Concrete Repair · Problem Signs · Since 1994

Level Every Uneven Concrete Slab On Your Property In One Visit

Epp Foundation Repair has leveled exterior slabs across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri since 1994. Driveways, sidewalks, patios, garage floors, and pool decks restored in a single mobilization.

Let's take the first step toward a healthy home.

A local specialist will inspect your foundation, walk you through the findings, and send a clear estimate. no cost, no pressure.

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Fully Insured

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What this symptom means

Uneven Concrete Slabs: diagnosed and explained.

Epp Foundation Repair treats uneven concrete slabs as the catch-all diagnostic category for any exterior flatwork that has moved differentially from its original elevation. Roughly 2,400 uneven slab inspections per year split across driveways at 38%, sidewalks at 31%, patios at 14%, garage floors at 11%, and pool decks at 6%. Dave Epp's technicians measure differentials in 1/8 inch increments using laser levels, and the median residential project lifts 3 to 5 slab sections back into elevation through 90 minutes of polyurethane foam injection. The slab itself is salvageable on roughly 91% of inspections. The underlying support failed, not the concrete.

Uneven Concrete Slabs diagnosed by Epp Foundation Repair

Catch It Early

Why Uneven Slabs Become More Expensive Every Year You Wait

Early warning signs of uneven concrete slabs on a Midwest home

Visible Vertical Differential Between Adjacent Panels

Any vertical step you can feel underfoot or roll a stroller across is a trip hazard exceeding 1/4 inch. Once differentials reach 1/2 inch they meet most NE/IA municipal trip-hazard codes for public sidewalks.

Water Pooling After Rain

A slab pitched away from the home is correct drainage. A slab pitched toward the home or pooling in the middle traps water that freezes into ice in winter and rots the framing it touches.

Diagonal Cracks Through Slab Sections

When a slab panel cracks diagonally across its center, the panel is bending under its own weight as one edge has lost support. Epp Foundation Repair can lift the panel cleanly if the crack remains hairline.

Door Or Gate Drag Against The Slab

A garden gate, garage service door, or french door that suddenly scrapes against a slab that used to clear it tells you the slab moved up. Salt-driven heave and freeze-heave both produce this pattern.

Most Common Causes

What causes uneven concrete slabs in Midwest homes.

Loess And Expansive Clay Soil Behavior

Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri sit on a mix of windblown loess deposits along major river corridors and expansive clays in upland areas. Loess hydroconsolidates 2 to 6 percent of its dry thickness on first deep saturation, dropping anything built on uncompacted loess fill. Expansive clays with plasticity indexes above 30 swing 12 to 15 percent in volume between dry summers and wet springs, fatiguing the slab-soil bond over 10 to 30 years until panels move differentially.

Tree Root Heave

Mature silver maples, cottonwoods, sweetgums, and bur oaks on residential lots across Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City develop root masses that lift slab edges 2 to 5 inches. Epp Foundation Repair identifies root-driven heave on roughly 28% of uneven slab inspections through soil probe testing within 6 feet of the slab edge. Lifting the low side or grinding the high side both work. Dave Epp picks based on rise depth and slab thickness.

Freeze-Thaw Cycling Across Expansion Joints

50 to 80 annual freeze-thaw cycles drive water into expansion joints, freeze it to 9% volumetric expansion, and incrementally lift adjacent panels 1/4 to 3/4 inch per cycle without full return on thaw. Twenty years of cycling compounds to 3 to 6 inches of differential settlement, the most common cause of uneven driveway panels in homes built between 1965 and 1995.

Salt Erosion Of Subgrade Fines

Sodium chloride and magnesium chloride de-icers applied to driveways and sidewalks across the four-state region carry into the subgrade through any joint or crack. The salt-laden water dissolves calcium carbonate fines that bind the subgrade matrix, washing them out over 10 to 20 winters. The result is a void below the slab that drops 1 to 3 inches under load. This is the dominant settlement mechanism on slabs from 1980s and later when chemical de-icers replaced sand.

Plumbing Leak Voids And Downspout Erosion

Buried supply lines, irrigation manifolds, and roof drainage discharging too close to slab edges erode 1/2 to 3 cubic feet of fines per year out from under exterior flatwork. Dave Epp documents plumbing or drainage as the root cause on roughly 18% of uneven slab inspections. The homeowner corrects the water source first, otherwise the lift undoes itself within 12 to 36 months.

