Mudjacking and Polyjacking in Tulsa, OK

Two ways to lift a sunken slab. One is cement slurry, the other is polyurethane foam. How they compare on cost, weight, cure time, and where each one wins.

If your driveway has dropped at the street or your garage apron has a lip you trip on every morning, you've got two ways to lift it short of tearing it out. Mudjacking has been the Oklahoma standard for 50 years. Polyjacking took over most residential work in the last 15. Both pump something under the slab until it rises. The something is very different, and it decides how long the fix holds on Tulsa clay. This page is the comparison. If you want pricing by job and how the work goes, that's on our concrete leveling page.

How mudjacking works

A crew drills holes 1.5 to 2 inches across through the slab. A pump pushes a slurry of cement, sand, water, and sometimes crushed limestone through those holes under pressure. The slurry fills the void, and as the pressure builds the slab floats up on it. The crew watches a string line, stops near grade, and patches the holes.

The material is heavy. Cured slurry weighs 100 to 120 pounds per cubic foot. It takes 24 to 72 hours to cure before you can drive on it. And because it's basically weak concrete, it can crack, erode, or wash out where water moves under the slab.

How polyjacking works

The crew drills 5/8 inch holes, about the size of a dime, on a grid 3 to 6 feet apart. Through each one they inject a two component polyurethane. The two liquids mix at the nozzle tip, react within seconds, and expand 20 to 40 times their liquid volume into a rigid closed cell foam. The foam fills the void, pushes wet soil aside, and lifts the slab. The crew injects in short bursts and watches a laser level so the lift stops exactly where it should.

Cured foam weighs 2 to 4 pounds per cubic foot. It reaches most of its strength in 15 to 30 minutes. It doesn't absorb water, it doesn't break down, and the holes patch with tinted grout you have to hunt for.

Polyjacking in Tulsa, polyurethane foam lifting a settled driveway slab through dime sized holes

Side by side

Weight. Mud: 100 to 120 pounds per cubic foot. Poly: 2 to 4. On soil that already failed under the slab, that's the whole argument.
Cure time. Mud: 1 to 3 days. Poly: 15 to 30 minutes.
Hole size. Mud: 1.5 to 2 inches. Poly: 5/8 inch.
Water. Mud can erode or wash out in a void that stays wet. Poly is closed cell and doesn't care.
Lifespan on Tulsa clay. Mud tends to settle again in 3 to 5 years. Poly holds as long as the soil does, usually 8 years and up.
Material cost. Mud is cheaper by the cubic foot. Poly costs more per job but rarely has to be repeated.

Cost per square foot in Tulsa

Mudjacking runs $4 to $8 per square foot in the Tulsa metro. Polyjacking runs $6 to $15. The spread depends on lift height, void size, and how easy it is to get the truck and hoses to the slab.

On a two car driveway of 400 to 600 square feet, that works out to roughly $1,600 to $4,800 for mud and $2,400 to $9,000 for poly, though most residential poly jobs land well under the top because only part of the driveway dropped. Both methods carry a minimum charge to put a truck on site, usually $600 to $850. On a job that small the gap between the two methods is often a few hundred dollars.

Compare both to replacement. Tearing out and repouring a two car driveway in Tulsa runs $8,000 to $15,000.

When mudjacking wins

There are jobs where mud is the honest answer, and we'll tell you when you've got one.

Large flat commercial slabs where weight doesn't matter and the budget is per square foot
Very big voids under thick slabs where filling with foam gets expensive fast
Slabs that'll be torn out in a few years anyway
Sites where nobody's driving on it this week

Our contractor does polyurethane work. If your job is one of the above, we'll say so and you can find a mudjacking outfit. We'd rather lose a job than lift a driveway that comes back down in three years.

When polyjacking wins

Any residential slab on Tulsa clay, where the soil's weakness is the reason it sank
Lots along Crow Creek, Mingo Creek, or the Arkansas River bottoms where the void stays wet
Stamped, colored, or exposed aggregate concrete where big patches would show
Pool decks, where the slab is thin, the load is light, and the lift needs to be gentle and even
Interior slabs in a garage, kitchen, or sunroom, where you can't wait three days to use the room
Anything you need to drive on today

Job by job

Driveways. The classic Tulsa failure is a drop at the street apron or at the garage, where backfill was never compacted when the house went in. Poly in two to four hours, drive on it the same afternoon. Common in the 2000s era subdivisions of Broken Arrow and Bixby.

Garage floors. The apron drops and a crack opens a few feet inside the door. Poly lifts it back and fills the void.

Pool decks. The pool shell doesn't move, the deck around it does. Poly is the right tool because it's light, lifts in small controlled stages, and the patched holes don't show on a cool deck finish.

Sidewalks and walkways. Trip hazards at a panel seam are a liability and a quick poly fix. One or two panels is a minimum charge job.

Interior slab voids. A sunken corner of a kitchen or a hollow sounding spot in a hallway can be voiding under the slab from a plumbing leak or washed out fill. Poly fills and lifts it without cutting the floor open. The catch is making sure it's a void and not ongoing settlement.

What neither method will fix

Lifting is not foundation repair. If the perimeter beam of your slab home is dropping because the clay under it shrinks every August, foam or mud will raise the slab and the soil will keep moving. You'll be back in a year. The same goes for a slab that's cracked through and tilted, where lifting one side can open the crack wider. Those are pier jobs, and the right fix is helical or push piers driven down to bearing soil. That's covered on our foundation repair page.

The way to tell the difference is a floor survey. A driveway that dropped while the house stayed level is a lifting job. A driveway that dropped along with the corner of the house next to it is a settlement job.

Pricing by the job, not the method. Driveway, pool deck, and sidewalk ranges, plus the 5 year warranty on polyurethane lifting, are on the concrete leveling page. This page is for deciding between the two methods. That one is for getting it done.

FAQs

Is mudjacking cheaper than polyjacking?

Per square foot, usually yes. Mud runs $4 to $8 and poly runs $6 to $15. Over the life of the slab it's closer than it looks, because mud tends to settle again in 3 to 5 years on Tulsa clay and you pay for the lift twice.

How long does each method last?

Poly holds as long as the soil under it stays put. We see 8 years and more on most jobs. Mud slurry breaks down and washes out over time, and its weight loads the same soil that failed in the first place, so 3 to 5 years is typical before the dip comes back.

Can I drive on the slab the same day?

With poly, yes. The foam reaches most of its strength in 15 to 30 minutes and the crew is usually gone by lunch. With mud, keep cars off for 24 to 72 hours while the slurry cures.

Does foam work in wet Tulsa clay?

Better than mud does. The foam is closed cell, so it doesn't absorb water, and it displaces wet soil as it expands instead of mixing with it. Mud slurry can wash out of a void that stays wet, which is one reason it fails on lots along Crow Creek and in the river bottoms.

What do the injection holes look like afterward?

Poly holes are 5/8 inch, about the size of a dime, and get patched with grout tinted to match. Mud needs 1.5 to 2 inch holes, which patch visibly and tend to show on decorative or stamped concrete.

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