Polyurethane Foam
Is it Really Worth the Inflated Price?

Every year we get a new crop of contractors who attend a convention and are sold on the concept of this "new, latest and greatest" product.

Jobs usually fail in a year.
There have been 19 Utah Foam Contractors fail in just the past 14 years in Utah.
Cache County has had 5 companies go out of business in just the past 7 years.
So Why do the Manufacturers push this system?

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Watch this job. See for yourself.

An Actual Foam job.

Does anyone think this lightweight stuff can lift anything heavy? It can insulate but isn't very good at raising.

If you want foam you can save a lot of money at Home Depot with an aerosol can of Great Stuff Insulation. It's the same stuff and a LOT cheaper.

By the way, Critters LOVE this stuff! It's easy to tunnel in and it's soft on their little feet.

Some Failed Foam Jobs

Here are just a few.
In addition to these below, we have multiple other examples coming.

Smithfield Homeowner had Foam done, then following year sunk again. Had them come back but following year sunk again.

It had sunk down nearly three inches even after 2 attempts.
Homeowner had enough, called us.

This is just after our fix. Note the patches haven't cured yet. That was 6 years ago and it's still holding.

Here is a hold we drilled just 7" from one of their holes. Notice NO foam? So much for their 100% void fill claim.

A job in Logan that not only the pad failed, the patches did as well.
We fixed it.

Church in Hyde Park that failed after just one year.
We fixed it.

Another church in Wellsville. Failed after just one year, we fixed it.

Apartment complex in Smithfield, another one year failure. We fixed it.

Another example of their false 100% void fill claim. This hole was 6" from one of theirs. We fixed the problem.

A Church in Ogden. Another failure after just a year, we fixed it.

Homeowner in Logan after one year. Again, we fixed it.

Lower on that driveway, we also fixed.

Homeowners front walk way in Ogden. Note the smaller holes from the Foam, then the larger one for the other MudJacker who really messed it up. We fixed it but couldn't correct those terrible looking patches.

Another Church failure after just a few months. 

A Mud Jacker came in after the foam failure, note that it's already starting to sink again after just a few months.

An HOA in Smithfield had numerous porch landings what were large, solid pads. The foam guys said they couldn't be raised, they were too heavy. They had to be replaced.

No problem. Again, weight is not an issue with our process. We ended up raising 7 of these in this one HOA.

Another 1 year failure. Note the shaving from our drill. We drilled 6" from one of their holes, no foam. Folks, it's doesn't spread out to fill the void which is part of the provlem.

Here is one of several churches where the foam failed. Note that how even on the narrow pieces, like the one at the bottom which is only 12" wide, it failed. That's because the foam deteriorates under the slab.
This job failed after 1 year. Note that our patches haven't cured yet.

Front Sidewalk in Ogden. This was only a few months after the job was done.

Sunk nearly an inch in a few months.
We fixed it and it's now fine.

A Church in Providence. We fixed it.

Section on a Church. This sunk just shy of 2 years. We fixed it.

Another church failure in a little over a year. We fixed it.

Expensive Homes in Bear Lake

This is a $3 Million home. It was done, it failed and the builder had the Foam company come out again and re-do. It failed again and the builder was livid.
It had dropped nearly 3" the second time. He spent over $4,000 for a project that didn't work.

It was pulling on a membrane they had installed to try and keep the water out because of the negative slope.

The membrane was starting to tear in some areas.

The foam guys indicated they couldn't raise this section because it was too heavy. We found a 4" void under the slap indicating they didn't even try. Not surprising because their system won't raise anything heavy so they didn't even try.

You can see the membrane that was starting to split.

Closer look at the entrance to the building.

We got everything raised and the builder is happy because the negative slop where water was ponding is gone.

Note the straight line on the tip of the railing. This was not an issue to raise with our system and weight isn't an issue.
This has now been 5 years and the pad is still where we put it, We were fortunate in that the pad was heavy so as we raised, the heavy pad caused compaction and it crushed the foam so we don't expect further deterioration.

Another Bear Lake Million dollar home that failed after just one year.
This homeowner didn't mess with it, he just called us.
Note the groove in the ground just outside the seam. The failure was so bad water was running under the pad and that mark is water erosion.

Problem fixed, grade restored and voids filled.
Three years later it's still there.

Mt. Green, the whole back patio had dropped slightly and was hollow. 

Drilling through we found the foam.
We got it fixed with no problems and fortunately, since the pad was heavy, most of the foam was crushed when we injected our roadbase so there shouldn't be any further problems.

