What is Poly Leveling/Foam Concrete Leveling?
Get to know poly leveling, and find out why we don’t recommend it for all types of concrete leveling repairs.
By keeping your concrete level and intact, you can proactively maintain your investment and prevent safety hazards that come along with uneven concrete surfaces.
A-1 Concrete Leveling has been lifting settled concrete slabs for over 30 years, and in this time we’ve seen what the different methods of concrete leveling, like mudjacking or stone slurry grout leveling, can do to keep concrete looking great.
Jump to a Foam Injection Concrete Leveling Section:
This article will explore foam leveling as a method for concrete leveling, how it works, and why we don’t use it as our first choice when repairing unlevel concrete.
What is foam leveling?
Foam leveling is sometimes called “foam jacking”, “poly jacking”, and “poly leveling”. And although it goes by many different names, they all mean the same thing.
Foam leveling is the process of lifting settled concrete slabs using polyurethane foam. To do this, technicians drill small holes in the slab and inject the foam into the holes. The foam expands and cures under the slab, causing it to rise back into a level position.
How Does Foam Leveling Work?
Once small holes are drilled into a sunken concrete slab, liquid polyurethane foam is injected into the holes.
A chemical reaction within the polyurethane foam causes it to expand once it’s injected under the settled concrete slab. The pressure from this expansion causes the slab to lift back up.
The foam usually hardens within thirty minutes of the injection, leaving your concrete supported by a strong foam base.
Cost of Foam Injection Concrete Leveling
One of the biggest areas where foam falls short over our grout leveling is the price. For our limestone slurry grout leveling, you can typically expect to see savings over replacement of the concrete up to 70%. The cost of materials for foam can be significantly higher, so these savings can drop dramatically.
Most of the time, it is still less expensive to lift and repair a concrete slab with foam, than it would be to tear it out and pour new concrete, but the savings aren't nearly as substantial as they are with grout leveling.
Why Do We Usually Avoid Foam Leveling?
Foam leveling is useful for certain applications, like in hard-to-reach places where accessibility is important, and when a smaller drill hole size is necessary for the repair.
Here at A-1 Concrete Leveling, we typically stay away from foam leveling unless it’s needed for specific applications due to the many drawbacks that come with it.
Some of the main problems with foam leveling are its high cost, the long-term durability of the lift, less control, and the potential for accidents or melting.
Read more about the pros and cons of foam leveling.
A-1
LEXINGTON / CHARLESTON
Featured Team Member
Steve is the owner of A-1 Concrete Leveling Lexington. He knows just what it takes to level any concrete slab back to its original beauty and safety. When he quotes a job, you should feel assured that he will evaluate your particular needs and offer the absolute best option for repair. He doesn't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions.
2 large driveway slabs, and our whole front walkway had sunk several inches because of a downspout that had been washing everything out for years. A-1 was very detailed in the quote they gave me, indicating all the points where they would be drilling and lifting. The results were better than I expected, and they cleaned up the area nicely when they were done. Couldn't have asked for better service!