Concrete repair and leveling in Summerville — lift the sound slabs, replace the rest
A sunk garage approach, a walk panel that's become a trip-edge, a pool deck corner that dropped: on the Lowcountry's wet, settling ground these are the most common calls we get, and half of them are a morning's foam lift at a third of the price of replacement.
Slabs sink here because the ground under them was never right: the builder's loose backfill at the garage, the trench for the sewer lateral that was never compacted, the Rains and Coxville soils that hold water a foot down and consolidate, the clay that shrinks in a dry August. If the concrete itself is sound — no cracks through the panel, no spalling, reinforcement intact — the fix isn't a new slab; it's to put the support back. Polyurethane foam lifting does that: we drill penny-sized holes through the slab, inject a two-part foam that expands under it, and raise the panel back to level in minutes, watching it with a laser. The foam fills the voids, is lightweight so it doesn't add load to the soft ground, cures in fifteen minutes, and doesn't wash out the way the old mudjacking slurry did in a Lowcountry downpour. A sunken garage approach is usually a two-hour job and the car is on it that afternoon. Walks, patios, pool decks and the sidewalk panel the Town flagged all lift the same way.
Repair is the other half: crack routing and sealing with a flexible urethane so water stays out of the base, spall patching with a bonded polymer mortar where the surface is flaking (de-icing salt from the January 2025 snow did a lot of that), joint replacement where the old expansion material has rotted out at the garage and the coping, and resurfacing overlays for slabs that are sound but ugly. What we won't do is lift or patch a slab that's past it — cracked into pieces, heaved on clay with no reinforcement, three inches thick with the aggregate showing — because the fix won't hold and you'd pay for it twice. On those we say replacement, show you why, and quote the replacement honestly. About half the sunken slabs we're called about can be saved; we tell you which half on site.
What's included
Foam lifting
Two-part polyurethane injected through small holes, the slab raised to level under a laser, cured in minutes, no washout.
Void filling
Hollow spots under garage approaches, steps and pool decks filled so they stop sinking.
Crack repair
Routed and sealed with flexible urethane so water stays out of the base.
Spall and surface repair
Bonded polymer patching for flaking from salt and freeze; overlays for sound-but-ugly slabs.
Joint replacement
Rotted expansion joints at the garage, the street and the pool coping cut out and replaced.
Honest fix-or-replace call
Sound slabs get lifted; broken ones get a replacement quote and the reasons.
Repair and leveling costs in Summerville, SC
| Job | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Foam lifting, per sq ft of slab | $5 – $12 | Minimum call-out applies |
| Sunken garage approach, lifted | $600 – $2,000 | Typical two to four panels |
| Walk panel or step, lifted | $250 – $700 | Trip-edge removed |
| Pool deck corner, lifted and joint replaced | $500 – $1,500 | Plus coping joint |
| Crack routing and sealing, per linear ft | $6 – $12 | Flexible urethane |
| Spall patching | $10 – $20 per sq ft | Bonded polymer mortar |
| Expansion-joint replacement, per linear ft | $8 – $15 | Garage, street, coping |
These are 2026 Summerville-area ranges so you can budget. Your written price is itemized — removal, base, thickness, reinforcement, finish, joints, the permit and its inspections — and good for 30 days.
Recent work
Questions we get about concrete repair and leveling
Foam or mudjacking?
Foam. Mudjacking pumps a cement slurry that's heavy, needs big holes, takes a day to cure and washes out of saturated ground; polyurethane foam is light, goes through penny-sized holes, cures in minutes and doesn't care about the water table. On the Lowcountry's soils that last point decides it.
Will it sink again?
Not for the same reason — the foam fills the void and spreads the load. If the cause was a leaking downspout or a broken irrigation line washing out the base, that has to be fixed too, and we'll point it out.
Can you lift a cracked slab?
A slab with one clean crack can be lifted in two pieces and the crack sealed. A slab in five pieces with no reinforcement can't be lifted into anything useful; that's a replacement.
The Town says my sidewalk panel is a trip hazard. Can you lift it?
Usually — a quarter- to two-inch offset at a joint is the classic foam lift. If the panel is broken it's replaced to the Town's standard under an encroachment permit.
How soon can I use it?
Foam cures in about fifteen minutes. Walk on it immediately; drive on it the same day.