Above grade
Mudjacking
A mix of topsoil and cement injected underground lifts sunken sidewalks, driveways and stairs back into place. Cracked concrete you do not want can come out too.
The slab you walk on sank because the ground under it did
A sidewalk drops at a joint and someone trips. A driveway tilts toward the garage and sheds water the wrong way. A step settles away from the door and leaves a gap you can see daylight through. The concrete is rarely the real problem. It is a plate resting on soil, and when the soil under it softens, washes out or settles, the plate goes down with it. In soft south Louisiana ground, that happens to plenty of slabs.
Most of what Peterson does happens below grade, under a floor or beneath a slab. Mudjacking is the one job that happens at grade: the concrete you walk and drive on, lifted by fixing the ground you cannot see. Picture a cross-section of the walk, a thin crust of concrete sitting over an empty hollow, and understand that the whole job is filling that hollow.
Peterson sand pumping truck and conveyor set up in a parking lot
How the lift works
A mixture of topsoil and types of cement is injected underground, beneath the sunken concrete. As the mixture fills the empty space, it pushes up on the slab, and the sidewalk, driveway or stair rises back toward where it started. Nothing gets torn out and poured fresh. It is the same concrete, set back on ground that can carry it. Sidewalks, driveways and stairs are the three jobs Peterson names for this work.
Not every piece of concrete is worth saving. Where a slab has cracked past the point of lifting, Peterson also removes unwanted cracked concrete, so a customer is not left looking at a raised slab that is still broken. The call is made on site by the crew, the owner is there with them, and the estimate is free and same-day. Customers in Kenner, Metairie, New Orleans, Houma and Thibodaux can ask.
After the lift, the ground matters more than the concrete
A raised slab only stays up if what is under it is solid. If water keeps running under a walk or a driveway, the soil can go again, so it pays to ask where the water is coming from. A downspout dumping at the edge, a grade that points at the slab, or a leaking line underneath can all undermine concrete. Finding the cause is part of fixing the slab, not a separate chore.
That is where a plumber doing mudjacking has an edge. Peterson works under slabs and under houses, on leaks, sewer lines and sand, so a wet spot beside a sunken sidewalk gets a plumber's second look. Mark Peterson, Louisiana Master Plumber #1416, is on every job. Whether it is a single stair or a long run of walk, the first conversation costs nothing.
Louisiana Master Plumber #1416, owner on every job, in business since 1979. Free same-day estimates across Kenner, Metairie, New Orleans, Houma and Thibodaux.