7 min read
Walk around most houses in Green Bay after a few winters and you'll find a little of everything. A driveway slab that dropped at the garage. A stoop with a gap along the house. A garage floor with salt stains and a crack down the middle. Moss creeping across the shady side of the patio.
Each one has a right fix, and they don't all belong to the same trade. This page maps them out area by area, with links to our deeper guides, and it's honest about which jobs are ours, which you can handle yourself, and which need somebody else.
Who Handles What
- Us: foam lifting of sunken slabs, concrete cleaning and penetrating sealers, joint and crack caulking, and garage floor coatings.
- You: downspout extensions, regrading soil, sealing hairline cracks, routine sweeping and rinsing, and keeping an eye on things.
- Other concrete contractors: tear-out and repour, resurfacing and overlays, grinding down trip edges, and mudjacking.
- A structural engineer or foundation contractor: cracked, bowing, or leaking foundation walls.
- Other specialists: an arborist for root problems, an HVAC tech for anything involving refrigerant lines.
If you're comparing contractors, see how to choose a concrete contractor.
Driveway: Sinking, Cracks, and Salt
- A section dropped at the garage. That end sits on loose foundation backfill. If the slab is in one piece, it's a lifting job. Driveway repair cost compares the options.
- The apron at the street sank. In Green Bay, the apron between the sidewalk and the street is in the city right-of-way, where work needs a city permit and a licensed builder. Other towns have their own rules. Check before anyone works on it.
- Cracks. Level cracks wide enough to hold water get caulked before winter. Offset cracks get lifted first, then sealed. See driveway crack repair.
- Flaking surface. That's salt and freeze-thaw. Lifting won't help. A penetrating sealer helps protect concrete that's still sound, while heavy scaling needs resurfacing or replacement. See concrete spalling causes.
- Oil drips, rust, tire marks. A cleaning job. See how to clean a concrete driveway.
Garage Floor: Cracks, Stains, and Sunken Sections
- A section sank, or the floor dropped at the door. Lift first, coat second if you want a coating.
- Cracks with level sides. If you're coating, filling them is part of our coating prep. See garage floor cracks.
- Pitting, salt stains, dusting, oil. That's what a coating is for. See garage floor coatings.
- Self-leveler that's cracking or lifting. Different problem, covered in self-leveling concrete problems.
Front Walk and Stoop
- A trip edge between panels. If one panel sank, lift it. A tiny lip on level panels may be cheaper to grind. See uneven sidewalk fix.
- A panel pushed up by roots. Nothing can push it back down, but lifting the neighbors can blend the edge. See tree roots lifting concrete.
- A stoop tipping toward the house or pulling away from it. Lift it, then caulk the gap.
- Steps that are crumbling or broken loose. Replacement, not lifting.
- A green, slippery film on a shaded walk. Clean it, and consider a penetrating sealer, which soaks in instead of adding a slick coating. See how to clean mold off concrete.
Patio
- Tipped toward the house, water pooling at the door. Lift it to restore the pitch away from the house.
- Slabs at different heights. Lift the low ones. See how to fix uneven concrete slabs.
- Moss, mildew, grill grease, rust rings from furniture. Clean it, let it dry, then seal it. See how to clean a concrete patio.
- Thinking about pouring new concrete over the old patio? Read pouring concrete over existing concrete first. That's not a job we do.
AC Pad
- A concrete pad leaning toward the house. We lift it with the unit in place. If the refrigerant lines were repaired after the pad started sinking, your HVAC tech should look first.
- A plastic pad. Your HVAC company re-levels it on gravel. You don't need us. Details in sinking AC pad.
Along the Foundation
- A gap between the slab and the house. Caulk it. If the slab tips toward the house, lift it first. See caulking where concrete meets the house.
- Downspouts dumping at the wall, soil sloping toward the house. Do-it-yourself territory, and the most important fix on this page. See how to extend downspouts.
- A slab that sounds hollow when you tap it. There's probably a void underneath. See voids under concrete.
- Cracks in the basement wall, a wall bowing inward, water coming through. Call a structural engineer or foundation contractor. That's not flatwork, and it's not us.
The Whole Map: Problem, Fix, and Who
| Problem | Right fix | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Slab sank but is in one piece | Foam lifting | Us |
| Slab pushed up by roots | Lift the neighbors, grind, or replace; arborist for the roots | Us (sometimes), another contractor, an arborist |
| Slab rises in winter, drops in spring | Fix the drainage, then reassess after thaw | You first, then us if it stays low |
| Hairline crack, both sides level | Leave it, or seal it | You or us |
| Crack wide enough to hold water | Flexible joint sealant, backer rod if deep | Us, or careful DIY |
| Crack with one side higher | Lift, then seal | Us |
| Open control or expansion joints | Backer rod and sealant | Us, or careful DIY |
| Gap where the slab meets the house | Lift if tipped, then caulk | Us |
| Oil, rust, mildew, or organic stains | Cleaning | Us, or DIY for light stains |
| Weathered outdoor concrete that sees salt | Clean, then a penetrating sealer | Us |
| Light surface scaling | Penetrating sealer to protect what's left | Us |
| Heavy scaling or crumbling | Resurfacing or replacement | Another concrete contractor |
| Worn, stained, or pitted garage floor | Garage floor coating | Us |
| Concrete broken into many pieces | Replacement | A replacement contractor |
| Small lip on an otherwise level walk | Grinding | Another contractor |
| Plastic AC pad leaning | Re-level on gravel | HVAC tech |
| Cracked or bowing foundation wall | Evaluation and repair | Structural engineer or foundation contractor |
| Water pooling against the house | Downspouts, grading, lift tipped slabs | You, then us |
When to Do What in Wisconsin
| Job | Best window around Green Bay | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Foam lifting | Spring thaw to freeze-up, once the frost is out | Frozen ground sits differently than thawed ground. No lifting on frozen soil. |
| Joint and crack caulking | Dry days around 40°F and up; late summer and early fall are ideal | Sealant needs clean, dry, frost-free joints, and you want them closed before winter |
| Cleaning | Spring, after the salt season | Washes off winter's salt and grit, and has to happen before sealing |
| Penetrating sealer | Late summer to early fall, on dry days inside the label's temperature range | Protection is in place before the salt trucks come out |
| Garage floor coatings | Late spring to early fall in an unheated garage | Many systems want the slab around 50°F or warmer and several degrees above the dew point |
| Downspouts and grading | Any time the ground isn't frozen, and before the snow at the latest | The spring melt is when soil next to the house takes its hardest soak |
Brand-new concrete needs to cure before it's sealed or coated. Around 28 days is the common starting point on product labels, and coatings also need a moisture check.
If you want several jobs done in one visit, the usual order is: clean, let it dry, lift, patch the holes, caulk the joints, then seal once the caulk has cured.
What We Don't Do
We'd rather send you to the right trade than sell you the wrong fix. We don't do:
- Tear-out and replacement, or pouring new concrete over old
- Mudjacking. We lift with foam only.
- Grinding trip edges
- Resurfacing or overlays
- Foundation repair of any kind
And no lifting method can lower a slab that's been pushed up. If yours rose, we'll tell you what your real options are.