Slab Foundation Lift in Rialto, Ca

Thursday, June 15th, 2017 by Jennifer Ohlsson

Challenge

A homeowner in Rialto, Ca. had been living in his single-story 1,500 sq. ft. home, built in 1976, for about 10 years. Over time the floors had pulled away from walls, leaving them to detach from the ceiling and sway back and forth. Many interior and exterior doors became misaligned and the kitchen railing newel post sank, pulling away from its ceiling anchor. The concrete slab on grade had sunk so far that the homeowner could crouch in the living room and look beneath a wall into the adjoining closet in the next room. After considering the invasive and expensive task of slab removal and replacement, he considered selling his home. Upon further research, he saw Saber’s website and read about PolyLevel™. Seeing the expanding polyurethane foam as a viable option for his slab, he called Saber for an inspection.

Solution

Upon inspecting the property, Saber’s project design specialist, Josh Conyers, found that the soils surrounding the home and foundation were predominately sand, which easily shifts and settles with variations in temperature and moisture levels over time. It was found that a previous owner of the home had commissioned the application of self-leveling mud-jacking. The 3” of self-leveling slurry material found beneath the slab had sunk another 4.5” over the course of 2 years. After educating the homeowner on the product, the specialist recommended that Saber’s PolyLevel™ 250 polyurethane foam would be the best way to raise the concrete slab permanently.

Saber’s PolyLevel™ crew was able to raise the concrete slab uniformly to within .05” of level throughout the home without causing further cracking in the slab or walls. The foam was injected through ports placed into strategically placed holes drilled into the concrete, 5/8” in diameter. The waterproof heat-resistant foam expanded, not only upward to support the sunken slab, but also into the loose sandy soil, consolidating and further stabilizing the concrete. The project at the job site lasted 2 days and the results were almost immediate. The homeowner commented on how quickly he could see the floor rise to meet the bottoms of the walls again. All doorways were realigned and the kitchen rail’s newel post was once again flush with the home’s ceiling.