Fast & Clean Lifting Of Sinking Floors

Sinking floors are typically where a concrete slab has dropped from its original level. Sinking floors occur in all properties, from warehouses to people’s homes. Geobear provides a floor lifting solution for any size of the property, from home extensions to major manufacturing sites.

A sinking concrete floor can be a sign of the subsidence of a building or a confined floor sinking into its footprint.

In most cases, a sinking floor is isolated to the concrete slab set within a building’s structural walls. If this is the case, Geobear can stabilise the ground and in most cases lift the floor back up. You’ll see a dropping floor as there will be gaps around the skirting or floor tiles may crack.

Where supporting walls are built off a slab, you may see diagonally cracked walls in the area where there is most subsidence.

Geobear can lift your floors in one day. By drilling through the concrete slab in a pattern across the affected area we inject specialist geopolymer resin that expands to lift concrete floors back into place.

What causes my floor to sink?

Subsidence or settlement is often the root cause and can be the result of many differing factors. Each factor involves a change that has taken place within the soil or fills beneath the slab which then allows a movement to take place in the ground. For example, when there is an extensive period without rainfall, the clay soil shrinks meaning a slab can sink or settlement can occur where the existing fill compacts over time and the entire slab floor will sink.

Alternatively, excess water such as a leaking drain may cause a washout of the made ground or soil beneath your concrete floor slab. This will ultimately lead to downward movement of the entire floor.

Likely causes for this include:

· Flooding

· An extensive period without rain allows the soil to become too dry- contraction

· Excessive water due to broken pipes (such as water, sewage, stormwater drainage)

· Fill that has been compacted poorly

· The removal of resources (liquid, gas or mineral) from the ground

· Moisture can be removed from the ground by tree roots

· Vibrations caused by heavy road traffic or machines

· Heavy loading

How to stop your floor from sinking

To correct a sinking concrete floor, we first need to diagnose and prevent the cause. That could be invasive tree roots, leaking drains or natural compaction of the soil.  Once we understand the problem we can provide a permanent solution and in most cases lift the floor again.

We use our technology to inject an expansive material into the ground to fill voids in the soil and stabilise the ground. Once the voids are filled in the soil, the material will force the concrete slab up, where in most cases we can re-level.

The alternative is traditional underpinning or pile foundations which involve the excavation of parts of the foundation, this is a very long, inconvenient approach that should only be considered a last resort. Where Geobear takes one day, the alternative takes weeks.

Geobear provide award-winning services to UK insurance companies

Lifting a sinking floor in 20 seconds!