Slab-on-grade homes

Slab Foundation Repair

Most homes around here sit on a concrete slab poured straight on the ground. When that slab moves, you feel it everywhere in the house.

Call 321-684-9144Talk it through on the phone. No visit needed to start.

Slab-on-grade is the standard foundation in this part of Florida. The concrete is poured directly onto prepared ground, and it depends entirely on that ground staying where it is.

There's no crawlspace to inspect and no basement to walk through. That's why slab problems tend to be noticed inside the house, in the floors and the door frames, long before anyone looks at the concrete.

Why slabs move here

A slab is only as stable as what's under it. Sandy soil supports concrete well until water starts moving through it, and then it carries the sand somewhere else. What's left is a void, and the slab bridges it until something cracks.

Plumbing under a slab is a common culprit and an easy one to miss. A supply line leak runs constantly and washes soil out from under the concrete for months before anyone notices a water bill they can't explain.

Poor original compaction is the other one. If the fill under a slab wasn't compacted properly before the pour, it keeps settling for years afterwards, usually unevenly.

Exposed edge of a concrete slab foundation where it meets a stucco wall

Signs a slab has moved

Floors that feel out of level, or a ball that rolls on its own
Tile cracking in a run across a room rather than in one place
Doors that stick at the top corner on one side of the house only
Gaps under baseboards that weren't there before
A warm spot on the floor, or the sound of running water with everything off
An unexplained jump in the water bill

How we approach it

Find out if water is involved. Before anything structural, we rule out a plumbing leak under the slab. Repairing a slab over an active leak is wasted money.
Measure the movement. Where the slab is low, how far off it is, and whether that pattern points at a corner, a plumbing run, or the whole side of the house.
Deal with the ground. Drainage, grading, and downspouts, so water stops arriving where it's causing damage.
Support or lift where needed. Depending on how far it has moved, that ranges from filling voids under the slab to piers that carry the load down to stable ground.
Say when it needs an engineer. Significant structural movement isn't a judgement call to make casually, and we'll tell you when it's beyond what we should decide.

A note on lifting slabs

Lifting a settled slab back to level is possible, and sometimes it's the right call. Whether it is depends on why the slab dropped and whether it's still dropping.

A slab that settled once, years ago, and has been stable since may be better left alone and simply supported. Lifting concrete puts stress on plumbing, tile, and drywall that have long since adjusted to the current position.

Worth talking through before anyone starts drilling holes.

Describe what you're seeing

It usually takes a couple of minutes on the phone to work out whether this is something that needs attention now or something to keep an eye on.

Call 321-684-9144

Serving Melbourne and Brevard County.