When a slab settles but the concrete itself is sound, replacement wastes money. Leveling lifts the existing slab back to grade by filling the voids underneath, removes the trip hazard, restores drainage slope, and costs a fraction of tear-out and repour.
We level driveways, sidewalks, patios, garage floors, steps, and pool decks. The work is fast: most residential leveling jobs finish in hours, and the surface is usable the same day.
What you get
How polyurethane lifting works
Concrete leveling lifts settled slabs back to grade by injecting expanding polyurethane foam through dime-sized holes. The foam fills the void that let the slab drop, then expands with enough force to raise the concrete in controlled fractions of an inch while we watch the grade with a level.
The holes get patched the same visit, the slab is ready for foot traffic immediately and vehicles the same day, and your landscaping never sees an excavator. Most residential lifting jobs, a sidewalk run or a settled garage apron or one side of a driveway, finish in two to four hours.
Polyurethane is the right material for Kansas clay because cured foam is light and does not load the soft soil that caused the settling, and it does not wash out when water moves under a slab.
When leveling wins and when it does not
Leveling typically runs 25 to 40 percent of replacement cost. A sunken sidewalk panel that would cost $1,200 to tear out and re-pour often lifts for $300 to $500. When the slab itself is sound and the only problem is elevation, lifting is the obvious money.
It is not the answer for everything, and we will say so on site. Slabs broken into several drifting pieces, surfaces with deep scaling, or concrete settled because of an active water leak or washout need the cause fixed first or the slab replaced. Lifting bad concrete just gives you level bad concrete.
Common candidates around Lawrence: garage aprons, front stoops pulling away from doors, sidewalk trip hazards, patio slabs pitched back toward the foundation, and A/C pads. That last one matters more than people think, because a tilted condenser pad shortens compressor life.
What to expect on leveling day
A typical lift starts with grade measurements and a walk-through of the plan, so you know what success looks like in numbers before any foam goes in. We drill injection ports, lift in small staged passes while checking a digital level, and stop at grade rather than chasing perfection past the point the slab wants to move.
You can watch the slab come up in real time, which customers tell us is the most satisfying home repair they have ever paid for. Ports get patched with color-matched material, the site gets swept, and we review the lift measurements with you before we leave.
Foam cures in minutes, so walkways open immediately and driveways take vehicles the same day. The whole visit for a typical residential lift runs two to four hours, and most jobs price firm from the initial site visit with no surprises on the day.
Commercial properties use leveling even more aggressively than homeowners, because closing a storefront walkway for replacement costs sales. Lifting a settled walk panel before open hours, with the path back in service immediately, is the kind of math property managers appreciate.
We warranty our lifting work in writing. If a lifted slab resettles because our foam or our workmanship failed, we come back. Settlement caused by new water problems or soil events gets diagnosed honestly, and we tell you which is which before any warranty conversation starts.
Why Lawrence slabs settle and how leveling fixes it
Settled concrete is practically a Lawrence signature. The clay under Douglas County shrinks during dry summers and the soil drops, taking driveways, walks, and patio slabs with it. Slabs next to foundations settle most, because the backfill placed during construction keeps compacting for years after the house is built. That is why the classic local pattern is a driveway that drops right at the garage, or a front walk that sinks at the stoop.
The drought years made it worse. Extended dry stretches pulled deep moisture out of the clay, and slabs across town dropped that had been stable for decades. The good news is that this exact failure mode is what leveling fixes best: the concrete is fine, the support went away, and pumping material under the slab restores the support and the grade in a single visit.
Beyond trip hazards, the reason to level quickly in this area is water. A slab that settles toward your house reverses its drainage and feeds every rain into the clay against your foundation, which is how a few hundred dollars of settling becomes a foundation repair conversation. We check slope on every leveling job and lift to restore positive drainage away from the structure, not just to erase the visible step between panels.
Where we do this work
We provide concrete leveling across Lawrence and Douglas County:
Concrete Leveling: common questions
How does concrete leveling work?
We pump leveling material through small holes drilled in the slab. The material fills the voids underneath and lifts the slab back to grade. Holes are patched and the surface is usable the same day.
How much does leveling cost compared to replacement?
Typically 50 to 70 percent less. A settled walkway that would cost thousands to replace can often be leveled for hundreds. We quote both numbers when the comparison is close.
Can every settled slab be leveled?
No. Slabs that are badly cracked, crumbling, or settled severely may not lift cleanly. We assess honestly and tell you when replacement is the better spend.
How long does leveling last?
When the underlying cause is addressed, leveling is long-term. If active erosion or drainage problems remain, we fix those as part of the job so the slab does not settle again.