Eliminating Trip Hazards
Sunken Slabs Create Trip Hazards
One of the first reasons a sunken slab is often noticed is because it’s created a trip hazard. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a “trip hazard” as any vertical change over a ¼ inch or more at any joint or crack. Cities, school districts, hospitals, churches, shopping malls, universities, apartment complexes, homeowner associations, large buildings, and private residences should all be concerned with this liability.
Concrete Leveling with Polyurethane
Eliminating these hazards and avoiding litigation is as simple as hiring a contractor who is using the right concrete leveling technique and material. Ground Consolidation Services lifts and levels slabs using Alchemy-Spetec’s line of AP Lift products. These high-density polyurethane lifting foams are used in a wide array of applications from lifting walkways to lifting highway bridge approach slabs on DOT projects.
Slab Lifting vs Slab Replacement
In addition, GCS has specialized tools in our bag like the jack system we use to mechanically manipulate the smaller, harder-to-control slabs. The only other viable option to lifting the slabs, in most cases, is the removal and replacement of them. This option is generally much more expensive and certainly more time-consuming and intrusive. We often do jobs for customers who have gone that route in the past and every single time they say they wish they had known that GCS was an option. We are usually done within a few hours, with the treated areas being traffic ready immediately.
GCS is working with the Atlanta shopping mall Shops of Buckhead to solve settled walkway issues around that upscale property. In the picture included with this post, you’ll see a large sidewalk slab that has been lifted back to its original level. The surrounding small slab panels will then be reset to their original level by the property owner.
Sometimes we run into situations where we just can’t reach a remote work site with our larger equipment truck, in spite of having over 200 feet of pump hose on board. This is where the 
In Peachtree City, a water line recently broke and went undetected for a lengthy period of time, causing large amounts of soil to wash towards a nearby retention pond. This was especially problematic since it occurred underneath a large retaining wall that supports a large retail store! Settlement of the back corner of the building led to the discovery of the deeper and profoundly serious issues below.
Ground Consolidation Services received a call from a facility manager in Norcross, GA about an uneven walkway in a high-traffic office park entryway. He scheduled an appointment as soon as possible, well aware that potential trip hazard litigation could be costly.
Recently, a concerned homeowner in Decatur, GA reached out to Ground Consolidation Services about a busted water line beneath his dining room. As often happens this issue went undetected for a lengthy amount of time. A plumber had to cut out a portion of the concrete floor in order to repair the leaking pipe. As the homeowner suspected, severe erosion had taken place under the foundation slab, leaving a sizable void—as much as a 1’ in some areas. After the pipe was repaired, the concrete was replaced. But the homeowner shared a photo with us of the cut-out area in the middle of his dining room.
Right before Christmas, the owner of a heavily trafficked commercial building in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, GA called in Ground Consolidation Services to fill sub slab voids in their parking garage entrance. Slab settlement coupled with cracking of the joint nosings led to the diagnosis. He was serious about getting the repair completed quickly. Cars needed somewhere to park!
This past week, a resident in East Cobb, GA reached out to Ground Consolidation Services about multiple cracks and settlement issues in his garage. Given that he parked his vehicle in his garage on a daily basis and used it to enter and exit his home, he was eager to get the slabs back in place. The GCS crew showed up for the appointment and inspected the entirety of the concrete slab. We observed that several sections had cracked, mainly as a result of poor compaction and seasonal freezing temperature fluctuations. To make matters worse, the cracked sections had sunk into the soil void underneath.
A homeowner in John’s Creek, GA recently reached out to Ground Consolidation Services after noticing a significant soil void under his front porch stoop. This is a common issue we see throughout the residential market across Georgia, usually as a result of poor drainage, grading, or a combination of both.
Ground Consolidation Services was recently called in to seal off a rain-induced