On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:54:12 GMT, "dadiOH"
wrote:

Phisherman wrote:
I have a 3x4' concrete stoop just under the side garage door. Since
1992 it has been sinking. About 1997 I dug under it, used a car
jack, and put rocks underneath.

What kind of car jack? If you use a floor jack this time, you might
be able to do this even though there are some bushes in the way. It
will go right under most of most bushes.

It has been sinking and now is 6"
below were it was.

My stoop has sunk too. It may have stopped now, but it sank for 20 or
more of the 28 years the house has been here. It had sunk some when I
bought the house at 4 years old. And so have all or most of the other
15 townhouses that are in line with mine. And so have most or all of
the 16 houses in line with ours in the next n'hood a quarter mile
away. My stoop is P-shaped and 10 x 8 feet, so lifting it up is
pretty much impossible. Some have cracked when they sank but not
mine.

Houses across the street or up the hill haven't had this problem, I
think, so maybe it has to do with being at the bottom of a hill, or
maybe near the stream.

IMO there's no chance these were all built on refuse. It just wasn't
packed down well.

Each neighbor has done something different.

I put 4 pavers, 2 stacks of two 12 or 16" square, and they come to the
right height for the amount it sank.

Another n'bor paid someone to pour a step on top. The joker borrowed
wire reinforcent from me, didn't bother to bring his own. I gave him
the wire "sticks" used for the advertising signs I take down.

Another guy built a step or two with bricks in a pretty arrangement,
which he surrounded by a rectangle of 2x4s. Looks nice except I
wonder if it should be painted or if the paint will chip.

Others did other things, but all these stoops are bigger than yours.

I'd have to remove some landscaping to repeat
what I did in 1997. Is there an easier way? I can't be sure if
the land is sinking or the builder buried refuge that is now
decaying.

I have the same problem except that mine isn't sinking that much. In
my case at least, the land isn't sinking nor was there buried organic
material. It's just that the damn thing is heavy and over time
it...well, sinks. Rain water working away under it doesn't help.

I don't think your proposed fix will stop it from sinking. My plan -
someday if I live enough - is to bust it up and put in a new one. The
house side of the new one will go down far enough to rest that edge on
the edge of the house footer;

I can't do that, it's 6 or 7 feet down.

additionally, there will be rebar going
from it into the house foundation blocks.

A good idea. I hope it doesn't come to that for me.