Many homes in Colorado are made with a slab foundation instead of a crawl space or basement. If the concrete slabs outside your home can settle, your slab foundation can settle as well.
Slabs used for foundations are barely any different from the ones laid out across your driveway. They are also typically four to six inches thick and aren’t always reinforced with rebar. One of the few differences is that slab foundation settling can be a lot more detrimental and disruptive than typical slab settling. So much so that some homeowners believe that slab foundations cannot be repaired once they settle. This, however, isn’t true.
How It Settles
Slab foundations settle for the exact same reasons normal slabs do—soil displacement. Once the slab begins to settle, the entire house is affected. Doors and windows become jammed due to warping frames, cracks begin to appear along the walls and ceiling, indoor flooding becomes a possibility, and pipes and HVAC vents get damaged.
Slab foundations settling can have severe consequences on a household. Still, just like regular slab settling, there’s no need to replace a foundation. It’s an invasive process that costs more money than repairing the slab does. If your slab foundation is settling, before you decide that it should be replaced, speak to a foundation specialist about getting it repaired first.
How It’s Repaired
One of the many ways slab foundations are repaired is with the use of slab piers. Slab piers are drilled deeply into the ground until they reach stable soil that does not shift. The piers are anchored to the foundation and leveled out. Because of the piers, instead of loose soil, the house is supported by load-bearing soil that does not cause settling.
Since the foundation is a slab, it can also be lifted with PolyRenewal like regular slabs. Polyurethane foam is capable of lifting loads that are over 120 tons. It can easily lift your settling slab foundation as well, though it’s best to speak to your local foundation expert to see if this method is right for the slab.