A Homeowner's Guide, Not a Service We Offer
Polyurethane Foam
Injection
in Maryland
Polyjacking, lifting a sunken concrete slab with lightweight expanding foam
Polyurethane foam injection lifts a sunken sidewalk, driveway, garage floor, or patio slab by expanding beneath it and filling the void. It is a slab lifting and leveling method, never a substitute for structural underpinning on a settling foundation. This guide explains how the method works and when it applies. Oriole does not offer foam injection. If a slab on your property has dropped, Oriole's inspectors will diagnose the cause and explain the options, including mud jacking for a slab lift and push piers where the problem is structural settlement rather than a void.
A Lifting Method, Not a Structural Fix
What Foam Injection
Is, and Isn't
Polyurethane foam injection, or polyjacking, lifts a sunken concrete slab by expanding beneath it through small drilled holes, filling the void and raising the slab back toward grade. It's a concrete lifting, slab repair, and void filling method for exterior slabs, sidewalks, driveways, garage floors, and patios.
It is not structural underpinning. Maryland's clay-heavy Piedmont soil makes foam an appropriate tool for lifting slabs, not for supporting a settling foundation wall or footing, that's a job for piers, which physically transfer load to bearing soil rather than filling a void beneath a slab.
Foam injection is not part of Oriole's service line. Contractors who specialize in concrete lifting carry the material and the equipment for it. Oriole's inspectors diagnose why a slab has dropped and say plainly whether a lift is the right answer, whether the cause is structural, and which method suits the slab, so a homeowner can approach a specialist knowing what they need.
A sunken slab section, void beneath from soil erosion, before a foam lift
Where Foam Injection Applies
Signs a Slab May
Need a Foam Lift
- A sidewalk or driveway slab section lower than the adjacent slab
- A garage floor or patio slab that's dropped at a corner or edge
- Soil already marginal, where a lighter lift material is preferred over a heavier slurry
How the Method Works
How a Foam Injection
Lift Is Performed
Void Confirmation
A void beneath the slab is confirmed and its cause established before any lift is recommended. Filling a void without fixing what created it invites the slab to drop again.
Small Access Holes
Foam injection uses smaller access holes than mud jacking, drilled at planned points across the slab.
Controlled Foam Injection
Lightweight expanding foam is injected in stages, filling the void and lifting the slab as it expands.
Hole Patching
Access holes are patched and finished once the slab has been lifted and leveled.
Common Questions
Foam Injection Questions from
Maryland Homeowners
What is polyurethane foam injection (polyjacking) used for?
Polyurethane foam injection, sometimes called polyjacking, lifts a sunken concrete slab, a sidewalk, driveway, garage floor, or patio, by injecting a lightweight expanding foam beneath it through small drilled holes. As the foam expands, it fills the void under the slab and raises it back toward grade.
This is a lifting and leveling method for concrete slabs. It is not a structural underpinning technique, and OBW does not use foam injection as a substitute for pier based underpinning on a settling foundation wall or footing.
Does Oriole offer foam injection?
No. Foam injection is not part of Oriole's service line, and this page is a guide to the method rather than an offer to perform it. Concrete lifting specialists carry the foam and the injection equipment.
Oriole's inspectors will still diagnose a dropped slab at no charge and tell you what is actually going on, because the diagnosis is the part homeowners most often get wrong. A slab that has dropped over a washed out void is a different problem from a slab moving because the foundation beneath it is settling, and only the second one is foundation repair. Where the cause is structural, that work is Oriole's.
How is foam injection different from mud jacking?
Both fill a void beneath a sunken slab to lift it. Mud jacking uses a heavier cement based slurry; foam injection uses a lightweight expanding polyurethane foam. Foam cures faster, needs smaller access holes, and adds far less weight to the soil it's resting on, an advantage where the soil is already marginal. Mud jacking's heavier material can be more economical for larger slabs where added weight isn't a concern.
Why Oriole
Why Maryland Homeowners Ask
Oriole to Diagnose a Slab
Right Tool for the Job
Lifting a slab and underpinning a foundation are different problems with different fixes. Oriole diagnoses which one you have before anyone quotes work.
No Pressure to Buy Ours
If a foam lift is what your slab needs, you will be told so, including that it is work Oriole does not perform.
No Subcontracting
On the work Oriole does perform, its own crew does it in house, from assessment through the finished repair.
Family-Owned Since 1953
Founded by Frank Pirog Sr. in 1953. Amber Pirog leads the company today.
Sunken Slab? Start With the Cause.
Free inspection and an honest diagnosis, including when the work belongs to a concrete lifting specialist rather than to Oriole.
Family-owned since 1953 · MHIC #4247 · Honest, consultative guidance