There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?

Sherman wrote:

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?


Yellow Pages: "Concrete Levelers"

Jim

I had a smaller section do the same. I dug away a few feet from the side of
the sidewalk so I could have access. In 2 sections I dug deep enough to get
a small hydraulic jack underneath. (you might need 3 or 4). I jacked the
sections up about an inch higher than I wanted and packed the void under the
sidewalk with dirt and sand as best I could. When I released the jack it
settled back down to almost level over a few days. I backfilled the trench
on the side and in a few weeks the grass had covered. I moved 2 years later
and it was still level.


"Sherman" wrote in message
...

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?

IF this method is to work on such a large angled piece without cracking you
will need multiple jacking points and a wooden beam to support the cement
temporarily wouldn't hurt either.

As an alternative to hydrolic jacks would be to slip a lift bag under
instead. This is esentially a heavy duty bag you fill with water or
compressed air and it does the lifting as it inflates. This will distribute
the load more evenly.

In the end you may have to accept some cracks or dig it up and do it over.
"M Simon" wrote in message
...
I had a smaller section do the same. I dug away a few feet from the side
of the sidewalk so I could have access. In 2 sections I dug deep enough to
get a small hydraulic jack underneath. (you might need 3 or 4). I jacked
the sections up about an inch higher than I wanted and packed the void
under the sidewalk with dirt and sand as best I could. When I released the
jack it settled back down to almost level over a few days. I backfilled
the trench on the side and in a few weeks the grass had covered. I moved 2
years later and it was still level.


"Sherman" wrote in message
...

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?

Sounds good. I'd like to screw the water hose onto such a bag and
lift it about a foot and then back fill so it settles down about even.

Wonder where one gets such a bag?

Sherman



On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 20:46:56 GMT, "PipeDown"
wrote:

IF this method is to work on such a large angled piece without cracking you
will need multiple jacking points and a wooden beam to support the cement
temporarily wouldn't hurt either.

As an alternative to hydrolic jacks would be to slip a lift bag under
instead. This is esentially a heavy duty bag you fill with water or
compressed air and it does the lifting as it inflates. This will distribute
the load more evenly.

In the end you may have to accept some cracks or dig it up and do it over.
"M Simon" wrote in message
...
I had a smaller section do the same. I dug away a few feet from the side
of the sidewalk so I could have access. In 2 sections I dug deep enough to
get a small hydraulic jack underneath. (you might need 3 or 4). I jacked
the sections up about an inch higher than I wanted and packed the void
under the sidewalk with dirt and sand as best I could. When I released the
jack it settled back down to almost level over a few days. I backfilled
the trench on the side and in a few weeks the grass had covered. I moved 2
years later and it was still level.


"Sherman" wrote in message
...

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?

"Sherman" wrote

Sounds good. I'd like to screw the water hose onto such a bag and
lift it about a foot and then back fill so it settles down about even.

Wonder where one gets such a bag?

My mother-in-law

"Sherman" wrote in message
...

There is an L shaped cement sidewalk in front of my house that has
sunk 6 inches in 20 years. It is 18 feet total lenght with the L at 9
feet from the ends. No partitions at all.

Anyway to lift it?


Before you spend much effort to lift the walk, you'd better check on why it
sank in the first place. If it's being undercut by waterflow from your roof
or some other hydrologic problem you'll need to solve that problem.

In my case, the house I moved into had a sidewalk that sloped the wrong way,
and also started to sink at one place. We briefly considered trying to
relevel everything, but decided to remove altogether and replace with paving
blocks. For not much more than the cost of fixing it we now have a much
better-looking walkway with inset garden beds. We're in the final steps of
completing the project and I'll post photos in a few days.

(Correcting the slope of the walk also fixed the erosion problem that had
caused the sidewalk to crack and sink) --

Regards --

Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

Best comment yet.. I've seen a lot of folks keep fixing such
problems.. I live in the same house since 1965.. so I can observe
history.. rocks would help.. also beware of recent "renovations" in
storm drains.. some of those engineers don't really know your terrain
and design the drains contrary to nature.. one group found a stream,
so instead of dumping the water into the underground stream, they
decided to try to drain the stream.. uh oh.. drain a stream and
it..dyuh.. collapses..


- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Fooey on GIU,{MS,X}Windows 4 Bimbos] [Cigar smoke belongs in veg food group]

In alt.home.repair on 22 Jul 2005 19:27:03 -0700 "
posted:

Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Not only that, when it gets to be over 8" you can give it to the
county and they will maintain it.

Well, not really, but our n'hood streets are so thin that the county
won't take them. We have to continue to pay for the snow-plowing and
the reblacktopping.

Hope this helps,
William


Meirman
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or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

wrote:
Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't
address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the
'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely
that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious
cracking and uneveness.

