Start here
Start with what you can see
You do not need to know what it is called. Pick whichever of these sounds most like your situation and we will point you at the part of the site that helps — along with the one thing worth doing before anybody comes out.
Picking one of these tells us nothing about your concrete and tells you nothing either. It is a way of finding the right page, in the same way a menu is. Nothing here asks for your details.
I have found a crack
A line in the surface, anywhere from barely visible to wide enough to see into. It may run straight, wander, or follow a groove that was cut into the slab.
What this could involve
- shrinkage as the concrete cured, which happens without anything moving
- movement in the ground beneath
- a control joint doing exactly what it was cut to do
- restraint, temperature cycling or loading
What picking this does not establish
Nothing about the cause, and nothing about severity. Width is the thing homeowners judge by and it is close to the least informative property a crack has.
Best next step
Work through the crack assessment
It asks what the crack is doing rather than how wide it is, which is the question that actually separates the cases.
If your situation is a little different
- Read about cracked concrete — If you would rather read than answer questions.
- Is it a crack or a joint? — A crack running neatly along a straight groove is usually the joint working.
- What gets concluded too early — “A crack means settlement” is the most common leap, and it is often wrong.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Draw a line across it, write today's date beside it, and photograph it with a coin or tape in frame. Repeat in a few months. That answers a question no single photograph can.
The concrete is uneven or sinking
One slab sits lower or higher than the next, a corner has dropped, or the surface tilts in a way it did not used to. There may be a step you can catch a foot on.
What this could involve
- the ground beneath compressing or washing away
- a void under the slab leaving it unsupported
- the slab curling upward at its edges as it dried
- something pushing up from below, including roots or freezing ground
What picking this does not establish
Whether the concrete needs replacing. Unevenness describes where the slab sits; replacement addresses what the slab is. Those are separate questions and they frequently have different answers.
Best next step
See which options your situation rules out
Ten questions about what you can see, and a reasoned starting point rather than a recommendation.
If your situation is a little different
- Read about uneven concrete — The background, including why lifting is sometimes possible and sometimes not.
- Compare the lifting approaches — If somebody has already proposed a method and you want to know the trade-offs.
- If it is mainly a trip hazard — Removing the hazard and correcting the level are different pieces of work.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Lay something rigid and straight across the step and photograph the gap underneath, with a tape or coin in frame for scale.
Water is pooling on it or running the wrong way
Water sits on the surface after rain, runs toward the house rather than away, or the area stays damp long after everywhere else has dried.
What this could involve
- the fall of the ground around the slab
- where downspouts and irrigation actually discharge
- the slab having settled so that it now drains the wrong way
- something not weather-related at all, including a supply leak
What picking this does not establish
That the concrete is the problem. Water arrives somewhere because of where it is directed and how the ground falls, both of which are upstream of the slab.
Best next step
Read about drainage and concrete
It sets out the chain — where water comes from, where it goes, and where the slab sits in that sequence.
If your situation is a little different
- How water actually damages concrete — The mechanisms, including the ones that only operate where it freezes.
- Working out where the water comes from — This is one you can largely establish yourself.
- What to record before anybody visits — Photographs taken during rain are worth more than any description.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Go out during heavy rain and watch. Photograph where water pools, where it runs and where every downspout discharges. This is the single most useful thing most owners can do.
The surface is flaking, pitting or breaking up
The top layer is coming away, there are pits or shallow craters, or the surface has gone rough and dusty where it used to be smooth.
What this could involve
- repeated freezing while the surface is wet
- de-icing salts
- how the surface was finished when it was placed
- a coating or sealer that has failed
What picking this does not establish
How deep it goes, which is the question that decides everything else. A large area of shallow loss frequently matters less than a small patch that goes through.
Best next step
Read about surface deterioration
Including the difference between spalling and scaling, which sound similar and are not.
If your situation is a little different
- If it is thin flaking rather than chunks — Different mechanism, different remedy.
- Whether a new surface would fix it — It depends entirely on what is happening below the bond line.
- Spalling or scaling? — Two proposals using different words may be describing different conditions.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Where material has already come away, photograph the exposed edge so the depth is visible. Do not chip at sound concrete to find out.
A previous repair is not holding
Something was done before — a patch, a lift, a resurfacing — and the problem has come back, or the repair itself is coming apart.
What this could involve
- the underlying cause never having been addressed
- the cause still being active, so any correction gets undone
- the method having been the wrong fit for the situation
- the repair having reached the end of what it was ever going to do
What picking this does not establish
Whose fault it was. A repair that did not hold is evidence about the cause, and that is far more useful to you than a verdict on the last contractor.
