Top 10 Customer Questions About Interior Concrete and Basement Floor Lifting

Find the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about interior concrete and basement floor lifting.

If you’re considering concrete leveling for your home’s interior, you most likely have lots of questions. If so, you’re not alone! Most new or prospective customers have a long list of questions they want answered before deciding whether or not concrete leveling is a good fit for them.

A-1 Concrete Leveling has been lifting settled concrete, both indoors and outdoors, for over 30 years, and in this time we’ve learned what concerns our new customers most when contemplating whether the service is right for their basements and interior concrete floors.

Here you will find a list of our customers’ most frequently asked questions related to basement and interior concrete floor leveling.

If you’re still not 100% on how exactly A-1 can lift your settled concrete floor, read, “How Concrete Leveling Works” before diving into the FAQ listed here.

1. Is interior or basement concrete leveling messy?

We make it our goal here at A-1 to make as little mess as possible when lifting your settled basement or interior concrete floors. 

In order to achieve this goal, we run our hoses that pump the material through the doors and windows as close to the repair area as possible. For example, if the repair area is in the basement, we run our material hoses through a nearby basement window.

While drilling the holes needed to pump material under the slab, we vacuum up all dust, and vacuum after the fact if there is any remaining. We try to keep as much leveling material in the holes as possible, and we clean up and mop the area after the repair is complete.

Foam concrete leveling can be a less-messy alternative to stone slurry grout leveling and can be used depending on the circumstances of the repair.

2. Does A-1 use foam leveling on interior concrete floors?

A-1 Concrete Leveling uses both limestone slurry grout and polyurethane foam to lift settled concrete. Most of the time, the limestone slurry grout is the best fit for the needs of a repair, but foam can be especially useful for interior work.

Whether or not we recommend using foam over the limestone slurry depends on your goals, the project budget, and the circumstances related to the repair itself.

3. Does A-1 replace the pulled-up flooring?

During interior concrete or basement repairs, A-1 only lifts the settled concrete and caulks it if necessary. We do not reinstall any flooring after the repair is complete.

4. What happens to the interior walls when you lift the concrete floor?

If your walls have moved with the concrete floor as it settled, they’ll most likely push back into place while we lift. If your walls stayed put while the floor settled and there’s a gap between the wall and floor slab, we’ll raise the slab back up to the bottom of the wall.

Additional wall cracking due to the lifting process is uncommon, as the cracking typically happens when the concrete floor settles. We are just putting the floor back into place.

5. Will the dips and uneven surfaces go away?

Concrete leveling can only raise settled concrete slabs back to their original position. Unfortunately, this means that if you want to smooth out the surface of the slabs as well, you’ll have to use a concrete overlay or self-leveling concrete compound, which is not a service we offer here at A-1.

6. What do we do with the cracks in interior or basement floors?

Because interior and basement concrete floors aren’t exposed to outside elements, like water and fluctuating temperatures, it’s not always necessary to caulk them.

If the cracks or breaks in your floor are large enough that they may affect the flooring on top, we can caulk them.

7. Is interior or basement concrete leveling noisy?

The part of the process that can be noisy is when we are drilling the holes and vacuuming the dust at the same time, and depending on the size of the repair, this can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Sometimes we also need to vacuum during the cleaning process, which can add noise.

The concrete leveling itself is not noisy. While the material is pumped into the holes and lifts the slabs, there is not any excess noise, especially because the truck where the material is being pumped in from is parked outside.

8. Do pipes or sump pumps matter when leveling interior concrete floors?

Once we drill through the concrete slab, we stop. Most pipes, if they are to code, are going to be deep enough in the ground under the floor that we won’t hit them when we drill through the slab.

During your estimate, we will look at the pipes to make sure there is no additional risk to drilling through your concrete floor.

9. How long does leveling interior concrete floors take?

Most interior concrete or basement floor lifting repairs take 1-2 working days, but this depends on the size of the voids under the slabs and how much the concrete has settled.

10. How long until the space is usable again?

Once the leveling is complete, you start replacing flooring or carpeting after 24 hours.

Now What?

With some of your main questions and concerns about basement and interior concrete floor leveling answered, you’re ready to decide if it’s a solution that’s right for you.

With over 30 years of experience lifting and leveling uneven concrete floors, we've seen countless A-1 customers get the level, even flooring their home was lacking.

Want to see the impact concrete leveling can have on your interior concrete floors? Click the link below to request an onsite cost estimate with an A-1 expert!

Here at A-1, we want to make sure you have all the information you need to make informed and educated concrete repair decisions, so that’s why we’ve compiled a library of articles and resources like this one, called Concrete Academy.

Check out some of these related topics:

• How Long Does Concrete Leveling Last?
• What Influences the Cost of Concrete Leveling?
• Tools Used For Concrete Leveling