Concrete Repair in Hesperia, CA

Concrete repair is about finding out why concrete failed before deciding how to fix it. A crack is a symptom. In Hesperia, the usual causes are a base that was never compacted well, water getting under the slab, tree roots, a slab too thin for what drives on it, or missing joints. Many slabs in town date from the building boom of the 1980s, when the population grew from about 13,500 to over 50,000 in ten years, and a lot of that concrete is showing its age.

Common problems we see

• Hairline shrinkage cracks. Thin cracks from the concrete drying. Usually cosmetic.
• Wider or growing cracks. Cracks that open over time or have one side higher than the other. These point to movement under the slab.
• Sunken sections. Slabs that dropped at the garage, at a walkway joint or next to the house, often where water collected.
• Surface flaking and dusting. The top layer wearing away, often from a slab that dried too fast when it was poured or was overworked during finishing.
• Freeze damage. Hesperia's winter nights average near freezing. Water in open cracks can freeze and widen them, so sealing cracks before winter helps.

Where repair stops making sense

HomeGuide's resurfacing guide draws a useful line. Light flaking and cracks under roughly a quarter inch wide are worth repairing or resurfacing. Wider cracks usually mean something is moving underneath, and they will telegraph through any overlay. Widespread cracking, crumbling, spalling, structural damage, or a repair that would need more than 2 inches of new material all point to tearing out and pouring new.

We will tell you which side of that line your concrete is on. Sometimes the right answer is to replace one or two failed sections and leave the rest.

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How we fix it

Rout and seal. We widen and clean the crack, then fill it with a flexible sealant that stretches as the slab moves and keeps water out. HomeGuide's resurfacing guide prices crack filling at roughly $0.50 to $3 per linear foot.

Lifting. A sunken panel that is still in one piece can be raised by injecting material beneath it. Mudjacking pumps in a cement slurry, and polyjacking uses a lightweight expanding foam. HomeGuide's leveling guide shows $4 to $9 per square foot for mudjacking and $8 to $25 for polyjacking. Lifting will not help a slab that has already broken apart.

Overlay. A thin bonded layer gives a sound but stained, worn or flaking slab a fresh surface. HomeGuide expects 8 to 15 years from resurfacing.

Partial replacement. Badly broken panels are saw cut, removed and poured back, with dowels into the neighboring concrete so the new and old surfaces stay flush.

Fixing the cause

If water is running under a slab from a downspout, a sprinkler or poor grading, we point it out. Leveling a slab without fixing the drainage means it will likely sink again. HomeGuide notes mudjacking typically lasts 5 to 7 years with proper drainage maintenance.