Mud-Jacking or Polyurethane ?

Messy and Disruptive

The first drawback is right in the name: mud. Mud is dirty. And mudjacking is dirty business. It’s dirty when it’s mixed. It’s dirty when it’s pumped. And, it’s dirty when it shoots out from under the slab under pressure (and it will shoot out from under the slab under pressure). Will you trust your contractor to clean up all the spattered mud when they’re done?

In addition to being dirty, mud is, by definition, wet because it contains a lot of water. This is what allows mudjacking contractors to pump it under your concrete slabs. But, just as with regular mud, when it dries, it shrinks as the space once occupied by water becomes empty. This means that your slabs could sink right back down again, sending you right back to square one. But that’s not all. What happens to dried dirt when it gets wet again? That’s right — it turns right back into mud. This can happen to the mudjacking slurry underneath your concrete if you have a heavy rain event. Unless your concrete’s control joints and cracks are perfectly sealed, water can run underneath, turning that dry material right back to mud that can wash out, once again leaving you with voids into which your concrete can settle.

The second main drawback is aesthetic, but it’s no less important. In order to pump the mudjacking slurry underneath your concrete, the contractor will have to drill a series of large ports into your slabs. These need to be wide enough — at least 2” in diameter in most cases — so they don’t restrict the flow of the material. When the job is done, these ports are filled in. As it is virtually impossible to match this fill material with your original concrete, these ports will leave your driveway, patio or pool deck with a strange polka-dot appearance. Wasn’t improving your home’s appearance one of the main reasons you decided to repair your concrete in the first place?

But, the major problem with mudjacking is that it doesn’t address the reason your concrete settled in the first place. Remember how we talked about poorly compacted soil compressing and causing your heavy concrete slabs to sink? Well, what do you think will happen when thousands of pounds of mudjacking slurry is pumped underneath them? That’s right; you’ve just compounded your problem by adding more weight on top of this unstable soil. This can cause your driveway, patio or pool deck to sink even more!

As you might guess, we think there’s a better way to lift and level your sunken concrete slabs.

At Lift Rite Leveling, we’ve got a lot of experience with concrete lifting and leveling. Our patented foam is specifically engineered to produce a fast, dense, and skin free material within seconds.  You may have heard it referred to as polyjacking or foam jacking, or polyurethane concrete lifting. It is lighter, lasts longer, and environmetntally friendly. 

Polyurethane is a lightweight, strong high-density polyurethane foam, developed by our manufacturer Prime Resins and only available to an exclusive network of foundation and concrete repair contractors. It’s pumped beneath concrete slabs through tiny ports about the size of a penny. Initially, 4lb foam  flows like water, filling even the smallest cracks and crevices in the soil. It quickly expands and hardens, lifting the concrete slabs above it and compressing the soil around it at the same time. Polyurethane is waterproof, so it will never wash out, and it won’t degrade over time due to temperature extremes. Best of all, our foam cures quickly, allowing your concrete to be used  the same day.

The bottom line is, when you’re considering mudjacking or PolyLevel polyjacking… well, there really is no comparison — even when it comes to price. Mudjacking is sometimes less expensive initially. But since it can cause your concrete to sink and settle further over time, you’re likely going to have to pay to have it lifted over and over. Wouldn’t you rather just have it done once and never have to think about it again?

So, let’s recap: Mudjacking is messy, ugly and may make the problem worse. Concrete lifting with expanding PolyLevel foam is clean, aesthetically pleasing and addresses the underlying problems that caused your concrete to sink in the first place.