A sunken driveway, a tipped patio, a sidewalk slab that has dropped an inch at the seam: every one of these is fixable without ripping the concrete out. Concrete leveling injects either a cement slurry or a polyurethane foam under the slab to lift it back to grade. The slab itself stays. In most Wichita yards, the work is done in a single morning and you can use the surface the same day.
| Property | Polyurethane Foam | Mudjacking |
|---|---|---|
| Hole size | 3/8 inch | 1 to 1.5 inch |
| Material weight | ~2 lb per cubic foot | ~100 lb per cubic foot |
| Cure time | ~15 minutes | 24 to 48 hours |
| Return to use | Same day | 1 to 2 days |
| Water resistance | Yes, foam is closed cell | No, slurry can wash out |
| Cost | Higher per square foot | Lower per square foot |
| Best for | Driveways, garage floors, decorative slabs | Larger commercial slabs, budget jobs |
For most Wichita residential driveways and patios, polyurethane foam is the better tool because of the smaller injection holes, the fast cure, and the lighter weight added to soil that already showed it cannot hold the original slab.
The slab itself rarely fails. The soil under it does. Wichita's expansive clay loses volume when it dries and gains it back when it rains. Over years, the soil under a driveway or patio cycles and consolidates unevenly, leaving voids the slab eventually drops into. Surface water from misdirected downspouts and leaking irrigation accelerates the cycle. Once the slab drops, water pools in the new depression and the cycle continues.
Concrete leveling fills the void under the slab and lifts the surface back to grade. If the surface drainage is fixed at the same time (downspouts re-routed, grading adjusted), the lift can hold for many years.
Concrete leveling pairs with slab foundation repair if the home itself has also settled, and with crack injection for sealed cracks in the slab. We serve Maize, Goddard, Valley Center, and the rest of the Wichita metro.
Wichita Foundation Pros connects homeowners with licensed, insured local foundation repair contractors. We are not the licensed contractor of record for every job.