Learn how you can prepare to have your sunken concrete floors lifted up with professional concrete leveling.
If you’ve been struggling with uneven interior concrete floors or settling basement slabs, finding a solution, like professional concrete leveling, can be a much-needed relief.
Concrete leveling is a cost-effective way to bring your settled concrete back to an even, level position. It’s minimally invasive, and has a quick turnaround time, making it ideal for interior projects.
However, before you can see the magic of concrete leveling come to life, you’ll need to prepare your space.
At A-1 Concrete Leveling, we’ve been lifting settled concrete slabs for over 30 years, both inside and outside. During this time, we’ve gotten to know how best our customers can get ready for the repair.
In this article, we’ll show you how to get ready for the repair by covering how to make sure your foundation isn’t settling, removing your flooring before the estimate and repair, and how to get ready for the repair itself.
Make Sure Your Foundation Isn’t Moving
Before committing to concrete leveling for your basement or interior concrete floors, you first have to figure out if your concrete is a good candidate for the service.
During your estimate, a concrete leveling expert can help with this, but this section will explain how to find out beforehand.
Before your settled interior concrete can be lifted, you first have to determine whether it’s the floor itself moving, or if it could be the foundation, instead. If the foundation has moved, it is sometimes necessary to resolve that issue before leveling the floor.
To check the foundation for movement, follow these steps:
1. Assess all interior and exterior walls, looking for cracks in the concrete foundation walls, drywall, or around window wells. Minor cracking is common, but it’s important to note.
2. Open and shut all doors and windows in the area, checking to make sure they close without problems
If there are no cracks around your foundation walls and all doors open and shut without a problem, you’re likely free of foundation problems and a good candidate for interior concrete floor leveling.
Another telltale sign that your floor is moving, but not your foundation, is when your carpeting starts pulling, you have a large floor slope dropping to one corner, or if you have hardwood floors or tiles over the settling concrete and they begin to crack.
Lift Up Your Flooring
Before your concrete leveling estimate, it’s good to pull up any flooring around the affected area. This helps estimators to see where the settling begins and ends and investigate the issue on a deeper level.
If there is any furniture near the affected area, having it out of the way and the area ready to go for the estimator can be a big help. The more we can see the problem, the more we can narrow down the scope of the work, which leads to more accurate estimates and pricing, and more efficient repairs.
On the day of the estimate, your estimator will help guide you on what will need to be out of the way for the actual concrete leveling repair appointment.
Get Ready for the Concrete Leveling Process
Before we get to work on the day of your repair, you’ll need to remember to have the following things ready to go:
Working Water Access
To perform our limestone slurry concrete leveling process, we need to mix up the leveling compound in the truck on the job site. In order to do this, we’ll need access to a working water spigot.
Clear Work Space
Any furniture, decorative items, toys, or other personal belongings near the repair site should be moved out of the way before the repair. These items can be replaced 24 hours after the repair is completed.
Flooring Removed
Carpet, tile, hardwood, etc. will have to be pulled up so that the settled concrete is exposed and ready to be leveled. The flooring can be replaced 24 hours after the repair is completed.
Game Plan For Pets
During the repair, we will be going in and out of the house often, so it’s important that pets have a safe place where they can stay so they don’t escape or feel threatened by strangers.
Summary
Lifting your settling interior concrete or basement floors can feel like magic. You can start the day off with a sloping basement corner and end the day with a beautifully level basement floor!
However, before you can enjoy the benefits of concrete leveling, you have to first prepare your home. By taking the actions listed in this article, you’ll be well on your way to safe, even, and great-looking interior concrete floors.
If you’re interested in concrete leveling for your home and haven’t already, click the link below to schedule a free onsite cost estimate!
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