Cracked, sunken or worn concrete can usually be saved without breaking it out. We lift and level slabs that have dropped, fill and seal cracks before water opens them wider, and resurface tired concrete so the top reads as new while the structural slab underneath stays where it is. That covers the driveway panel that sank at a joint, the patio that now tips toward the back door, and the walkway with a lip that catches a toe. Most of our work here is residential, and we handle commercial surfaces the same way.
Every job starts on site, not over the phone. Pacolet soil, which is well drained, is the dominant type in Gwinnett County, but it varies across the county, so we test each site individually before any work starts. What we find decides the repair. A slab with a sound base under it can often be leveled and resurfaced. One with a failed base may need a section cut out and replaced with fresh concrete and proper reinforcement. We explain which one you have, and why, before any material goes down.
Repairs fail for predictable reasons. A patch that never bonded to the old concrete lifts off. A resurfacing coat laid over a moving crack cracks again along the same line. A leveled slab with an open joint beside it lets water back underneath, and with about 55 inches of rain a year, water will find that joint. Getting it right costs time more than anything else: cleaning and preparing the old surface properly, sealing the joints, and letting materials cure before anyone drives on them. Call for a free estimate on your driveway, patio or walkway.
The price of a slab comes down to what sits under it and what will sit on it. A shed pad on firm ground needs less base, steel and labor than a garage floor that carries a truck. Access counts too, since a pour we can chute straight from the mixer goes faster than one we pump across a yard. Pacolet soil drains well across much of Gwinnett County, but it varies, so we test every site and write the estimate from what we find.
A driveway fails from the bottom up, so we start with the base. We strip the topsoil, compact graded stone in lifts, and set forms with enough pitch to carry water away from the garage. Rebar or wire mesh goes in on chairs so the steel sits inside the slab, not in the dirt beneath it. Control joints are cut the same day, spaced to the width of the drive. The finish is your call: broom, exposed aggregate or stamped.
Interior floors need different care than anything poured outside. Under a garage or basement floor we lay a vapor barrier over compacted stone, so ground moisture stays out of whatever you store or install on top. The slab is power troweled for a hard, flat surface. Then it cures under cover, because concrete that dries too fast will curl at the joints. For finished rooms we can grind and seal the surface, or leave it flat and ready for tile.
A cracked slab usually points to water underneath, a base that was never compacted, or missing control joints. This area gets about 55" of rain a year, and a downspout emptying at the edge of a patio will wash out fill faster than most people expect. We find the cause before we touch the concrete. Then we choose between routing and sealing the crack, lifting and leveling the sunken section, or cutting it out and repouring on a proper base.
Walks look simple, which is exactly why so many of them heave or settle. We dig out roots and soft fill, compact a stone base, and pour with a slight cross slope so rain runs off the side instead of pooling. Tooled joints go in at even intervals, so any crack falls in a straight line where it belongs. Where the walk meets the driveway or the steps, we set an expansion joint so each piece can move on its own.
Most cracked or sunken concrete does not need to come out. A driveway that has dropped an inch at the garage, a patio with a crack running across it, a walkway gone rough and flaky on top: these are usually repair, leveling or resurfacing jobs, not tear-outs. We look at the slab first and tell you which one it is. If the surface can be saved, we save it. If the base underneath has failed, we say so plainly, because a fresh top layer over a bad base only buys a year or two.
Gwinnett County ground is mostly Pacolet soil, which drains well, but it changes from one lot to the next. That is why every site gets tested before work starts, including every driveway and patio in Snellville. Water is the other thing we plan around. The area sees about 55 inches of rain a year, and a lot of settling and undermining comes down to water running where it should not. So before we lift a sunken slab or resurface a tired one, we find out where the water goes and deal with that too. Otherwise the same crack comes back.
Where concrete repair goes wrong is usually in the rush. Patch material troweled into a crack that is still moving. A thin overlay laid on a dirty or weak surface. A leveled slab with nothing done about the void beneath it. Each one looks fine for a season, then lets go. Getting it right takes proper surface prep, materials matched to the conditions, and the patience to let the work cure before anyone drives on it. That is how we handle residential and commercial property alike. Call for a free estimate on your driveway, patio or slab.
