewer lines.

So, after isolating the active sewer from the broken line, we went through a clean out and inserted an inflatable object to prevent this from happening. We were then able to safely have the plumber do the repairs to the pipe that was improperly sized. After a municipal inspection and approval it was backfilled properly. Then the actual mudjacking could take place with the concrete slabs under the house and patio. When all was said and done, everyone was content and we had a happy ending to this story of home and patio mudjacking in Olathe, KS.

Had it not been for the plumbing issues, it was a straightforward mudjacking repair. But with our experience and knowledge we’re ready for any challenge. Call us for all your home and patio mudjacking questions in Olathe and the surrounding areas. There is no challenge too great!