The Pros and Cons of Mudjacking

If you’re searching for a way to bring your settled concrete back to life, you may have stumbled across the concrete leveling method called “mudjacking”.

Mudjacking, also written as “mud jacking”, is an affordable way to lift settled concrete slabs that utilizes sand, soil, and water.

Mudjacking isn’t the only method of leveling uneven concrete, though. Stone slurry grout leveling and polyurethane foam leveling are also common processes used to lift settled concrete.

Each of the three leveling options mentioned here comes with its pros and cons, and different companies will usually perform one of the three for all of their leveling repairs. Here at A-1, we primarily use stone slurry leveling, but we will also use foam leveling when applicable. 

With over 30 years of experience perfecting the art of lifting settled concrete, A-1 has seen how each method stacks up against one another.  

In order to help you decide which repair method is best suited for you, we’ve created guides on the pros and cons of each concrete leveling method. This guide will focus on mudjacking.

What is Mudjacking?

Before jumping in and learning about the pros and cons of mudjacking, it's important to learn what it really is.

Mudjacking is a method of leveling settled concrete that uses a sand, soil, and water leveling mixture. To lift the sunken concrete with mudjacking, holes around 2 inches in diameter are drilled in the slab and this leveling mixture is pumped through the holes in order to lift it.

Although mudjacking follows a similar set of steps as both the foam leveling and stone slurry grout processes, it is a different method of concrete leveling, set with its own individual pros and cons.

“Mudjacking” is often mistakenly used as a generic over-arching term to mean “concrete leveling”, but the reality is that it is actually a very specific type of concrete leveling.

Mudjacking is different than what we use here at A-1 Concrete Leveling. Instead, we primarily use a limestone slurry grout leveling method, and we also use foam for some repairs.

Mudjacking Pros & Cons Overview

Pros	Cons
Can be a durable repair when done correctly	Higher pressure prevents even flow of material throughout voids
Can lift heavier concrete slabs	Hard to control and easy to overdo the lifting
	Larger drill holes compared to foam or stone slurry grout leveling

Pros of Mudjacking

• Can be durable when done correctly

Mudjacking has the potential to fill the voids underneath a slab of concrete entirely, creating a strong, long-lasting lift. However, spreading the material evenly is hard to achieve with mudjacking, as it is highly pressurized and hard to control.

• Can lift heavier slabs

Mudjacking can lift heavier objects when compared to foam leveling. Because there is no chemical reaction taking place in order to lift the slab, the lifting compound can, in theory, spread and put constant pressure across the base and level the heavy concrete. 

Cons of Mudjacking

• Highly pressurized

Traditional mudjacking pumps the concrete leveling compound at a much higher pressure and speed, which can prevent the material from flowing evenly throughout the void under a concrete slab. This can create piles of material and produce weak spots prone to cracking in the slab where there is no material supporting underneath, which can cause a weaker overall repair.

• Hard to control

Because traditional mudjacking is highly pressurized, it’s harder to tackle complex jobs. As the flow of material is faster and stronger, the crewmembers can overdo the concrete lift with the lack of control, causing more time and repair needed to complete the job right.

• Larger drill holes

When compared to limestone slurry and foam leveling, the holes needed to perform a traditional mudjacking job are far bigger and hard to conceal. To account for the high speed and pressure of mudjacking, the holes have to be drilled around 2 inches, rather than around ⅝ inches for foam or 1" for limestone slurry.

Your Next Steps

Now that you know a little more about the advantages and disadvantages of mudjacking, you’re ready to decide if it’s a method you’d like to use to repair the sunken concrete on your property.

Whatever the repair method you choose, the goal of concrete leveling is to return your settled concrete back to a safe and level position, and mudjacking is just one way to do that.

Stone slurry leveling and foam leveling are also options to consider, and we have plenty of resources that talk about both of these in our library of content, called Concrete Academy. Below are some related topics:

• Pros & Cons of Concrete Leveling in General
• How Long Does Concrete Leveling Last?
• Pros & Cons of Foam Leveling
• Pros & Cons of Stone Slurry Concrete Leveling

If you’re interested in concrete leveling for your property, don’t hesitate to request a free onsite estimate with a member of the A-1 team with the link below!