Settled Patio? Epp Lifts the Slab and Stabilizes the Soil Beneath It.

Epp Foundation Repair's concrete repair contractors have been called to residential concrete jobs across the Midwest since 1994, and the pattern on patios holds steady: in most cases the slab is structurally intact. The soil beneath it has moved. Patios poured in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s were rarely placed on a fully compacted engineered base. Once a downspout outlet, a flowerbed slope, or a buried tree root starts moving water under that slab, the fines wash out, a void opens, and gravity does the rest. Dave Epp founded the company in 1994 after seeing too many patios in Lincoln and Omaha get jackhammered out and replaced when the original concrete was still sound. When the cause is soil. Not concrete failure. Lifting is the right call almost every time.

Epp's inspector walks the patio with a 4-foot level and a probing rod, then checks the drainage context around it. Five of the concrete repair warning signs show up over and over in NE/IA/KS/MO patios: 1. Downspout splash erosion under the slab edge. A downspout dumping inside 3 feet of the patio is the single most common cause of settlement on this region's patios. The fines from loess soil mobilize at remarkably low water volumes. 2. Inadequate base compaction at construction. Residential flatwork standards before the mid-1990s often relied on native fill compacted by tracking. Not engineered to 95% Proctor. 3. Tree root encroachment. Roots from nearby maples, ash, and elms drink soil moisture during summer drought, the clay shrinks (15% volumetric swing in eastern NE/IA clays), and the slab corner drops. 4. Expansion joint failure. When the joint material fails, water enters, freezes 50+ times each winter, and spalls the slab edge. 5. De-icing salt damage. Calcium chloride and rock salt scale the top 1/4 inch of the slab. Cosmetic, not structural, but it tells the story of how the slab has been managed. ## How Epp Repairs a Patio

Epp's standard patio scope follows four steps: 1. Diagnose the cause. Inspector documents the void profile, drainage pattern, root proximity, and joint condition. Estimate reflects the actual scope, not a square-foot rate sight unseen. 2. Lift with polyurethane foam. A two-part expanding foam goes in through 5/8" injection ports, fills the void, and lifts the slab in measured increments. Patio is walkable the same day. Foam doesn't add load to soil already under stress, which matters when the patio sits within 5 feet of the house foundation. 3. Seal working cracks and joints. Polyurethane caulk or backer rod with sealant in expansion joints; epoxy injection on structural cracks (rare on patios); concrete crack sealing on hairline cracks that have stabilized. 4. Flag drainage issues for the homeowner. If a downspout extension, splash block reposition, or grade correction is needed to keep the lift stable, Epp's inspector writes it on the estimate. Epp doesn't re-grade or move downspout outlets. That's a landscaping or gutter contractor, but the issue gets named, not ignored. Customized Repair Estimate after on-site inspection reflects your actual scope.

Clear scope keeps homeowners from paying twice. Epp lifts, seals, and stabilizes, and pours new concrete where a section is finished. Epp does not: - Decorative resurface, stamp, stain, or epoxy coat (decorative concrete specialist). - Repair paver or stone patios (mason). - Re-grade the yard around the patio (landscaper). When a slab is too far gone. Heavy spalling across most of the surface, multiple structural cracks, or settlement beyond what foam can safely lift. Epp says so in the Customized Repair Estimate and prices removal and a new pour instead. Some patio inspections go that direction.

Eastern Nebraska and western Iowa sit on deep loess. A wind-deposited silt that hydroconsolidates when wet. A 6-inch lift of loess can lose 1 to 2 inches of thickness on first soaking if it wasn't pre-wetted and compacted at construction. That's the mechanism behind most patio settlement in Lincoln, Omaha, Council Bluffs. Kansas and Missouri patios more often deal with expansive clay (Missouri River bottomlands, eastern Kansas glacial drift). Clay swells when wet, shrinks when dry, and patios on clay can heave one season and drop the next. Foam stabilizes the void; long-term performance depends on moisture management. Epp is BBB A+ accredited and a two-time BBB Integrity Award winner (2011, 2016). The only foundation contractor in Nebraska to receive that recognition twice.