Today the mud-jackers and I were finally able to coordinate and get this job done. Mud-jacking is a process used to level garage floors that have settled more than a reasonable amount. They drill holes in the slab and pump in a mixture of pulverized lime and water, filling in the voids and lifting the slab back where it's supposed to be.
I'm not even sure if I've ever mentioned it before, but the entire back 4' or so, and another 4' or so along the east end of the garage sank 2"-4" and cracked. The front apron, typically at a slight downward angle from the garage floor, also sank a couple inches. The apron posed problems aside from the bump you hit driving into the garage. It's supposed to divert rain from the garage out into the driveway, but in this case it was pouring it IN the garage when it rained, and freezing my garage doors closed during a temporary winter day-thaw.
There's settling that you can expect to occur on this big a slab (48'x32'), but there was some severe negligence on the part of the concrete guy in this case. Unfortunately, I have in-floor heating tubing in the garage floor, and there's always a chance one of the tubes can get nicked. That happened in my case, so there will have to be some repair done for that, but thankfully they only nicked it in one spot. Even with detection equipment, there's always a chance that can happen.
Mud-jacking: $2000
Flat garage floor: Priceless.
Unfortunate note: Jim Geist of "Jim's Concrete" (Milaca, MN) was the guy that poured the frost footing and concrete slab, and also did the blockwork. He did a decent job with the frost footing and concrete, but, as you've read, dropped the ball on the slab. Further, when contacted regarding the warranty (industry standard is 10 years), he walked away, saying basically that I had no warranty in writing, therefore he wasn't about to pay even half the mud jacking costs. So there's a BBB.MN file on him, and I just hope people check with them before hiring him. I wasn't bright enough (or maybe I was too trusting) to check.
Unfortunate note: Jim Geist of "Jim's Concrete" (Milaca, MN) was the guy that poured the frost footing and concrete slab, and also did the blockwork. He did a decent job with the frost footing and concrete, but, as you've read, dropped the ball on the slab. Further, when contacted regarding the warranty (industry standard is 10 years), he walked away, saying basically that I had no warranty in writing, therefore he wasn't about to pay even half the mud jacking costs. So there's a BBB.MN file on him, and I just hope people check with them before hiring him. I wasn't bright enough (or maybe I was too trusting) to check.
