Looking for Concrete Patio Advice?

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Excellent!

A slab can be Mudjacked more than once. But it would raise the question.. Why does it keep settling? 
 

Real mudjacking uses hydraulic pressure to raise the slab, then fills under it with a sand/clay/ Portland mix which stabilizes the sub grade and hardens like concrete.  If they just pumped mud in, it wouldn't stabilize properly. If there is a water issue or a compaction issue, that would be a different problem. 
 

Good luck!  That's a good plan

SV reX said:

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Excellent!

A slab can be Mudjacked more than once. But it would raise the question.. Why does it keep settling? 
 

Real mudjacking uses hydraulic pressure to raise the slab, then fills under it with a sand/clay/ Portland mix which stabilized the sub grade and gardens like concrete.  If they just pumped mud in, it wouldn't stabilize properly. If there is a water issue or a compaction issue, that would be a different problem. 
 

Good luck!  That's a good plan

There may be a problem in that the sagging slab is next to a basement wall that has some bowing in.  Wasn't bad enough to require reinforcement, but it's a concern.  Might also be worth talking to a basement guy.

Concrete is what I do for a living. Depending on exactly what you want $15k for stamp isn't exactly sweet-baby-jesus-my-wallet level but for my area it's a bit high.

From the pictures im guessing a lack of rebar and/or lack of doweling the different slabs together. It's kinda hard to tell from the pics but it looks like the grooves did their job mostly and contained most of the cracking and the one section with the giant birdbath in it has fallen considerably. It could also be that that section is a different pour and wasn't doweled together or any expansion strip added.

The fact that one half of it is falling and cracking apart more than likely means the subbase has failed or you have a lot of water underneath that froze and is moving the slab(s).

Its really not godawful but it certainly isn't great. You could mudjack it and cover it in a nicer concrete paint but I'd get an estimate on ripping it out and replacing it with a standard broom finish as it'll be significantly cheaper than stamp first. 

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

If the basement wall is moving that's the exact  reason the slab has fallen.

Really any basement wall bowing is cause for concern, depending how bad I'm not sure you want to inject a solid amount of weight right next to it 

SV reX said:

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

A slab can be Mudjacked more than once. But it would raise the question.. Why does it keep settling?

Probably because it doesn't think it's good enough, can't do any better, and it is better than being alone....

It's been over a month since I started this thread.  It took this long to get things sorted out with contractors for the patio and the basement for what I though was a super simple job.  Found a semi-retired basement guy who's going to brace the bowed wall, and replace the block with the septic drain pipe.  He tells me that the steel for the braces are about 5x more expensive than they used to be.  ouch.  Here's the wall and the old septic pipe:

You can see the crack in the joint under the septic pipe.  Basement Guy thought it was a good idea to brace the wall before pouring a bunch of new concrete right next to it.  One nice thing he's doing is coordinating with the Concrete Guy to have access to the outside wall after he rips out the old patio but before he pours the new patio.

We decided on stamped concrete in a medium brown like this:

All this plus patio furniture blows the budget, so the pergola is going to have to wait.  Prices are stupid expensive right now so maybe that's a good thing.

Update:  Braces went in, septic pipe came out and the block replaced while the patio was out.

Patio Guys found nothing but mud under the concrete.  They graded and brought in a load of gravel to lay under the new concrete.

and while we were at it, decided to add a sidewalk to the garage workshop.

A crew of concrete guys came in and poured, leveled and stamped.

and we have a new patio.  Not real happy with how blotchy and dark it is, we'll see what it looks like after it's sealed and the sealant dries.

Once you hit it with the sealer all the depth comes out. It will look great.

Concrete always looks blotchy as it dries, don't worry.

However, that doesn't look brown at all to me

The sealer has had a couple of days to dry and I think it still looks blotchy and shiny in spots and dull in others.  Still, it's much better than what we had and I'm looking forward to having a patio in time for summer (which apparently starts the day after tomorrow here in Wisconsin - hot weather finally coming through)

at night you can see it's pretty dull in spots -

I think we'll need to do a hot tub sooner than later - the pad was poured level and that made a ramp that people who have had a little too much to drink might find staying upright challenging...

The blotchy effect, or "marbling" is a highlight of stamped concrete though too. It's because you use a concrete color and a release color for contrast. I won't say that it looks like they used a ton of release . Was it liquid or like chalk?

It really doesn't really look like a Super Diamond Clear sealer either, not incredibly shiny/wet looking. These things are very hard to see thru a pic though

In reply to Antihero :

I think the contrast color was liquid.  Had a pretty intense solvent smell.  The sealer is shiny where it pooled in the low spots, the high spots are pretty dull.  I'm not that unhappy with the whole thing, it's good to be able to sit outside with a beer, and to have the basement sorted out.

Now that you are finished, I can show you what you should have done.