Back Patio in N. Logan. Note the circles showing where the foam guys drilled their holes.

Section totally hollow. They didn't even come close to filling the void.

Got it raised and filled the voids.
Again, it was a heavy pad so our material crushed the foam.

Everything back to grade and the voids filled.
It's now been 5 years and no further problems.

A patio they messed up and at USU, same thing.

Providence Patio. This was a corporate relocation and they had to get it done to sell. The foam guys were called in.

The whole patio had dropped.
The foam guys fiddled around for FOUR days and finally gave up.
This pad was just too much for their equipment.
The realtor called me to see what we could do.

The whole thing had dropped nearly 6". The other issue is when trying to raise it, they cracked the pad in several areas compounding the issue.

With our powerful equipment, not a problem. We did have to be very careful because of the crack the foam guys made but we were successful.

The voids were filled and the pad came up to grade. Fortunately this pad was so heavy our material literally crushed the foam they had added so there shouldn't be any further settling.

The patches haven't cured yet but as of the last check, it has been were we placed it for FIVE years now.

USU had an issue on the sidewalk going up Old Main Hill. There were several landings that has sunk causing 2 to 3 inches of ponding water, and it stayed there all the time because of the sprinklers.

We have done the USU contract for 13 years but this job came under Carpentry, not Engineering. Carpentry called the foam guys and they came out.

After FOUR days of fiddling around trying to correct the problem, Carpentry had enough and threw them off the job.

Carpentry called Engineering and were told, 'Why are you messing around,. Just call Rick."
We came out and had the job done in two days.

Everything fixed and no more ponding water on the three bad areas.

We patched some of the bad sections as well. It's now been 6 years and everything is still where we put it.

Message from a Contractor in Wisconsin.
Note he says Mud Jacking. That is a Midwest process that we don't use here because of our moisture content in the soil. We use RoadBase.

NEWS FLASH:  Poly Foam has been around for awhile in the insulation market. It's only in the past 15 years or so that companies have attempted to make it work in the concrete lifting arena.
Bottom line...it doesn't work.
Foam customers are stuck. After a few tries they usually end up calling us but there is a big problem. It's hard for us to give a full warranty because the foam will keep deteriorating for years to come. 

The FOAM companies simply don't last.

There have been 19 foam companies fail in Utah in the past 14 years. I've been doing this for 24 years and if foam worked I'd use it.

  • When you have an issue in a year or so will your foam company still be around? The statistics say No. Ask the folks who used Level Up just last year how their warranties are doing.
  • "It's New, it's the Latest Thing." The process has been around since World War II in the insulation industry and only recently have marketers tried to adapt it to the Concrete Raising industry. 
  • "We use a special Poly Foam made for Concrete Raising." It's the same product you get in those little aerosol cans from Home Depot for insulation. You know, the stuff that discolors when the sun hits it and deteriorates in moisture.
  • You have already experienced it. When you drive on any of the newer sections of I-15 you are driving on it. Under the asphalt is a 6" layer of the same product we use, the special Roadbase. We get it out of the same gravel pit. UDOT specifies it because it stays in place and won't make those ruts from the heavy trucks you used to see in asphalt.
    Now, notice those sections at the approaches to the bridge decks on I-15 from Ogden to Brigham City? You know the ones, they are very rough, trucks bounce and every few years they do another fix? That's Foam. Eventually they will need to bite the bullet and tear them completely out and rebuild.
  • There was a Major Law Suit at the Salt Lake International Airport against a Foam company a few years ago that was settled out of court and the records sealed. This was a big deal, I only know because the attorney for the airport was my neighbor.

If foam is so great, why don't Construction Managers lay out a layer of it before they pour concrete or lay asphalt? They use RoadBase, just like you would if you built your own home.
Just like WE USE.

Every year we get some local contractors sold on the Polyurethane Foam. They go to The World of Concrete show in Las Vegas, take out a second mortgage on their home and come back with the Equipment and fancy marketing material.
It's always the same. 
"Look at these pictures of the mud jackers. These jobs failed."
"The Mud Jackers are Dinosaurs, a dying breed. They use obsolete technology." Folks, the Obsolete Technology one tends to get folks attention because we are conditioned to think newer is always better.
FACT: We agree somewhat that Mudjackers are a dying breed. We don't use MUD.
FACT: They don't use pictures of our jobs, they find others as we do have competitors and most of their jobs usually fail. They show our competitors jobs, not our work.
We aren't saying our jobs never fail, but when they do, we come out and fix them. We challenge these foam guys to find one single unsatisfied ConcreteJacking customer. They can't.

