Concrete Repair in College Station, TX

Concrete repair costs less than replacement and can add years to a driveway, walk or patio, as long as the slab underneath is still sound. The goal is to fix the visible damage and also the cause, which in College Station is usually water under the slab, soil movement or tree roots. A crack that is filled without fixing the drainage will open again.

Why concrete fails here

College Station gets about 41.75 inches of rain a year, and much of it comes in heavy storms. Water that runs off roofs and collects along slab edges softens the base and washes out fine soil, and panels sink. Where the subsoil is clay, it grows when soaked and contracts in dry spells, lifting and dropping slabs over the year. Hot summers, with August highs averaging close to 97 degrees, add surface wear, and the occasional hard freeze, like the February 2021 storm that brought 3 to 5 inches of snow, can open existing cracks. Most of the older concrete in town has seen all of these. Point2Homes' ACS summary puts nearly a third of local homes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Repair options

• Crack filling and sealing: flexible filler in cracks and joints to keep water out
• Leveling (mudjacking or foam): sunken panels lifted back into place by pumping material under them
• Resurfacing: a thin overlay over a worn, scaled or stained surface
• Partial replacement: removing and repouring only the broken panels
• Joint repair: new joint filler where the old material has dried out or washed away
• Sealing: a penetrating or film-forming sealer to protect sound concrete

Repair or replace?

HomeGuide draws the line in a useful place. Crack filling and resurfacing suit slabs whose cracks stay under about 1/4 inch and whose surface damage is light. Once cracks are wider than that across much of the slab, or the concrete is crumbling, badly spalled or structurally unsound, replacement is the better buy. Lifting fits a panel that sank in one piece over a base that can be firmed up. We look and tell you which is worth paying for.

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Leveling sunken slabs

In HomeGuide's figures, mudjacking costs about $4 to $9 a square foot and polyurethane foam lifting about $8 to $25. Either one raises a dropped slab by filling the hollow beneath it. HomeGuide expects professionally lifted concrete to hold for 5 to 10 years or longer, and foam tends to last the longest. Lifting suits a sunken walk panel, a drive section that has dropped at the garage, or a patio leaning toward the house. It does not suit slabs broken into many pieces.

Fixing the cause

Before we repair, we look for the source. Downspouts that dump at the edge of a slab, low spots that hold water, and gaps between the slab and the house all let water into the base. We point out what should change and can extend drainage or reseal joints as part of the job. If we see signs of a bigger problem, like a foundation that is moving or a leaking pipe under the slab, we tell you before doing surface work.

Upkeep that prevents repairs

• Keep joints and cracks sealed so water stays out of the base
• Point downspouts away from slabs
• Seal driveways, patios and walks every 2 to 3 years
• Keep heavy trailers and dumpsters off slab edges
• Watch for new lifts near large trees