I have a non-pond question....about leveling a sinking concrete driveway section

[Mmathis]

Just wondering if anyone has ever done something like this and/or has some advice for a DIY "fix."

Other than having a professional come out and do anything, is there a DIY way to LEVEL an area of a driveway that collects water? My first thought was to line that area with 18" x 18" concrete blocks. Then I GOOGLED it and discovered that there are products you can use to pour on and level an area, HOWEVER, these techniques require that the area has to be TOTALLY CLEAN -- something I see as impossible since this area is bordered by flower beds and......dirt.....
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THE PROBLEM: (see picture) Where our driveway ends at the back of the house, part of a slab section has cracked and that corner has sunk* enough that there is standing muddy, yard run-off water [maybe an inch?] after a good rain or when I drain the pond. It does drain off fairly fast as long as it stays dry [no rain as well as no pond draining]. Other than aesthetics, the only reason I'm concerned is that's the area where my son parks when he's home from college, and when it's muddy, it's hard for him to get out of his car [and BTW, this area has always been like this in the 22 years we've live here -- son's car may be aggravating it, but is not the cause -- just thought I'd throw that in there].

Naturally, that's the way the driveway is designed to slope, but it would be nice if there was a way to fill in that corner so the water would travel DOWN the driveway and not collect in that corner. For years I've thought that it was the design of our driveway [and/or son's parked car] that was causing the water collection, but I peeked through the fence and noticed that the same area in our neighbor's yard, which is all lawn, is totally swamped, with standing water which leads me to believe that the "poor drainage" on our driveway is more likely being caused by poor drainage in their yard -- it's just backing up into our drive. Again, it does drain off fairly fast. Just looks bad and is inconvenient.

*Funny thing, though, I just went out and took this pic and when you look at it, it actually looks like the area that floods is ELEVATED from the rest of the slab -- I would have sworn it was sunken......

Red line is the "boundary" area where water collects, and the yellow is where it's worse. That section of slab [upper left] looks like a separate piece of concrete, but that's a cracked-out section -- you can even see how it's ELEVATED and not recessed as I would have expected.... Neighbor's yard is beyond the fence on the left.

 

[TAHOE]

If you have poor drainage, than any fix to the drive is going to be temporary and probably futile. If you believe there is a lot of water, than that has most likely cause drive to sink. That should be taken care of first.
As for the leveling products, IMO they are fine for indoor under floor issues, but cannot hold up to much traffic and weight, even the ones designed as driveway coatings. I had a neighbor do that on his drive, one good winter and it all cracked and popped off.
If the concrete is sunken, you should have a local company(s) that will drill the concrete and under pressure, use products to lift the slab. I would say they will be expensive, but have never used them myself.

Good luck.

 

[Jimmy Gibson]

If you have poor drainage, than any fix to the drive is going to be temporary and probably futile. If you believe there is a lot of water, than that has most likely cause drive to sink. That should be taken care of first.
As for the leveling products, IMO they are fine for indoor under floor issues, but cannot hold up to much traffic and weight, even the ones designed as driveway coatings. I had a neighbor do that on his drive, one good winter and it all cracked and popped off.
If the concrete is sunken, you should have a local company(s) that will drill the concrete and under pressure, use products to lift the slab. I would say they will be expensive, but have never used them myself.

Good luck.

I have a poured concrete walk that was sinking big time, by rainwater that was undermining the concrete. I had a company called Ramjack to raise it. They injected a expanding polymer underneath the walk and leveled it..... No problem since. Don't remember the exact cost but it was reasonable

 

[sissy]

I know here before we sold mom and dads house we had the broken part of the driveway mud jacked .They inject cement mix under the concrete driveway .It was about 180 dollars .New owners wanted the section replaced but this was easier and looked great after and they fixed the long crack that had happened from the sinking of that corner .They do it to house foundations also

 

[snoozer]

Mud jacking is the way to go to raise it. You do need to look at the bright side, it isn't up against your house.

 

[Mmathis]

Thanks for the replies, guys! I'll keep this all in mind. I think this issue has been there for a LONG time, and as far as I'm concerned it's mainly one of aesthetics and inconvenience. Since it apparently "spills over" [pun intended, LOL] into our neighbors yard, well, IDK....the water is going to have to go somewhere and if it doesn't change course downward [toward the street], I would hate for it to end up flooding their yard. And if the problem is actually THEIR YARD, then not sure if there is a fix. Time will tell. Our son comes home this w/end for Easter break and I've placed some round blocks on the side where he enters and exits his car when he pulls in. If that gives him a dry area, I'll be happy for now.

 

[DrCase]

if you dug a little dirt out between the drive and the fence a inch or two it would give the water a place to drain

 

[Lisak1]

Our neighbor had to have his "apron" lifted (the slab right in front of the garage). He said it cost under $300 - they used some polymer material like someone else mentioned. I would have guessed it would have been an expensive fix but apparently it's not that hard to do.

It does appear anything you do will affect your neighbor's situation too, but they probably need to deal with their drainage anyway. Maybe when you're ready the two of you can work together on a drainage solution.

 

[Mmathis]

It has occurred to me that I've slightly misrepresented the seriousness of this problem, LOL.

1. The water does drain off fairly quickly, so it's NOT STANDING WATER. It's gone usually overnight. Though there can be standing mud there until it dries off.
2. My main-ish concern was that when son parks there, he has to get in and out of his car right into any left-over water and/or mud that remains -- yuck. He is home for the Easter break and he said that the round blocks I put down for him to step out on were a great solution, though he'll need to tweak the placement a little bit.
3. Our previous neighbors never complained, so it could be that the water drains off their property as well, but we have new neighbors. So far I haven't heard anything from them....
4. At this point [as I said, it's been like this for the 22 years we've lived here] I don't know that we need a permanent repair, but I greatly appreciate all of your feedback for solutions in case we ever do have to go that route!