A lip at the garage door
The approach panel drops away from the garage floor, leaving a step your tires hit every time you pull in and a gap water runs into.
Traditional mudjacking in Northern Colorado since 2003 · 20,000+ slabs lifted
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Services / Driveway leveling
Sunken panels, a lip at the garage door and water heading back toward your foundation. Driveways are the most common slab we lift in Northern Colorado.
A driveway sits on some of the worst prepared ground on a property. The trench for the foundation, the utility runs and the sewer lateral all cross underneath it, and that backfill keeps compacting for years after the house is finished. The approach at the garage is usually the first place it shows.
Then there is water. Roof runoff, a downspout emptying at the edge, and lawn irrigation all move fines out from under the slab. Add a driveway that was poured for two cars now taking a truck or an RV, and the panels start dropping at the joints.
It matters more than a patio does, because a driveway that has tipped sends water toward the house rather than the street.
The pattern is consistent enough that you can usually diagnose your own driveway from the street.
The approach panel drops away from the garage floor, leaving a step your tires hit every time you pull in and a gap water runs into.
Adjacent sections settling at different rates, creating offsets along the joints.
The slope has reversed. Instead of shedding toward the street, runoff now collects against the foundation.
Concrete bridging a void will crack where it is unsupported, usually parallel to the drop.
Repeated load over a soft spot compacts it further and the slab follows it down.
Low spots that hold water, which then works its way underneath and makes the settlement worse.
Driveways get lifted panel by panel. We start where the drop is deepest and work outward, matching each section to the concrete around it rather than raising everything at once.
Load is the thing that makes a driveway different from a walkway. The material under a driveway has to carry vehicle weight repeatedly, which is where dense cementitious slurry does well. We pack the void thoroughly before any lifting starts, because a driveway sitting on pressure rather than support will not stay up under traffic.
The approach at the garage gets particular attention. That is where the deepest fill usually is, where the biggest void tends to be, and where you will notice a bad repair every single day.
What settlement looks like before we get to it.
Cracking and settlement at a garage approach.
A cracked driveway slab showing movement across the panel.
An uneven driveway apron where the panel has dropped away.
A residential driveway before work.
A driveway slab showing separation at the joint.
A finished lift with the patched hole visible in the center.
How long until I can park on it?
Longer than foot traffic. Vehicle loading waits for a cure period based on your slab and the weather. We give you a specific number at the job rather than a generic answer, and we would rather be conservative than have you drive on it early.
Can you fix just the one panel that dropped?
Usually yes, and often that is the right scope. We will tell you if the neighbouring panels are close behind, because doing them together while the equipment is on site costs less than coming back.
My driveway is cracked as well as sunken. Is it worth lifting?
Frequently yes. Cracks are normal in settled concrete and large intact pieces lift fine. What rules a driveway out is concrete that is crumbling or broken into many small sections.
Will lifting stop the water running toward my house?
If the reversed slope is the whole problem, yes. If the yard grade or a downspout is putting the water there in the first place, lifting helps but does not finish the job. We tell you which situation you have.
What about the gap at the garage door?
That is the most common reason people call us about a driveway. Closing it is straightforward once the approach panel is back at height.
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