We start by walking the property and reading what the old concrete shows. Hairline shrinkage cracks mean something different from a slab that has dropped at a corner, and resurfacing over a base that is still moving only buys a season. Pacolet soil, which drains well, is the county's dominant type, but it varies from lot to lot, so every site is tested individually before work starts. We also check drainage, downspouts and grade before anyone talks about a fix.
Most slab failures start underneath. For replacement work we cut out the broken concrete, dig out soft or organic material, and compact the subgrade in lifts with a plate compactor. A crushed stone base goes on top, compacted again and graded so water runs away from the house. Resurfacing needs its own prep: pressure washing, grinding off old sealer and paint, and cutting out loose patches so the overlay bonds to sound concrete rather than to dirt.
Forms set the finished height, the slope and the edge line, so we string them and check the pitch before any concrete is ordered. Driveways and patios get steel reinforcement: rebar tied in a grid or welded wire mesh, set on chairs so it sits in the middle of the slab instead of the dirt. Mesh that gets stepped into the base does nothing. Where new concrete meets an old slab, we drill and dowel so the two sections stay level with each other.
Ready-mix is on a clock from the moment it is batched, so the crew, screeds and pump or wheelbarrows are in place before the truck backs in. We place concrete close to where it ends up instead of dragging it across the forms, because raking wet concrete a long way separates the stone from the paste. Adding water at the chute makes it easier to spread and weaker once it cures. We don't do it.
Screeding strikes the surface flat to the forms, and a bull float closes it up. Then we wait. Troweling while bleed water is still on top traps it under a thin, weak skin that flakes off later, and it is the most common reason a new driveway scales. Once the sheen is gone we cut edges, tool control joints and apply the finish: a broom texture for traction on driveways and walks, or color and stamped patterns for decorative patios.
Concrete gains strength as long as it holds water, so the days after a pour matter as much as the pour. We keep the slab damp or spray on a curing compound so the surface does not dry out ahead of the core. Average highs here sit around 72°F and the area gets about 55 inches of rain a year, so we watch the forecast around every pour, because hard rain on green concrete pits the finish. Traffic stays off until the slab can carry it.
Sealer goes on only after the slab has cured and dried, because sealing too early traps moisture and leaves the surface cloudy. Broom-finished driveways get a penetrating silane or siloxane sealer that keeps out water and oil without changing the look. Stamped and colored work usually gets an acrylic that deepens the color and adds some sheen. Neither lasts forever. Resealing before the surface starts soaking up water costs far less than resurfacing it later.
Most of the concrete we fix in Snellville falls into one of three systems, and each one answers a different problem. Leveling lifts a sunken slab back to grade by filling the void that opened up beneath it. Resurfacing bonds a thin polymer-modified overlay to a sound surface that has scaled, stained or worn smooth. Repair covers the rest: cracks routed and filled, broken edges rebuilt, and sections cut out and poured new with fresh reinforcement where the old slab cannot be saved.
The materials follow the conditions we find on the property, not the other way round. Pacolet soil, the well drained type most common in Gwinnett County, is where we expect to start, but it varies across the county, so every site is tested before we choose a method or a mix. That test tells us whether a driveway needs lifting, a patch or a replacement section. Decorative and stamped patios get an overlay matched to the pattern and color already there.
Water is behind most of the failures we see. The area takes about 55 inches of rain a year, and runoff that finds an open crack or joint will carry fine material out from under a slab until it drops. An overlay laid over a slab that is still moving cracks again along the same line. So does a patch that never bonded. Shortcuts on prep tend to show up as the same problem, back in the same spot.
Getting it right costs time more than anything else. Joints are cleaned out and sealed, the old surface is ground or washed until the new material has something to grip, and voids are filled before anything goes on top. Cure times are not negotiable, even when the forecast looks good. On residential driveways and commercial walkways alike, that preparation is most of the job. The finished surface is the short part, and it only holds as well as the work underneath it.