Underlying cause of uneven concrete slabs in Midwest homes

Permanent Solutions

How concrete repair specialists actually fix uneven concrete slabs.

Solving uneven concrete slabs means addressing the underlying soil, pressure, or settlement cause. Not just patching the visible damage. Below are the engineered solutions we install most often for this symptom in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri homes.

Concrete Repair solutions

Engineered concrete repair solutions for this problem.

Each method is matched to a specific failure mode and soil profile. Browse the toolkit we draw from when diagnosing your home.

Polyurethane Foam Injection

Epp Foundation Repair has injected closed-cell structural foam beneath driveways, sidewalks, garage floors, and pool decks across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri since 1994. The slab lifts. The void fills. The work finishes in a single day.

Polyjacking

Epp Foundation Repair has installed polyurethane foam slab lift. Whether the contractor calls it polyjacking, foam jacking, or poly lift. Across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri since 1994. Same closed-cell foam. Same 5-year warranty.

Mudjacking

Epp Foundation Repair has mudjacked driveways, sidewalks, patios, and garage floors across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri since 1994. For budget-sensitive jobs and large-volume void fills, the traditional slurry method still earns its place.

Regional Context

Why concrete fails differently in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri

Loess soils consolidate under slabs after the first deep water exposure. Expansive clay heaves and contracts seasonally. Salt damage from 60+ freeze-thaw cycles per winter accelerates surface failure. Generic concrete repair ignores the soil under the slab, which is why settled concrete returns within a season or two. Regional repair starts with the cause underneath, not the crack on top.

36 to 42"

Frost penetration depth

Eastern Nebraska average

60 to 80

Freeze-thaw cycles / year

Lincoln to Omaha corridor

35 to 40"

Annual precipitation

NE / IA service region

30+

Years of regional inspections

30,000+ homes assessed

Loess soils and the crack patterns they produce

Most of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa sits on wind-deposited loess. a fine, silty soil 10 to 200+ feet deep. Loess holds its structure when dry but loses cohesion rapidly when saturated. After a wet spring, saturated loess expands against foundation walls. After a dry Nebraska summer, it contracts. pulling away from footings, creating voids beneath slabs, and producing the vertical and diagonal settlement cracks we see most frequently on the Lincoln, Omaha, Council Bluffs corridor.

The Marshall and Sharpsburg loess series. dominant across the eastern Nebraska service area. are particularly prone to this cyclical volume change. Homes built in the 1960s, 1980s on uncompacted loess backfill show the highest incidence of progressive settlement cracking in our inspection data.

Frost depth, freeze-thaw cycles, and horizontal cracking

Eastern Nebraska's 36, 42" frost penetration depth means the soil below grade freezes and thaws 60, 80 times per year. Each cycle applies lateral pressure to basement walls. A wall that holds through ten cycles can fail in the eleventh if drainage has worsened, backfill has settled, or the wall was already at capacity. Horizontal cracks near the soil grade line are almost always a freeze-thaw story in this region.

In eastern Kansas, expansive clay pockets near the surface introduce a different failure mode . consistent volume change regardless of frost depth. Horizontal cracking in Kansas foundations typically traces to clay expansion; the same pattern in Nebraska more often indicates frost-driven hydrostatic pressure.

"After 30 years on these slabs, I've learned the concrete almost never failed. The dirt under it did. Loess collapses. Clay swings 15%. Salt washes out the fines. Foam goes under the slab and replaces what the soil lost. The slab is fine. We just give it back its support."

Dave Epp

President, Epp Foundation Repair

Why Choose Epp

Care and expertise from a team that's been doing this since 1994.

Epp Foundation Repair is locally owned and operated, with crews dedicated exclusively to foundation, basement, and concrete work across the Midwest.

Specialized expertise.

Foundation repair, waterproofing, and concrete leveling are our entire focus. not a sideline.

Locally owned since 1994.

Three decades of experience with Midwest soils, basements, and weather conditions.

BBB Integrity Award winner.

Recognized in 2011 and 2016 for ethical business practices and customer transparency.

Warrantied solutions.

Most product solutions carry 10 to 25-year warranties backed by the original installer.

EPP · SINCE 1994

Why hire Epp Foundation Repair.

MEET THE TEAM · 2 MIN

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common questions about Uneven Concrete Slabs.

Don't see your question here? Our team is happy to help. Reach out anytime.

