Lift and Level a Concrete Sidewalk...Yourself!

A clever way to raise a sunken sidewalk pad. Using this method, you could even accomplish this yourself using basic tools.

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[JWolf]

Wow, thank-you so much for this. I just had this argument the other day with my dad about a sidewalk block in front of our house. He insisted we couldn't raise it ourself and that new cement had to be poured under it. I told him you can just use sand and gravel and he insisted I was wrong. You saved me a future trip to the ER and several broken tools because my stubborn butt was considering using a cement block and prying it up (which surely would've snapped the tool and hit me) just to prove to him I was right. Being a single mom I've had to learn to do many things without anyone's help with someone in the background yelling, "you can't do that!" but I'm forever grateful for your help on this one and proving them wrong!

[jcarrier]

I used this technic to level my side walk. I had most everything in my shed. Went to harbor freight and picked up a couple things I needed. Was waiting for. the “ what did I get into” moment. It never came. Looked at these crooked side walks for over fifteen years. Thanks for making this easy.

[Wingsnthings]

Thanks for making life easier for skateboarders. Most people make life as hard as possible for us.

[cad]

Thank you for the helpful advice and solution to my problem! I have the very same situation in my sidewalks, and now I can’t eliminate the issue easily!👏👏👏😁

[davidshettlesworth]

Thank you for a very informative video. I agree, the use of gravel to back fill the void is much smarter choice than some fancy foam or drilling the slabs. I learned a lot!

[wadepowell]

Thanks for the idea. Worked great. Saved me knocking out two slabs. I had to modify things a bit because my slabs had sunken significantly more to one side. I used a single c-clamp and a 4 x 4 across the sunken corner and it worked like a charm.

[thetredog]

Dude! You are a legend. Not once did this technique come up in my searches to help with my garden path. I can’t believe I didn’t think this option through. I won’t even need to buy any more equipment.

[williewonka]

Nice video on a low cost self-service solution. Have an old out building with a cracked and sunken floor that I might be able to improve using similar techniques.

[kaylahevans]

This is so helpful! Hubby and I just bought our first home and there is a small path where the sidewalk is unlevel. Can't wait to fix it!

[dontaft]

best repair I've seen. Will save me big

[alfkey]

WOW !!! Glad I found you, as it happens I have a concrete garden path, not sunk, but the garden soil as built up over the years, ( mulching, adding compost ) now it's about 5 inches above the path, previously a vegetable garden, I used boards to keep the soil off the path, now the grandkids need a lawn, for the swing, trampoline and for football sorry "soccer", and make it easier for mowing, ,. Thank you, Regards Alf . PS got to find some car Jack's

[marrowsteven]

Pretty cool idea Alley Picked! I was just online searching companies that do this. I will now tackle it myself. I have all these materials on hand so this just may be a FREE FIX. Thank you for the MONEY SAVING tip.

Also I'd like to ad a valuable piece of advice here; If you are having new sidewalk installed or considering doing it yourself, Do NOT cut the relief lines too deep. In my case I had a company do mine. It's 40 feet long. The sidewalk is 2.5 inches thick. They cut 1 inch deep lines rendering the sidewalk only 1.5 thick. They did not pack or put a base under before pouring. You never pour concrete on soft dirt. Hence my sidewalk doing the walking. My next project will be done by me.

[amazonkee]

Thank you so much!! What a great idea. I need to do this near my front porch.

[mrs]

Very cool to watch thank you for the upload and narration

[amberjay]

This is so great! I need to do this for my brick walkway, but I don’t have a helper or car jacks or any of that material really. I do have a car Jack that you twist!

[flannelguydiy]

Just a word of caution (learned from experience), if you leave any cavities at all beneath the slabs, you will likely end up with a bee's nest down there.

[fat_head_Carl]

Cool video, it's important to note: never trust a hydraulic jack with your safety. Always use stands under any load.
A seal could go at any time, letting the load fall.

[daoudbinbek]

I never considered using C-clamps, how smart

[MarkMcCluney]

Ouch! That looks like actual work! Good vid mate, thanks.

[williamtucker]

Excellent video.
I'm going to tackle a well curb which has sunk on one side. Curb is cracked all the way through in 3 places so I think this method will work.