Wall Anchor System For Street Creep Repair in Northern Ontario

The GeoLock® Street Creep Damage Repair System

The GeoLock® Street Creep Repair System provides a permanent, reliable solution for any home.

Street creep is a problem that is caused by thermal expansion and contraction of exterior concrete pavement that surrounds a home. As this concrete expands against a driveway with inadequate expansion joints, the driveway is pushed against the garage slab, which in turn pushes against the foundation, causing damage.

While this is a slow process and can take many years to develop, the damage can be very serious when it manifests on your foundation walls.

The GeoLock® Street Creep Repair System will prevent future damage with new expansion joints in your concrete driveway as well as a steel wall anchor system that reinforces and straightens your foundation walls.

At Groundhogs, we solve problems like street creep every day! Call us for a free street creep repair quote today! We serve Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, and many nearby areas in Ontario.

Here are three common conditions where street creep can cause foundation damage (click to expand).

What causes street creep damage?

Like many materials, concrete expands when it's hot and contracts when it's cold. Contractors place expansion joints in sidewalks, driveways and other exterior slabs so that temperature-induced expansion and contraction won't cause a slab to crack.

Problems with street creep begin to arise during the cold winter months, when the widened joints become filled with materials like sand or gravel. As temperatures rise again during warmer weather, the concrete expands. But if joints have filled with sand and gravel, they can no longer absorb this movement. Instead, one slab will push against another.

Once they're filled with debris, expansion joints can no longer do their job. The entire expanse of concrete expands as a single unit, causing the street to "creep." Street creep exerts tremendous pressure at the edge of the concrete, where a driveway meets a garage slab or a house foundation wall.

Symptoms of street creep damage

Street creep can be detected by these four common signs:

(Click for more information.)

Street creep repair in two steps

At Groundhogs, we address street creep repairs with the GeoLock® Street Creep System. This innovative foundation repair product solves the problem in two ways:

Step 1: Creating New Driveway Expansion Joints

There's no way to stop the normal expansion and contraction of concrete slabs that occur with temperature changes. But it is possible to eliminate the damage caused by this movement.

Your foundation repair contractor will install one or more new expansion joints in your driveway to allow individual slabs to move without pushing against the garage slab and your foundation wall.

Each joint is filled with a resilient backer rod and a durable, flexible polyurethane sealant.

Step 2: Installing Foundation Wall Anchors

Once the expansion joints have been created, we install the GeoLock® Wall Anchor System. These wall anchors will stabilize foundation walls that have been pushed in, cracked or otherwise damaged by street creep.

Thanks to the GeoLock®'s adjustable capability, it may be possible to go beyond wall stabilization and even use the system to restore wall straightness.

During installation, holes are cut through the garage slab floor, and soil is augured out to allow for earth anchor placement. Next, holes are drilled through the foundation wall so that a long, threaded steel rod can connect each earth anchor to a steel plate that applies clamping pressure against the wall.

Once the earth anchors, rods and steel plates are in place, nuts are tightened on the rods to stabilize the wall and (if possible) pull the wall back towards its original position. The holes in your garage slab are carefully patched and your worries about street creep damage are a thing of the past.

Get started on street creep repair today

Installing new expansion joints, combined with the Geo-Lock™ Wall Anchor System, is exactly what you need to stabilize foundations that have been damaged by street creep! Groundhogs is experienced in applying the right techniques for your home.

Call or contact us online to restore your foundation today! We serve homeowners in Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury and areas nearby.

Compressed Expansion Joints

The existing expansion joint between the driveway and garage is fully compressed.

Even when the joint appears wide enough at the surface, the concrete may still be in contact underneath. This means that when the street expands with heat, your driveway is being pushed into the rest of your home.

Garage Wall Damage

The foundation walls on either side of the garage door are being pushed inwards by the driveway slab.

This is a sign that when the concrete pavement expanded and lengthened, pushing into the concrete driveway, there was insufficient compression space within the expansion joints. The only place for the driveway slab to go was through your garage walls.

Gaps Behind The Foundation Walls

Gaps have formed behind the foundation walls on either side of the garage door as the garage slab is pushed rearward.

Installing new expansion joints in the driveway and installing wall anchors will restore your foundation walls to structural stability.

Foundation Damage

Basement walls or foundation walls are pushed out by the garage slab.

At this stage, the damage caused by street creep has lead to a potentially serious foundation issue. It's important to address this soon -- before the damage becomes any more significant.

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