Concrete & Foundation Repair Contractor Serving Oakland, CA

The Challenge

A homeowner in Oakland, CA, reached out to Foundation Repair of CA with concerns about their aging driveway. Over the years, cracks had formed and expanded, causing noticeable settlement that diminished the functionality and appearance of the driveway. The homeowner worried that these issues would only worsen over time but wanted to avoid the time, mess, and expense of a complete driveway replacement. They sought a durable and cost-effective solution to restore their driveway's performance and prevent further deterioration.

Inspection & Diagnosis

The Foundation Repair of CA team conducted a thorough inspection of the driveway to identify the root cause of the settlement and cracking. The evaluation revealed that soil shifting beneath the concrete slabs had caused uneven settling. If left unaddressed, the driveway’s structural integrity would continue to degrade, potentially leading to more costly repairs.

The Solution

Foundation Repair of CA proposed an innovative and minimally invasive repair strategy using PolyLevel Foam Injection and NexusPro Joint Sealant. These advanced solutions would stabilize the driveway, address the cracking, and restore its functionality without the need for a complete replacement.

PolyLevel (Foam Injection)

Scope of Work:
Technicians drilled small, strategically placed port holes in the concrete slabs in a grid-like pattern. Through these holes, polyurethane foam was injected beneath the surface. The foam expanded to fill voids and lift the settled slabs, stabilizing the driveway to its original position.

Benefits:

• Lightweight yet strong, PolyLevel minimizes additional strain on the underlying soil.
• Fast-curing properties meant the driveway was ready for use within hours.
• Minimal disruption and mess compared to traditional methods.

NexusPro (Joint Sealant)

Scope of Work:
To address the cracks and gaps, joints were cleaned thoroughly, and backer rods were placed inside gaps where needed. Silicone-based NexusPro sealant was injected into the joints, then smoothed and finished with sand to match the surrounding area as closely as possible.

Benefits:

• Flexible and weather-resistant, NexusPro accommodates natural driveway movement without cracking.
• Long-lasting performance protects against moisture intrusion, preventing further erosion and damage.

The Results

The project was completed efficiently, with minimal disruption to the homeowner’s routine. The PolyLevel Foam Injection successfully lifted the settled slabs, restoring the driveway's even surface. The NexusPro Joint Sealant provided a clean, professional finish while sealing cracks and preventing water penetration.

The homeowner was thrilled with the results, appreciating the quick turnaround and the cost savings compared to a full driveway replacement. Their driveway is now stable, visually improved, and ready to withstand years of use.

Key Takeaways

This project highlights the effectiveness of Foundation Repair of CA’s innovative solutions for addressing common driveway issues. By leveraging cutting-edge materials like PolyLevel and NexusPro, the team delivered a durable and aesthetically pleasing repair, proving that large-scale replacements aren’t always the only option.

Need driveway or concrete repairs? Contact Foundation Repair of CA for expert solutions tailored to your needs!

Worried about uneven concrete that causes a tripping hazard? With an injection of Polyurethane Foam, we can help level your uneven concrete within as little as a few hours. 

It was a beautiful day to lift concrete on June 14th, when we visited Mr. M and his dog. Mr. M had some square concrete slabs that were uneven to a point of ridiculousness. Mr. M's dog loved to run at full speed around the backyard and he wanted to make sure that his concrete would not cause harm.

By the end of our visit with Mr. M, we had injected Polyurethane Foam beneath 7 concrete squares, bringing each back to level. 

How many driveways and walkways have you walked on that weren't quite 100%? It didn't seem like much to worry about right? This is just the way of all concrete and there's not much to do about it, save for removing and replacing it entirely and waiting for the new concrete to eventually do the same thing. Not quite!

If your driveway is this bad, the chance that your foundation is unhealthy is high. 

Making sure your driveway is in good health is just like making sure your teeth don't have any cavities. Leaving the cavities open allows for your teeth to get worse (Root Canal!). Leaving cracks in your driveway can have the same effect on your foundation, namely allowing storm water to seep into the ground, eventually forcing you to remove and replace the foundation the same way a dentist would for your teeth. 

We have the ability to help you bring your driveway back to life by lifting it and sealing the cracks to keep your home healthy. 

