When people in Amarillo search for "slab leveling," they usually mean one of two very different jobs. One is lifting the concrete around the house: a driveway panel that dropped, a patio tilting toward the back door, a sidewalk with a trip edge, a garage floor that sank in the middle. The other is leveling the foundation slab the house sits on. This page covers the first kind, which is usually faster and far less expensive. If your doors are sticking and your drywall is cracking, that's the second kind, and our slab foundation repair guide is the better place to start.
Either way, you can call or text (806) 459-3459 and describe what you're seeing. We'll connect you with a local pro who does this work.
Outdoor slabs sit on a few inches of soil, so they react to Panhandle weather first. Watch for:
One section sits lower than the next, often where the driveway meets the garage.
Rain runs toward your foundation instead of away from it.
A raised or dropped joint of half an inch or more is a real hazard.
Concrete pulling away from the house or stoops leaves an opening for water.
Cracks and a low spot, often over washed-out or poorly packed fill.
Water pooling on a slab means it has moved.
Settled flatwork rarely fixes itself. Water finds the low spot, washes out more soil underneath, and the slab drops further, especially through freeze-thaw winters.
The same clay that moves house foundations moves driveways and patios, only faster, because flatwork has no deep beams or piers holding it up. A few local causes show up again and again:
Both methods drill small holes in the sunken slab and pump material underneath to fill the voids and raise the concrete back toward level. The difference is what gets pumped.
| Mudjacking (slabjacking) | Polyurethane foam | |
|---|---|---|
| What goes under the slab | A cement-and-soil slurry | A two-part foam that expands and hardens |
| Hole size | About 1 to 2 inches | About 5/8 inch |
| Weight added | Heavy, which can add load to soft soil | Very light |
| Ready to use | Usually a day or more | Often within hours |
| Typical cost | Lower | Higher, often 1.5 to 2 times mudjacking |
| Best for | Budget-minded fixes on stable soil | Wet or soft soil, garage floors, and slabs that need to be back in use fast |
Neither method is always better. A good contractor will tell you which one suits your slab and soil, and why. If someone only offers one method, it's worth getting a second bid from a company that does both.
Leveling is priced by the area lifted and how much material it takes to fill the void. As typical market ranges, a single sunken sidewalk or driveway section often runs a few hundred dollars up to about $1,500. Larger jobs, like a whole driveway, patio, or garage floor, commonly run $1,000 to $3,000 or more, and poly foam costs more than mudjacking. That usually still beats tearing out and pouring new concrete, which can cost several times as much for the same area. Your actual price is whatever the contractor's written bid says. For foundation work costs, see our Amarillo foundation repair cost guide.
Lifting works when the slab is mostly intact and the soil under it has stopped moving. It isn't the right fix when:
Most re-settling comes down to water. After a lift, ask the contractor to seal the joints and the gap where the slab meets the house, so rain can't wash out the new fill. Extend downspouts so they drain away from the slab, and aim sprinklers at the lawn instead of the concrete edges. Our post on watering your foundation in an Amarillo summer covers the balance between too dry and too wet.
Get connected anywhere in Amarillo, including Wolflin, Sleepy Hollow, The Colonies, Puckett, and Westcliff, plus Canyon, Bushland, and the surrounding Texas Panhandle.
Most driveway, patio, and sidewalk jobs take a few hours. With poly foam, you can often walk or drive on the slab the same day.
The holes are patched with matching grout. You'll still see small circles, smaller with poly foam than with mudjacking, but they're far less noticeable than new concrete next to old.
Usually close. The goal is to remove trip edges and restore drainage, not to make old concrete look new. Ask the contractor what result to expect before they start.
Lifting existing private flatwork generally isn't treated like foundation piering. Work on a public sidewalk or the driveway approach in the city right-of-way can be different, so ask the contractor to confirm. For house foundation work, see our Amarillo foundation repair permit guide.
Often, yes. Trip edges and a patio draining toward the house tend to show up on buyers' inspection reports, and leveling costs much less than replacing the concrete.
Tell us what's sinking, and we'll connect you with a local foundation repair pro who can tell you whether it can be lifted, which method fits, and what it will cost.
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