Concrete leveling in St. Louis costs $500–$2,500 for most driveways, patios, and walks — roughly a third of replacement. Metro clay shrinks in dry years and opens voids under slabs; leveling refills the bed through coin-size holes and floats the concrete back to grade the same day.
Why metro flatwork sinks, how a lift works, and the trip-hazard list worth walking your own property for.
Your concrete didn't fail. Its bed did.
Slabs sink in St. Louis for the same reasons foundations settle, at smaller scale: backfilled soil along the house compacting for a decade after the builder left, shrink-swell clay opening gaps in drought, and roof water flushing fines out from under edges and joints. The slab bridges the void until it can't, then cracks or tips. Replacement pours new concrete on the same failed bed — leveling fixes the bed itself.
The lift, in an afternoon
- Drill — penny-to-quarter-size ports through the slab, placed along the sunken section
- Inject — expanding polyurethane foam (or cement slurry where suited) fills the void and lifts with control, an eighth of an inch at a time
- Restore — ports patched, joints caulked against future washout, slab back in service within hours
| Fix | Cost | Downtime | Bed problem solved? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leveling | $500–$2,500 | Hours | Yes — void filled, washout sealed |
| Replacement | $2,500–$8,000+ | Days plus cure | No — new slab, same bed |
| Ignoring it | Free, briefly | — | Void grows; trip hazard compounds |
The same physics as foundation repair, at slab scale
A sunken driveway and a settled footing are the same event at different weights: soil under a load quit. That's why slab calls are worth a foundation glance while the crew is on site — a patio tipping toward the house is watering the foundation's backfill, a garage slab dropping at the shared footing line sometimes reports real settlement, and the downspout that emptied the slab's bed is usually aimed at the basement wall too. The evaluation prices the lift and flags anything structural, and most days the good news is it's just the slab.
Walk your own hazard list
The usual metro suspects: the driveway slab at the garage apron, the front walk's middle sections, patio slabs tipping toward the house (and sending water at the foundation — worth fixing for drainage reasons alone), and the stoop separating from the door sill. An edge higher than a shoe sole is a lawsuit doing stretches. Photograph what you find, and the evaluation prices each slab separately so you can triage.
Concrete leveling questions, straight answers
What does concrete leveling cost in St. Louis?
Most driveway, patio, and walk lifts run $500-$2,500 — typically a third to half of replacement cost, finished in hours instead of days, with the slab usable the same day on foam lifts.
Why did my driveway sink in the first place?
The fill under it moved. Builder backfill along foundations settles for years; metro clay shrinks in droughts and opens voids; downspouts wash fines out from under slab edges. The slab is fine — its bed quit. Leveling refills the bed and floats the slab back.
Mudjacking or foam — which lift?
Polyurethane foam wins most residential work: small drill holes, light weight on questionable soil, cured in minutes. Mud (a cement slurry) still suits some heavy slabs and big voids at lower material cost. We quote whichever the slab and its soil call for.
Is a sunken slab ever a foundation warning?
Sometimes — direction matters. A walk settling toward the street is fill doing fill things. A garage slab or stoop sinking toward the house can mean water is working on the foundation's own backfill, and we look harder at grading and the basement while we're there. The evaluation covers it either way.
How long does a lift last?
As long as the water stays managed. The lift itself is stable — foam doesn't wash out or shrink — so longevity rides on fixing what emptied the bed: downspouts moved, joints caulked, grade corrected. Those items ship with the quote.
Get a free St. Louis foundation evaluation
Tell us what the house is doing — cracks, bowing, sticking doors, sloping floors — and we'll schedule an evaluation with photos and crack measurements. We reply the same business day.