Built in 1913, the way that this home was built was acceptable by the Building Standards of its day. If you had drawn up a set of plans and submitted them to a Building Department in 2022, I guarantee that you would be told to make some changes. 

Mr. C, the owner of the home, had responded to one of our ads because he had been looking for a company to help him fix up his foundation to prepare it to be rented out. Upon inspection, our Structural Consultant, Jesse Marquez, descended into the crawl space to see if there were any glaring issues. He noticed that the floor didn't have much support aside from the floor joists and one row of wooden piers that supported the center of the not-quite-rectangular home. After observing this, Jesse ascended from the crawl space and grabbed his Zip Level from his car. Using the front door of the home as a reference point, he measured the elevations of the entire floor area. The Zip Level determined that a large portion of the floor was lower than the front door from 1 to 3 and 1/2 inches. 

The solution that Mr. C agreed to was to install our SmartJack Adjustable Steel Post System to lift and stabilize his floor. In total, we installed eighteen SmartJack Adjustable Steel Posts, which included eight 10 ft. long Square Steel Beams. Each SmartJack Adjustable Steel Posts was installed with its own concrete cast-in-place footing. Now Mr. C can finish preparing his home to becoming a solid source of income. 

Ms. C's family has owned their home for many generations. From 1914, when this home was built, until the summer of 2022, time had done it's work: shifting the soil beneath the home to cause the floors and foundation to become uneven, as well as weakening a small portion of the foundation to the point of no return for repair and rotting the adjacent cripple wall. 

Wanting to keep the home in her family's possession for years to come and wanting to keep the home healthy, the time had come for Ms. C to find a solution for the home's problems. She found us on Home Advisor and decided to give us a call. She scheduled a free evaluation with our Structural Consultant, Brian Lotz. Brian descended into the crawlspace of the home and wrote down and took photos of his observations. He wrote up a quote which included a drawing of the best solution for repairing the home. Ms. C discussed the quote with her family and they decided to choose us to do the work. 

Our crews, lead by Foremen Marvin Melendez and Jesus Luna, installed 4 Push Piers to lift and stabilize a portion of the existing foundation, removed and replaced 8 ft. of concrete foundation, removed and replaced 15 ft. of rotted wooden cripple wall, and installed 3 SmartJack Adjustable Steel Posts to lift and stabilize the wooden floor of the home. Now, with the work completed, Ms. C and her family can rest assured that their home will survive for the subsequent generations of their family. 

We know that a home is one of the biggest pieces of any family; we're so happy to be a part of keeping that foundational piece intact. 

After recently taking over this property, Ms. H wanted to fix a few glaring issues. For instance, the basement wall was bowing inward, which had caused a diagonal crack to form from the bottom to the top. A Structural Engineer had done an inspection for her and recommended that she find a contractor who could install steel beams to repair the wall. 

After doing an internet search, Ms. H found us and decided to give us a call. Our Structural Consultant, Zach Brancato, performed an inspection of the basement wall and then provided a free quote with a solution to fix it. The quote included a Carbon Armor Patch with Epoxy and four PowerBrace Steel Beams. 

After Ms. H agreed to our proposal, one of our third-party engineers did the math and created plans for us to submit to the City of Oakland. The plans were approved on their first review and then we started the work on Ms. H's home immediately. Our crew, lead by Foreman Horacio Coronado, installed the Carbon Armor Patch and the PowerBrace Steel Beams. Both of these systems, the Carbon Armor Patch, and the PowerBrace Steel Beams will both protect the basement wall from bowing and cracking any further, and it will help the wall straighten out over time with subsequent adjustments of the PowerBrace system.

Now Ms. H can rest assured that the problems she was having with her basement wall won't trouble her anymore. 

"I don't want my chimney to fall down," said Mrs. P from Oakland. 

The possibility of her chimney falling away from her home like a continent was very high. From her garage, you could see cracks from the floor to the ceiling, outlining exactly where the chimney was connected to the home from the exterior. And on the exterior, similar cracks were visible. The home was built in 1936 so you can imagine that 86 years has given the soil beneath it enough time to move around and affect the foundation in negative ways. 