Uneven slabs are moderately serious. They create trip hazards that produce homeowner liability when guests fall, they trap water that freezes into ice and rots framing, and they accelerate freeze-thaw damage as joints open and admit more water. Structurally the slab itself is independent from the house in 98% of residential cases, but the secondary damage from ignored settlement compounds over time. Epp Foundation Repair recommends lifting any slab with 1/2 inch or greater differential within the same season the homeowner notices it.

Epp Foundation Repair typically prices uneven slab leveling at $5 to $25 per square foot of treated area, with most residential projects falling between $800 and $5,000 total. A single sidewalk panel runs $300 to $600. A driveway with 4 to 6 settled sections runs $1,500 to $3,500. A full patio re-leveling runs $1,200 to $4,000. The written estimate after on-site inspection reflects your scope, slab dimensions, void depth, and access conditions.

Epp Foundation Repair does not pour new concrete and does not perform full slab replacement. When inspection shows a slab fragmented through more than 50% of its area, with debonded sections, or with cracks wider than 1/4 inch, Epp writes a referral to a licensed flatwork contractor and the homeowner coordinates that work separately. The honest scope keeps Epp focused on lifting salvageable concrete, which is what we do best and where we add the most value.

Water source remediation depends on the source. Downspout extension and grading adjustments are simple homeowner tasks Epp recommends. Buried supply line leaks require a licensed plumber. Irrigation system leaks require an irrigation contractor. Dave Epp's technician identifies the source on the inspection visit and lists exactly what needs to happen before Epp returns to lift. Epp does not perform plumbing repair, irrigation repair, or excavation for water source diagnosis.

Closed-cell polyurethane foam is hydrophobic, does not absorb moisture, and is not subject to freeze-thaw degradation. Epp Foundation Repair tracks over 14,000 slab lifts performed since 2008 across the four-state region, and the foam component itself shows no measurable loss of compressive strength after 18 years. The 5-year written warranty covers re-settlement of the slab. The variable is whether the homeowner addressed the original water source. Uncorrected water sources re-erode any fill within 12 to 36 months.

Yes. Epp Foundation Repair lifts pool deck slabs frequently across the Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City markets. The work requires extra care around the pool shell and skimmer lines, so Dave Epp uses lower injection pressures (150 to 250 PSI) and drills on a tighter 12 to 18 inch grid to control lift precision. Pool deck pricing runs $8 to $30 per square foot depending on slab thickness and proximity to the pool wall.

Pricing ranges above are general estimates only and are not project quotes. A precise figure is provided on each written estimate after on-site inspection.

Other concrete repair warning signs to watch for.

If you see one, it's worth checking for the others. Most foundation problems show up as more than one symptom.

Concrete Cracks Diagnosed and Repaired

Epp Foundation Repair diagnoses exterior concrete cracks on driveways, sidewalks, patios, garage floors, and pool decks across a four-state territory covering more than 130,000 square miles. Dave Epp founded the company in 1994, and after 30-plus years reading slabs, the field rule holds: roughly 70 percent of widening exterior cracks trace back to subgrade movement, not the concrete itself. A hairline crack 1/16 inch wide that has not moved in two years is almost always shrinkage from the original cure. A 1/4-inch crack with one side dropped lower than the other is a settlement signal, and the slab is telling you the dirt under it is gone or going.

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Cracking Expansion Joints

Expansion joints are the soft filler strips set between concrete sections so the slabs can move without crushing into each other. Concrete expands in summer heat and contracts in winter cold, and across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa that swing happens through 50 to 70 freeze-thaw cycles every year. Each cycle works the joint a little harder. The filler dries out, shrinks, and eventually cracks or falls out. Once the joint opens, water runs straight down into the soil under the slab. That soil is often expansive clay or loess, which swells when wet and shrinks when dry, so the very water the joint was meant to keep out starts moving the slab from below. A cracked joint by itself is rarely a structural emergency. The reason to act is what follows: open joints feed water under the concrete, and water under concrete in this region is the leading cause of settlement, lifting, and slab separation. Sealing or replacing a joint early is a low-cost step. Waiting until the slab has settled or heaved turns it into a leveling or replacement job.

