On the fence about repairing your concrete? Find out what ignoring the problems around your home could cost you.
We get it! Not everyone thinks concrete repair and maintenance is as fun as we do, and because of that, it makes sense that many people would rather ignore the issues they see with their concrete rather than spend the time and money finding a solution.
As America’s largest concrete leveling company, A-1 Concrete Leveling has seen it all. And part of seeing it all is knowing what can happen if concrete is left unmaintained and in disrepair.
This article will walk you through the sorts of additional costs and risks we’ve seen over the last thirty years pile up for people who do nothing rather than take action on their concrete problems when they happen.
Water Damage
If your concrete is the culprit behind the water problems around your home, getting it lifted up into a level position can cause the water to run away from your foundation or retaining walls, two of the most expensive parts of your home.
Redirecting downspouts, cleaning gutters, limiting runoff, and leveling your concrete can all help prevent water damage to your home.
Worsening Cracks and Breaks
If you’ve noticed cracks or breaks in your concrete, they’re never going to go away. Unfortunately, once a slab starts cracking, is likely to continue to worsen as water penetrates the cracks and freeze-thaw cycles occur.
The good news is that concrete cracks and breaks can be sealed up with a polymer caulk which can help prevent them from worsening. Breaks get bigger as water is able to enter, freeze, and expand during freeze-thaw cycles, and if water can’t make its way inside, the cracks have a harder time expanding.
However, delaying a concrete caulking repair is what ends up costing homeowners more. As the cracks have more time to expand and grow, the more it will cost in material and time to do the repair.
Liability Risk
As much as it hurts to consider, being sued when someone gets injured on your property is a real fear that many homeowners have, and with good reason. If someone gets hurt around your home for something you could have prevented, you could be looking at a very expensive insurance claim, or a costly, lengthy lawsuit.
Eliminating the following potential areas of liability around your home is the best way to protect yourself against these unpredictable costs, and protect those that come to visit from getting injured:
- Uneven sidewalks, driveways, walkways, or other walking surfaces
- Improperly constructed or sinking staircases, or uneven step heights
- Trip hazards due to raised concrete slabs or potholes and dips in pavement
Increased Repair Costs
The nature of concrete repair is straightforward: the sooner you notice an issue with your concrete and get it fixed, generally, the less expensive the repair is.
This makes sense when you compare it to the alternative of waiting a long time to repair the concrete, as all the time spent waiting has allowed the concrete problem to worsen, and will, in turn, require more time and material to fix, increasing your repair bill.
If you notice a sunken concrete slab in your front walkway, for example, and you let it keep sinking for another year before getting it repaired, the repair will be more expensive than a year prior because the slab now has to be lifted even further back up to reach a level position due to the additional time it has had to settle.
Harm to Loved Ones
The cost of one instance where a loved one doesn’t hear you when you say “Watch your step!” could be immense. Seeing loved ones suffer is one of the greatest pains in life, but knowing that suffering could be prevented only adds to the ache.
Eliminating trip hazards, uneven steps, and other places around your home where elderly guests or playing kids could misstep and get badly hurt is easy. Concrete leveling is a fast, cost-effective, and convenient process to eliminate those hazards and help keep those around you safe.
A Home For Animals & Pests
The longer you wait to have your pest problem solved, the longer animals have to move in and make a home under your concrete. This can be not only annoying and potentially dangerous for your family, but also lead to more and more expensive concrete repairs down the road.
When animals like chipmunks or snakes burrow beneath your concrete, they create voids where the concrete is no longer supported. Over time, as they chip away at the base where the concrete is resting, the concrete could crack where the new weak spot is forming, and/or settle as the sub-material can no longer hold up the slab.
As time ticks on, these pests have more opportunities to expand the voids under your concrete, which will eventually cost more in time and material to fill and lift the concrete back up to where it should be.
Potential Replacement
Concrete leveling can’t solve every problem, and when it doesn’t, concrete replacement is usually the best alternative. However, concrete replacement is expensive, time-consuming, and a huge hassle that most people would rather avoid.
Cleaning and sealing your concrete and keeping up with other regular maintenance tasks can help prevent damage like crumbling or surface spalling, which can require replacement to truly eliminate. In addition, caulking cracks and breaks when they first appear can help keep your slabs in good shape and reduce the need for future replacement.
Summary
Concrete is a huge investment, and one that needs to be taken care of to avoid big potential expenses. Not only can neglecting concrete repair and maintenance cost you a lot of money, but also time and heartache in some cases, too
The additional costs and risks listed in this article pile up for people who do nothing rather than take action against their problematic concrete, and as America’s largest concrete leveler, we want to make sure that everyone is equipped with the knowledge and resources to eliminate these exacerbated costs and problems.
Do you have a concrete problem that needs to be addressed before it gets worse? Click the link below to set up a free onsite consultation and estimate with one of our concrete repair experts!
Click Here to Find Your Nearest Location and Receive a FREE Estimate
Want to know more about how you can keep your concrete in good condition? Check out these repair and maintenance topics from our Concrete Academy:
Sarah Etler joined A-1 Concrete Leveling after receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Northern Kentucky University. As A-1's Content Marketing Manager, she works closely with industry experts to produce content that will best answer questions related to concrete repair and maintenance practices. Sarah loves living a life full of discovery and is excited every day to see what new things she can learn and share with those around her.
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