Mrs. P wanted a solution to fix her chimney. She was referred to us by one of her friends who had a similar problem that we helped fix. She called us and scheduled an appointment for an inspection with Jesse Marquez, one of our amazing Structural Consultants. Jesse performed a thorough investigation of the chimney, from the exterior to the interior. It was determined that differential settlement was occurring at the area of the chimney, causing it to sink away from the rest of the foundation, causing the walls to crack. 

The solution that Jesse came up with was the one that Mrs. P chose. Our crew installed 4 push piers beneath the foundation of the chimney to lift and stabilize it from further movement. Now Mrs. P can go back to living a life where her chimney isn't constantly calling her name for help. 

This 1,515 square foot, two-story home, built-in 1924, was in need of a new foundation. J had reached out to us to get the work done for her. What we did: we removed and replaced 84 linear ft. of the exterior foundation, 503 square ft. of concrete slab foundation within the interior of the home, and removed and replaced the exterior concrete walkway. 

Parts of the foundation that needed to be replaced due to weakness and cracking were also sinking. Even with the new foundation, the problem of the sinking/settlement still needed to be dealt with. New concrete isn't enough to fight against the soil of the earth. Our solution was to install our push pier system in those problem areas as soon as the new concrete was installed and dried completely. The push piers were able to lift the sinking foundation by using a more stable type of soil beneath the surface called strata or bedrock. 

L. bought his home while being fully aware that the floor needed to be repaired. Upon inspection, the underfloor had wood posts that were rotted, it had metal jacks that had rusted, and it had some areas where the jack/post was missing; the floor was sagging in those areas. To solve the issue, we installed our SmartJack Adjustable Steel Post System. We installed three sections of 10 ft. long steel beams, each supported by two SmartJacks. With these in place, we were able to lift, level, and stabilize the floor. Now L.'s home is up to industry standards. 

The husband and wife that owned this home had noticed that their floors were sloping, on top of the fact that the foundation had been so bad that the walls were cracking on the exterior and interior of the home. With the installation of our Push Pier system on the exterior of the home, we were able to lift and stabilize the home from further settlement. 

This house was in bad shape due to foundation settlement that had been left unchallenged for several years. The cracks kept getting worse and worse until the homeowner decided that they needed to do something before the unimaginable happened. 

Some of the concrete of the front steps had to be removed in order for us to install our piers where they were needed, but our crew had no problem replacing the concrete once installation was complete. 

When Rosalinda J. retired, she knew it was finally time to take care of the sagging floors that she had put off for years. Before it could get worse, she searched the web and found Foundation Repair of CA. Once she spoke to our appointment center, an appointment was made with Victor to come and evaluate her home. After a thorough evaluation, Victor was able to come to the best solution possible using our state of the art push pier system. Foreman Andrew was able to lift the home to a more satisfactory level, giving the customer the peace of mind that is needed during this wonderful transition of life. 

Have you noticed settling in your home? Why not give us a call for a free estimate!

Over the years, water has eroded the dirt underneath a walkway in this Oakland based apartment complex. The erosion lead to animals beginning to dig around the area as well until the hole became so large that the walkway literally cracked in two and was a serious safety concern. The property manager was able to get approval to go forward with fixing the walkway, and that is when she called Foundation Repair of CA.

One of our best consultants, Jim Palamedas came out to the site and saw the extent of the problem. It was going to take a lot to fix this walkway to be just right, but thankfully Jim has a lot of experience fixing just this sort of issues. Jim knew that the best solution to lift this slab back into place was to use the Poly Leveling system and include the Nexus Pro crack sealant to prevent any future problems.

The Poly Level Foreman, David "DJ" Serpa came out with the Polyurethane crew within two weeks. Upon arriving, DJ knew that this wasn't just going to be a normal job, but was going to be a large challenge. He began by injecting a base of foam underneath the slab to give it support, before attempting to lift. DJ then had his crew members use pry bars to use leverage and pry the cracked slab back up. After it was hoisted up, DJ would inject a small amount more. This was repeated several times until enough lift was achieved to be able to jack the slab up with a bottle jack. After repeating this method continuously, the cracked walkway was brought up to be perfectly level and the crack was then sealed with Nexus Pro to prevent any water damage.

Thanks to the skill, knowledge, and experience of Jim and DJ, the tenants of this apartment complex will never have to worry about the tripping hazards of that walkway again.