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Gaps Between Concrete Slabs and Walls

Gaps form between concrete slabs and walls when the soil under the slab settles and the slab drops with it, while the wall or the next slab stays in place. Across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri the soil doing the settling is usually expansive clay or loess, which compacts and shrinks as it dries and washes out where drainage is poor. A patio pulling away from the house, a garage floor separating from the foundation wall, or concrete steps leaning back from the porch are all the same story: the slab has lost support underneath. The reason to take an early gap seriously is water. An open gap is a funnel. Every rain and snowmelt pours water straight into the soil beneath the slab and, where the gap is against the house, down along the foundation wall. That water accelerates the very settlement that opened the gap, and near the foundation it can find its way toward the basement or crawl space. The 50 to 70 freeze-thaw cycles this region sees each year widen the gap as trapped water freezes and expands. Sealing a thin gap is simple. A wide gap with a settled slab needs the slab lifted and the void filled before sealing makes sense.

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Pitting, Flaking, and Staining on Exterior Concrete

Epp Foundation Repair inspects surface deterioration on driveways, sidewalks, patios, garage aprons, and pool decks throughout a four-state territory where winter de-icing salt and 50 to 110 annual freeze-thaw cycles are the dominant accelerator of concrete surface failure. Dave Epp founded the company in 1994. After three decades of inspections the pattern holds: 80 percent of pitting and flaking calls we look at are cosmetic. The structural slab beneath is sound, but the 20 percent that reach the reinforcement steel below need a different conversation. We tell you which category yours falls into on the first visit, and we tell you when the right answer is a coating contractor, not us.

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Pool Deck Settling and Tilting Around the Pool

Epp Foundation Repair diagnoses and lifts settled pool decks across a four-state territory where backfill compaction at pool installation rarely meets the 95 percent Proctor standard structural fill requires. Dave Epp founded the company in 1994. In three decades of pool-deck inspections, the pattern is consistent: roughly 85 percent of settling deck calls trace back to poorly compacted backfill around the pool walls. Fill that settles 1 to 4 inches in the first 5 years. The remaining 15 percent involve pool shell movement or expansive clay heave, and those require a different contractor or a different approach. We tell you which one yours is before any work is scoped.

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Sinking Driveways Diagnosed and Lifted Back to Grade

Epp Foundation Repair diagnoses and lifts sinking driveways across a four-state territory dominated by two soil behaviors that account for the majority of driveway settlement: hydroconsolidated loess fill in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, and expansive clay in central Kansas and northern Missouri. Dave Epp founded the company in 1994. In three decades of driveway inspections, the field rule holds: 90 percent of sinking-driveway calls trace back to water reaching the subgrade through a fixable source. A downspout, a broken sprinkler, a low spot in the grade. We walk the water before we scope the lift, and we will not warranty a lift while the water source is still feeding the void.

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Service Areas

Serving Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas & Missouri.

Local crews based in six regional offices, dispatched daily across four states. If your town isn't listed, call us. we likely serve your area.

Top cities we serve

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Our Process

Take the first step toward a healthy home.

A straightforward path from initial inspection to completed repairs.

Step 01

Schedule your inspection.

A local specialist visits your home, evaluates the foundation, and answers your questions on site. No cost, no obligation.

Step 02

Receive an estimate based on your needs.

We provide a clear, written estimate with a scope of work tailored to your home's specific issues. Typically within one business day.

Step 03

Get your repairs.

Our certified crews complete the work on schedule and back it with product warranties of up to 25 years.

Schedule Your Inspection

Customer Reviews

Over 1,750 homeowners have shared their experience.

A 4.9-star average across Google, with verified reviews from homeowners throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.

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Free Estimate

Two ways to start: book instantly, or request an estimate.

Schedule your inspection in seconds with our Driive booking tool, or share a few details and a local specialist will follow up within one business day.

What to expect

A local foundation specialist on site
A complete walk-through of the findings
A written estimate within one business day
No cost, no obligation, no high-pressure sales

Prefer to call

402-423-9192

Nebraska · Iowa · Kansas · MissouriSince 1994

Let's take the first step toward a healthy home.

A local specialist will inspect your foundation, walk you through the findings, and send a clear estimate. no cost, no pressure.

Book instantly with Driive

BBB Accredited

Fully Insured

"By Your Side" Guarantee

From the Blog

Expert guidance on protecting your home.

Practical articles from the Epp team on foundation health, waterproofing, and home preservation.

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Why foundation problems are common in Des Moines homes.

Iowa's expansive clay soils and freeze-thaw cycles are particularly hard on residential foundations. A practical guide to what's happening below grade and why local…

Dave Epp·Feb 18, 2026