Concrete Leveling San Antonio, TX

Concrete leveling in San Antonio lifts sunken flatwork: driveways pulling away from the garage, trip-hazard sidewalks, patios, and pool decks. Mudjacking and polyurethane injection fill voids under the slab and raise it toward level, often in a few hours. This is not the same job as slab foundation repair on the house. Foam will not hold a moving home.

If interior walls are cracking or floors slope inside the house, you need foundation work or house leveling, not a driveway injection sold as a foundation fix.

What we level

• Driveways and garage aprons
• Front walks, city sidewalks, and ADA ramps
• Patios and covered porches
• Pool decks and coping edges
• AC pads and utility slabs

Trip hazards on public sidewalks and steep garage approaches are the calls we get after drought, then a gulley washer. Clay shrinks, fill washes, and the panel drops. Tree roots can heave instead of sink. Heaved, shattered panels are often replacement, not lift.

Mudjacking vs polyurethane foam

Mudjacking pumps a cement slurry through dime-sized holes. It is economical for thick driveways and heavy vehicle loads. Cure is slower. The material is heavier, which matters on already weak fill.

Polyurethane foam expands gently, cures in minutes, and adds less weight. It is the usual pick for pool decks, thinner patio slabs, and areas near saturated clay where extra slurry weight is a bad idea. Neither method fixes a main house slab that is still moving on expansive clay.

Citywide foundation averages do not apply to a sidewalk panel. Compare apples: cost guide for house work vs the table above for flatwork.

Why San Antonio flatwork sinks

Clay shrinks in drought and compact under vehicle load. Tree roots steal moisture unevenly. Downspouts dump water that washes fill from under driveway edges. In Cibolo and Helotes, cut-and-fill lots are a frequent culprit: the garage approach settles while the house footing still looks fine. Soil explainer: clay soil guide.

Pool decks settle when pool-construction fill was never compacted, or when a leak saturates one side. We look for plumbing leaks first. Injecting foam into a wet leak is a short-term cosmetic.

When replacement is cheaper than lift

If the concrete is shattered, heaved through the middle by roots, or so thin injection will blow out, saw-cut and replace the failed panels. Chasing a destroyed driveway with foam costs more than new concrete and still looks patched. We say so. ADA ramps and sidewalk trip hazards need a finished slope that drains and meets the adjoining panel. Over-lifting against a house slab can trap water at the garage. We check that with a laser.

Garage apron vs house slab

An apron that sank away from a still-level house is often fill settlement: a leveling job. If doors stick inside and brick is cracking above that corner, the house is moving. Quote steel piers for the structure, then decide whether the apron still needs foam. Selling foam as foundation repair is the mistake we see on competitor drive-by quotes.

Our process

Probe for voids. Mark injection points. Lift in small increments while checking slope with a laser. Patch holes to match existing concrete. Polyurethane often supports foot traffic in hours. Mudjacking usually wants a day before heavy vehicles. If we find active foundation movement tied to the house slab, it goes in the inspection report and piering is quoted separately.

You can stay home. Most exterior flatwork is a same-day visit. We do not mudjack a house interior as a cheap substitute for piers. Signs the house, not the driveway, is the problem: foundation signs guide.

Tree roots, HOAs, and sidewalk liability

Roots lift more often than they sink. A panel that peaked in the middle is a candidate for root prune plus replacement, not foam. Injecting under a living root is a short-term bump. We will say replace. HOA sidewalks and city right-of-way have their own rules. We lift private walks and driveways. Public sidewalk permits are a separate conversation. Trip-and-fall risk is why people call. A half-inch lip at a joint is enough to catch a toe. We aim for a flush joint and drainage away from the house, not a skate-park ramp into the garage.

Foam lasts when the void cause is gone: washout fixed, downspout moved, leak repaired. It does not last if the house slab is still pumping clay. Re-leveling the same driveway every two years is a clue you bought the wrong service. We would rather lose the foam job and sell piers than keep injecting a moving garage.

Pool decks, leaks, and what we refuse to foam

Pool decks need a leak check when one side is wet year-round. Saturated soil will not hold a lift. Polyurethane around coping is common once the leak is dead. We do not inject against a vinyl liner or into a void we cannot explain. AC pads that sank and dumped the condenser toward the house get a lift and a note to your HVAC tech to recheck the lineset. Utility slabs under generators need load awareness. Mudjacking a generator pad without knowing the weight is how you crack it.

Same-day estimates mean we look, probe, and quote. We do not start injection until you sign a written scope that says flatwork, not foundation. If we see house movement, the estimate splits: leveling the apron now, piering the house as a separate line. That is how you compare us to a company that bundled everything into one scary number.

How long the lift lasts and how soon you can drive

Polyurethane often takes foot traffic in a few hours and cars the same day if we say so. Mudjacking wants more cure before a pickup truck. Rain the next morning does not wash out cured foam. It can wash out a still-wet slurry edge, which is why we watch the forecast. Written warranty covers the lift we performed, not a tree you plant on the joint next year and not a house that keeps dropping behind the garage.

We patch injection ports to match the existing concrete color as close as a patch can. They will be visible up close. Anyone promising invisible holes is selling magazine photos. For decorative stamped patios we discuss whether replacement looks better. Stamped overlays over a lifted slab are an owner finish, not part of mudjacking.

Polyurethane and mudjacking both leave a patched surface. If you are listing the house next month and want a driveway that photographs clean, say that. We can lift for safety and you can overlay later, or we can tell you replacement will look better in listing photos. We do not upsell overlays. We also do not level interior house slabs with foam as a cheap pier substitute. That is a different page and a different failure mode.

If you only need the driveway safe for a closing walkthrough, say so. We can lift the trip hazard without pretending the house is included. If you need both, we sequence house piers first so we are not foaming an apron that will move again when the footing comes up. Written scopes keep those jobs from blurring. That is the difference between a one-stop shop and a bait-and-switch.

Related guides

• Slab foundation repair (house, not driveway)
• House leveling
• What repairs actually cost

Schedule a free look at sunken concrete: (830) 244-0222. Same-day estimates on most exterior flatwork.