Best next step
A failed repair usually means something was concluded before it was established. This is where to look for what.
If your situation is a little different
- Repair or replace, second time round — The calculation is different when one attempt has already been made.
- How to weigh the next recommendation — Ask what would change their mind. The answer tells you more than the recommendation.
- What to record this time — Find the old paperwork. It is genuinely useful information.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Any invoice or description of what was done before, and photographs of the patched area. If it did not hold, say so — it is evidence, not an embarrassment.
I have estimates that recommend different things
Two or three contractors have been out and come back with proposals that differ in method, in scope, in price, or in all three.
What this could involve
- the proposals not describing the same work at all
- a genuine disagreement where the evidence is genuinely mixed
- different assumptions about what is under the slab
- one proposal including removal, base preparation or restoration that another leaves out
What picking this does not establish
Which one is right. We will not tell you a bid is high or low, name a winner, or estimate a fair price — and a site that offered to do that from here would be guessing.
Best next step
Compare them scope item by scope item
Two proposals differing by a large amount usually differ in what is included. This is where that becomes visible.
If your situation is a little different
- Work through one proposal first — If one of them is vague, decode it before comparing.
- Why experienced people disagree — Some of these disagreements are honest and the deciding factor is at your property.
- Make them genuinely comparable — A printable checklist to run each proposal through.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Ask each contractor what would have to be true for them to change their recommendation. Write the answers down — they distinguish the proposals better than the prices do.
Somebody is coming to look at it
A visit is booked, or you are about to book one, and you want it to be worth having rather than a five-minute walk-around and a number.
What this could involve
- what you can establish yourself beforehand
- which questions separate a good answer from a confident one
- what should never be guaranteed to you
- how to get scope in writing rather than just a total
What picking this does not establish
Anything about your concrete. This is preparation, and preparation is the part of the process most within your control.
Best next step
Work through the preparation checklist
What to photograph, what to measure, what to ask, and what nobody should be promising you. It prints.
If your situation is a little different
- How to judge who is standing in front of you — Fourteen checkpoints and what a weak answer to each sounds like.
- Keep it all in one place — Stays in your browser, prints a summary to have in hand.
- The questions themselves — If you only want the list.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Everything on the checklist, but if you do only one thing: photograph the whole area wide, then the detail, with something in frame for scale.
I do not know what I am looking at
Something has changed, or something looks wrong, and none of the descriptions above quite fit. This is a common and entirely reasonable place to be.
What this could involve
- a condition with a name you have not met yet
- something that is not a concrete problem at all
- several things at once, which is more usual than people expect
- something that has been like that for years and only just got noticed
What picking this does not establish
Anything. Not knowing is a starting point rather than a failure, and it is a better one than a confident wrong guess.
Best next step
Browse conditions by what you can see
Every symptom we cover, with what seeing it does and does not settle, organised so you can scan for a match.
If your situation is a little different
- Look up a word somebody used — If you have heard a term and want to know what it means.
- Record it properly first — Good photographs narrow things considerably, even when you cannot name it.
- What can and cannot be worked out from here — Worth reading before you spend long looking.
Worth doing before anybody visits: Photograph it wide and close, from a low angle as well as from standing height, with something in frame for scale. Note when you first noticed it.
What this page is, and what it is not
It is navigation. Every link above goes to a page that already exists, and choosing a situation changes nothing except which links are in front of you. Nothing is recorded, nothing is submitted, and you can pick a different one at any point.
It is not an assessment, and completing it does not produce anything resembling an inspection. Of the 20 pieces of information a conclusion about concrete tends to turn on, 18 are within your reach and 2 require somebody on site — and no amount of navigating changes that split. What we cannot tell you from here sets out the boundary in full.
Why this matters
Because the hardest part of this subject is the first ten minutes, when you have noticed something and do not yet know which word to search for. Everything after that gets easier.
What homeowners commonly misunderstand about this
- That picking the wrong one costs something. It does not. Read two, or all eight. They overlap on purpose.
- That the site can narrow it further with more questions. Beyond a point it cannot, and the questions would be theatre. What narrows it further is somebody establishing things at your property.
- That “I do not know” is the weak answer. It is a better starting point than a confident wrong guess, and it has its own section above.
Questions to ask next
- Which of the things worth recording can I do this weekend?
- Has this changed since I first noticed it, and do I have anything dated that would show it?
- Am I trying to establish what it is, or decide what to do about something I already understand?
Information still needed
Everything specific to your property. This page moves you to the right reading; it establishes nothing about your concrete and is not designed to.
When you are ready, we will help connect you with a contractor who can evaluate your specific situation — and we will say plainly if we cannot cover your area.