Concrete Repair in Gastonia, NC

Concrete repair pays off when the slab is still well supported and the trouble is at the surface or at a joint. It is money wasted when the base has washed out or the soil has shifted, because the damage returns. With about half of Gastonia's homes built before 1980, according to census survey data, much of the concrete in town is decades old, and every repair visit starts by working out which of those two cases we are looking at.

Problems we look for

• Cracking: from shrinkage, settling, roots or heavy loads
• Sunken panels: slabs that dropped as the soil or stone beneath them washed away or compressed
• Lips at joints: one panel raised or dropped against the next
• Scaling and spalling: flaking, pitting or chipped surfaces where water froze in weak concrete
• Leaning steps: porch or garage steps tipping or pulling away
• Washed-out edges: soil eroded from under the slab edge by runoff

Why concrete breaks down here

Red clay under a slab soaks up water after storms and shrinks when it dries, and that movement opens cracks and lets panels settle. Gastonia gets close to 44 inches of rain a year, and runoff from a gutter or the street can wash away the base along an edge. In winter, average January lows near 31 degrees mean water trapped in a crack can freeze and expand overnight. Stopping the water, whether that means redirecting a downspout, filling a low spot or resealing a joint, is part of almost every repair that lasts.

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How we fix it

• Rout and seal: cracks opened up, cleaned and filled with flexible sealant
• Lifting: sunken slabs raised by pumping cement grout (mudjacking) or expanding polyurethane foam (polyjacking) beneath them
• Resurfacing: a thin bonded topping that renews worn or scaled concrete that is still sound
• Joint work: failed joint filler pulled out and replaced to keep water out
• Section replacement: one or two bad panels sawn out and repoured while the rest stays
• Step rebuilds: settled or broken steps torn out and reformed

When new concrete wins

HomeGuide's resurfacing guide recommends repair or resurfacing for light flaking and cracks narrower than a quarter inch, and replacement for wider cracks, crumbling, deep spalling or structural problems. It adds that cracks over a quarter inch can signal foundation movement worth a structural engineer's look. If we spot that, you hear about it before paying for surface work. Lifting has limits too: a slab broken into many pieces may not rise as one, and replacing it is the better buy.

Making a repair last

• Turn downspouts and sump discharge away from the concrete
• Keep joints and cracks sealed against water
• Reseal the surface every few years, particularly on older slabs
• Call early at the first sign of new settling, while lifting is still possible

Phasing work on older homes

On a lot of older Gastonia homes, the drive, walk and steps went in at different times. We can repair one piece now and plan the others in stages, so you are not stuck replacing everything at once.