Our driveway has been a tripping hazard since the day we moved in. Not anymore… Mudjacking to the rescue! What is mudjacking? Why did we choose this method to repair our driveway?… Keep reading to find out.
The Problem
Leslie and I decided that it was time to fix the issue this spring as part of our year of outdoor house projects that also includes windows and a new deck. We were both tired of tripping over the uneven seams and cracks in the driveway and having to deal with the ugly transition from the garage to the driveway.
Should We Just Replace the Driveway?
I called a couple of concrete companies to get pricing for a completely new driveway: demo the old, install a new base of crushed stone, and pour new concrete. The lowest bid was $3,700. That seemed reasonable. We had received a $4,500 credit for this driveway repair when we closed on our house last year, so I was thinking that we would make out pretty well for that price.
What is Mudjacking?
A few neighbors had mentioned that mudjacking was popular in our area for uneven concrete repairs. For some reason, ground shifting is fairly common in the Denver area. I’m no geologist, so don’t ask me why. I found a recommended company on the Nextdoor app and gave them a call.
The estimator stopped by the next day to look at our driveway and talk about the details. Basically, what they do is drill some holes in the existing concrete driveway and pump a slurry in to fill underneath and raise the concrete up. It is just filler material (topsoil, sand, and portland cement) , so this won’t fix any cracks or other blemishes, but it will make the existing concrete slabs level again. Then they just patch the holes and voila… all is fixed . You can even drive on the repaired driveway later that same day.
Why Mudjacking?
Oh.. And the price… $1,000. OK. I’m listening. For $2,700 more in my pocket I’m pretty sure that I don’t need a brand new driveway. An old, but level driveway will work just fine for me!
One more thing to seal the deal… They offered a 2 year guarantee. If the driveway settles again or one of the concrete hole patches fails, they will fix it for free. The new concrete driveway would only have a 1 year warranty.
Let’s Do It
I scheduled them to come out and do the repair the following week. It really was as easy as he said. The entire process took 3 guys about an hour. They raised some parts of the driveway 8 inches! Awesome.
Here are some photos of the process…
The Results
Leslie and I have actually “tripped” on the smooth driveway a few times since it was repaired. Our brains were trained to step over the uneven parts of the driveway that aren’t there anymore. ? The brain retraining will be well worth it though. ? Now I just need a dump truck of dirt to fill in the low spots on the sides of the driveway. The projects never end!
Till next time…
Wow, wish I had had it done in 1996. Nothing as much to raise for us, but would have stopped the rain from coming in the garage on occasion.