Commercial Concrete Lifting at Love's Travel Stop

Extending the life of your commercial driveway and parking lot can be accomplished by concrete slab lifting. Often times expansion joints will degrade, which will allow water to infiltrate the soil under concrete panels. The oversaturated soil gives way to the panel’s weight allowing it to sink, creating an uneven driveway or parking lot. Luckily, the URETEK Method can provide driveway and parking lot leveling without having to rip and replace panels.

Sunken panels at Love’s Travel Stop in Houston

Love’s Travel Stop is an American staple to commuters, travelers, and the transportation industry. They’ve earned the trust and loyalty of their customers by providing first-rate facilities and services. But, what happens when necessary maintenance may conflict with or diminish the outstanding service provided to the thousands of travelers that pass through on any given day? With URETEK ICR Gulf Coast, maintenance and repairs don’t equal downtime.

A return customer, Love’s Travel Stop, contacted URETEK ICR Gulf Coast to make repairs at their location in Baytown, TX. They were in need of concrete slab lifting because the driveway leading to the commercial truck exit and the commercial truck exit itself, had multiple concrete panels that were experiencing subsidence due to weak and oversaturated soil. At the commercial exit, expansion joints had degraded allowing water to infiltrate and oversaturate the soil under the panels. Stagnant water accumulated between the soil and panels.  In fact, as semi-truck trailers would drive out the exit, the panels would heave and drop, causing water to pump out through the expansion joints. It was in urgent need of concrete slab lifting and stabilization. The driveway leading to the commercial exit was seeing less severe signs of subsidence, but it still needed to be addressed– panels were suffering from weak soil and heavy traffic. Hundreds of semi-truck trailers would pull in at the gas station, fill-up, and exit using the driveway, daily. Unfortunately, 12-ton trucks and trailers tend to be unforgiving to panels with weak soil and cause the panels to be more unlevel.

Extending the life of concrete slabs

URETEK ICR Gulf Coast technicians applied the URETEK Method, a zero-excavation process, to the Love’s Travel Stop commercial driveway and exit. By drilling multiple penny sized holes at the commercial exit, technicians were able to inject URETEK’s hydro-insensitive geopolymer under the panels. As the geopolymer expanded, it displaced the stagnant water, filled voids, and gently lifted the concrete slab. URETEK’s geopolymer is at 90% tensile and compressive strength within 15 minutes—meaning that as soon as technicians are done with a work area, it can be operational immediately. Additionally, the expansion joints have been sealed from infiltration and the soil’s load-bearing capacity has been improved. Applying the same method to the commercial driveway leading to the exit, technicians were able to stabilize the soil and lift the sunken panels back to level, as well as increase the load-bearing capacity.

URETEK ICR Gulf Coast was able to extend the life of approximately 12,000 square feet of concrete panels through concrete slab lifting. Work was completed in two days with zero-excavation or panel replacement. At the end of each work day, the area was immediately open to traffic. URETEK was able to provide Love’s Travel Stop with a long-lasting, convenient solution to an inconvenient problem.