Really the "The Newest Thing?" Polyurethane Foam has been around since the beginning of World War II where it was used primarily in the insulation industry and only in the last 15 years have marketing companies tried to adapt it to the concrete industry. They are making a lot of claims so you need to get the facts.
One important fact is the Cost. Their numbers usually come in higher but lately, the current crop are discounting their prices because they are in serious trouble. They lower their prices to try and get a few jobs or they go out of business.
Here's the kicker...they ALWAYS include a contract with an escalator clause that if they use more material than expected, you pay more. We have NEVER seen a job where they didn't activate this clause, and guess what, you are Locked in, you signed a contract.

One of the points they continually make is "The holes we drill are much smaller."
That's like saying after you use a different color of paint on a touch-up of your kitchen drawers, "Oh, it looks close, it's only a small touch-up." Wouldn't you use the same color of paint?
Isn't the issue How it Looks, not how big? We match the patch and after even just a few months, after it's completely cured and hard to spot.
Besides, if we used a smaller hole we wouldn't be able to get our Roadbase to flow through it.

There is a place for the Foam and it's NOT in Concrete Raising. It's been used for years in insulation and void fill but there are serious issues in Raising. Think about it. You are going to try and raise concrete that could weigh up to 35,000 lbs. with foam that I can rip apart and even crush in my hand. I can show you multiple failures from just the past few years (A few listed here.) We have already fixed many and are already on schedule for three more this year.
So why do the manufacturers at these concrete shows push it?
Consider this. Say I'm an equipment manufacturer. I sell you a machine. I now only have a future opportunity of selling you parts.
BUT, if I sell you a Foam machine, I not only get your parts business but All the material you put through that machine, on every job you do. And I'll include a disclaimer that I'm not responsible for any warranty, you are. Good deal for me, bad deal for you and the consumer.
Now you see why most of these Foam guys usually go out of business in just a few years.

Their marketing makes a lot of claims.
"The Foam will not deteriorate." False. Water and the Sun's UV Rays will cause deterioration.
"You get 100% compaction." False. The product has millions of microscopic air holes. How else could I crush it or rip it apart with my hands?
"We Fill the Voids." You be the judge. Watch the video just above. They try to get around the fact that their material won't travel far by drilling LOTS of holes as they know the void isn't filled properly.
MudJacking adds weight to the slab and will pull it down whereas ours won't. False. They keep referring to the term "mudjacking", which is an old term used in the mid-west. Our material does NOT stick to the concrete slab, in fact even  concrete will not stick to existing concrete. Again, assuming you are ignorant.   
"It's Totally Safe." By law, if asked they must supply an MSDS Sheet (Material Safety Data Sheet) which lists Poly Diisocyanate as a primary ingredient. Google it, judge for yourself.
We will readily supply the MSDS sheet for our product which is Gravel, Crushed Granite, Sand and a special Dirt we import.
And while you are reading their MSDS sheet, note the part about it being flamable. Granted the chances of something burning under concrete are remote at best but it's good to know.

Good luck. I used to have an associate in Utah County who added it just to cover those customers who insist on using foam. I brought him in on a couple of jobs in Weber County and he beat the other Foam guys pricing, but now even he is out of business.
If you have bought into the hype and insist on foam I certainly wish you all the best, but chances are in a couple of years you will be back to square one and realize you wasted your money.
The current crop of contractors say they will warranty but NONE of them have been in business for over two years. Talk to the owners of the jobs we show above and ask them how that warranty turned out.

Did you Fall for it?

You might get a year or two at the most. If you are lucky they may answer the phone when you call with a problem but in most cases, they won't come out to fix the issue.
If that happens, give us a call. Usually when you commit to foam you are stuck, but there is a chance we can help. We might be able to drill right through their stuff and when ours goes in, it may possibly crush theirs so you get proper compaction.

Two words...Good Luck.
We haven't heard of too many instances where they actually came back out to fix the issue but you might get lucky. Note some of the jobs we show above. They usually don't come out because they know they can't do much with it.
If not, give us a call.

The Foam companies advertise very heavily to the Real Estate market and that's their main source of business.
Wonder Why? Their thinking is when the problems arise in a year or two the property has been sold and the new owners don't have any warranty. Interesting way to do business but not illegal, although it should be.

Numerous Others Coming

We have only shown you a few local examples above and there are Numerous Foam Lift Failures in Utah. Just last year there were eight including four from The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, which we fixed.

More pictures coming.

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