driveway project

Sometime in August we noticed that the grass to the right of our driveway had dropped down significantly.  It had been a VERY dry summer, so this wasn't totally surprising, but we worried that we were going to start having issues with our driveway.  Kevin and I talked about needing to call someone to come look at it, but we didn't get to it right away and 4 days later, I noticed a crack going from one side of the driveway to the other.  I was so frustrated that we hadn't made a phone call right away, but we just made the best of the situation.  We started doing research about what caused cracks in driveways and we suspected that we probably had a large void under the driveway, which caused issues when we drove our heavy cars onto it.  Sure enough, a few companies came out to assess and they confirmed our suspicions that we had huge voids under the driveway.  From the lower area to the right of the driveway, one contractor slid a measuring tape into the void and it didn't hit anything until nearly 6 feet across!  

We explored multiple solutions (landscapers trying to shove dirt under the driveway,  foam leveling, and new concrete), but in the end decided to go with the foam leveling, which we considered the most effective "bandaid" that would hopefully solve the problem and buy us several more years without any issues. 

The repairs were done in early October and I stayed in the garage to watch the whole thing.  I was both curious and nervous about our driveway looking like garbage after they drilled lots of little holes to spray the foam underneath, but they were actually pretty inconspicuous once they patched them.  

Here are the before pictures:

The process:

1.  Holes about 5/8 inches in diameter are drilled into the slabs

2. The liquid foam is injected through the holes and undergoes a chemical reaction underneath the concrete that causes it to expand and lift the slab.

3. Once the slab is lifted back into the right position, the drill holes are patched.

There was one area that was sinking and needing to be lifted to meet the other driveway section, and they tried telling me it was completed.  I could tell just by looking at it that it wasn't level, so I used their little stick and showed them that it definitely wasn't lifted enough yet.  They tried lifting again and it wasn't moving, so they informed me that they'd need to use a concrete saw to cut the pieces apart to allow them to move freely and lift properly.  That made me nervous, but after multiple rounds of cutting (which was SO messy), they finally were able to get it (mostly) level. 

Near the top of the driveway they overlifted one section, but once it's lifted you can't go back, so we'll have to deal with a new tripping hazard. But overall, I was pleased with the results. 

The foam was actually pretty cool and I saved a piece to show Kevin and the kids :) Home repairs are never fun to pay for (especially when they cost $2,000), but I'm super glad that we could get it fixed before it was an even bigger issue.