Sidewalk has sunk. Need to raise it 6 inches

[Speedy Jim]

Yellow Pages: "Concrete Levelers"

Jim

[Sherman]

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9 feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?

[M Simon]

I had a smaller section do the same. I dug away a few feet from the side of the sidewalk so I could have access. In 2 sections I dug deep enough to get a small hydraulic jack underneath. (you might need 3 or 4). I jacked the sections up about an inch higher than I wanted and packed the void under the sidewalk with dirt and sand as best I could. When I released the jack it settled back down to almost level over a few days. I backfilled the trench on the side and in a few weeks the grass had covered. I moved 2 years later and it was still level.

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps, William

[PipeDown]

IF this method is to work on such a large angled piece without cracking you will need multiple jacking points and a wooden beam to support the cement temporarily wouldn't hurt either.

As an alternative to hydrolic jacks would be to slip a lift bag under instead. This is esentially a heavy duty bag you fill with water or compressed air and it does the lifting as it inflates. This will distribute the load more evenly.

[Sherman]

Sounds good. I'd like to screw the water hose onto such a bag and lift it about a foot and then back fill so it settles down about even.

Wonder where one gets such a bag?

Sherman

[Shirley Banks]

"Sherman" wrote

My mother-in-law

[World Traveler]

Before you spend much effort to lift the walk, you'd better check on why it sank in the first place. If it's being undercut by waterflow from your roof or some other hydrologic problem you'll need to solve that problem.

In my case, the house I moved into had a sidewalk that sloped the wrong way, and also started to sink at one place. We briefly considered trying to relevel everything, but decided to remove altogether and replace with paving blocks. For not much more than the cost of fixing it we now have a much better-looking walkway with inset garden beds. We're in the final steps of completing the project and I'll post photos in a few days.

(Correcting the slope of the walk also fixed the erosion problem that had caused the sidewalk to crack and sink) --

Regards --

[vjp2.at]

Best comment yet.. I've seen a lot of folks keep fixing such problems.. I live in the same house since 1965.. so I can observe history.. rocks would help.. also beware of recent "renovations" in storm drains.. some of those engineers don't really know your terrain and design the drains contrary to nature.. one group found a stream, so instead of dumping the water into the underground stream, they decided to try to drain the stream.. uh oh.. drain a stream and it..dyuh.. collapses..

- = - Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian

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[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on 22 Jul 2005 19:27:03 -0700 " [e-mail]" posted:

Not only that, when it gets to be over 8" you can give it to the county and they will maintain it.

Well, not really, but our n'hood streets are so thin that the county won't take them. We have to continue to pay for the snow-plowing and the reblacktopping.

Meirman

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[Harry K]

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the 'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious cracking and uneveness.

Harry K

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on 24 Jul 2005 07:49:29 -0700 "Harry K" posted:

P&M

FWIW, my stoop/aerie way has sunk 6 inches in 26 years without cracking. It's about 20 feet by 2 feet where it is a stoop, by 8 or 9 feet where it is a "patio".

Either that or the house has gone up 6 inches.

Actually the lowest 16 houses in my n'hood, and about the 20 lowest houses in the next n'hood, probably built by a different builder, all in a row close to the stream fwiw, have all had sinking stoops. Some have cracked. I can't even guess at what percentage.

Still, I agree that his idea is a good one.

Meirman

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[Sherman]

My peach tree had sunk over 12 inches. It caught so much water it finally drowned. The drive way and house remains level and only the sidewalk sank with nary a crack. The expansion joints on the house and driveway acted like hinges and let it sink without cracking.

[Harry K]

Ah! I was picturing a level sinking. With that much sinkage, I would suspect a sinkhole forming. I have never seen nor heard of a tree sinking until now.

Harry K

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on 29 Jul 2005 18:59:26 -0700 "Harry K" posted:

Expansion joints? where they joined the sidewalk, right?

Me neither.

Meirman

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