Harry K

In alt.home.repair on 24 Jul 2005 07:49:29 -0700 "Harry K"
posted:



wrote:
Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

P&M

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't
address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the
'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely
that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious
cracking and uneveness.

FWIW, my stoop/aerie way has sunk 6 inches in 26 years without
cracking. It's about 20 feet by 2 feet where it is a stoop, by 8 or 9
feet where it is a "patio".

Either that or the house has gone up 6 inches.

Harry K

Actually the lowest 16 houses in my n'hood, and about the 20 lowest
houses in the next n'hood, probably built by a different builder, all
in a row close to the stream fwiw, have all had sinking stoops. Some
have cracked. I can't even guess at what percentage.

Still, I agree that his idea is a good one.

Meirman
--
If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 05:21:11 -0400, meirman
wrote:

In alt.home.repair on 24 Jul 2005 07:49:29 -0700 "Harry K"
posted:



wrote:
Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

P&M

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't
address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the
'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely
that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious
cracking and uneveness.

FWIW, my stoop/aerie way has sunk 6 inches in 26 years without
cracking. It's about 20 feet by 2 feet where it is a stoop, by 8 or 9
feet where it is a "patio".

Either that or the house has gone up 6 inches.

Harry K

Actually the lowest 16 houses in my n'hood, and about the 20 lowest
houses in the next n'hood, probably built by a different builder, all
in a row close to the stream fwiw, have all had sinking stoops. Some
have cracked. I can't even guess at what percentage.

Still, I agree that his idea is a good one.

Meirman

My peach tree had sunk over 12 inches. It caught so much water it
finally drowned.
The drive way and house remains level and only the sidewalk sank with
nary a crack. The expansion joints on the house and driveway acted
like hinges and let it sink without cracking.

Sherman wrote:
On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 05:21:11 -0400, meirman
wrote:

In alt.home.repair on 24 Jul 2005 07:49:29 -0700 "Harry K"
posted:



wrote:
Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

P&M

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't
address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the
'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely
that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious
cracking and uneveness.

FWIW, my stoop/aerie way has sunk 6 inches in 26 years without
cracking. It's about 20 feet by 2 feet where it is a stoop, by 8 or 9
feet where it is a "patio".

Either that or the house has gone up 6 inches.

Harry K

Actually the lowest 16 houses in my n'hood, and about the 20 lowest
houses in the next n'hood, probably built by a different builder, all
in a row close to the stream fwiw, have all had sinking stoops. Some
have cracked. I can't even guess at what percentage.

Still, I agree that his idea is a good one.

Meirman

My peach tree had sunk over 12 inches. It caught so much water it
finally drowned.
The drive way and house remains level and only the sidewalk sank with
nary a crack. The expansion joints on the house and driveway acted
like hinges and let it sink without cracking.

Ah! I was picturing a level sinking. With that much sinkage, I would
suspect a sinkhole forming. I have never seen nor heard of a tree
sinking until now.

Harry K

In alt.home.repair on 29 Jul 2005 18:59:26 -0700 "Harry K"
posted:


Sherman wrote:
On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 05:21:11 -0400, meirman
wrote:

In alt.home.repair on 24 Jul 2005 07:49:29 -0700 "Harry K"
posted:



wrote:
Greetings,

If it has really sunk 6" you might consider pouring another 4-6" of
concrete on top of the existing sidewalk. This way you get a brand-new
looking sidewalk a foot thick.

Hope this helps,
William

P&M

Very good idea. Probably a lot cheaper than any other fix. It doesn't
address the sinking problem but then I suspect that most of the
'sinking' is due to the ground building up over the years. Unlikely
that such a large section of 'crete' would sink evenly without serious
cracking and uneveness.

FWIW, my stoop/aerie way has sunk 6 inches in 26 years without
cracking. It's about 20 feet by 2 feet where it is a stoop, by 8 or 9
feet where it is a "patio".

Either that or the house has gone up 6 inches.

Harry K

Actually the lowest 16 houses in my n'hood, and about the 20 lowest
houses in the next n'hood, probably built by a different builder, all
in a row close to the stream fwiw, have all had sinking stoops. Some
have cracked. I can't even guess at what percentage.

Still, I agree that his idea is a good one.

Meirman

My peach tree had sunk over 12 inches. It caught so much water it
finally drowned.
The drive way and house remains level and only the sidewalk sank with
nary a crack. The expansion joints on the house and driveway acted
like hinges and let it sink without cracking.

Expansion joints? where they joined the sidewalk, right?

Ah! I was picturing a level sinking. With that much sinkage, I would
suspect a sinkhole forming. I have never seen nor heard of a tree
sinking until now.

Me neither.

Harry K


Meirman
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If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.