irev210

Any idea what is causing this?

Kitchen tile is lifting, concrete outside the kitchen (sliding door to the kitchen) is lifting

A little further away it is sinking (the brick photo)

Jdmrenovations

Need a little more info...construction style, drainage system, grading...etc.

Really tough to say from those pics...I mentioned the drainage because in 3 of 4 I see a way for water to get where it doesn't belong.

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nealtw

The outside looks like fairly new concrete set on none campacted fill where it has settled on the outside lifting near the house. The tile on the inside is a totally different thing unless the whole house has shifted. If this were the case you should be seeing drywall cracks also.

BridgeMan

Problems appear to be the result of poor workmanship in a number of different areas, including improper compaction of subgrade below concrete slabs, use of incorrect subbase material, lack of an adequate expansion joint/bond breaker between slabs and house, improper drainage away from exterior walls of house, etc.

You might consider hiring someone (who knows something about good construction practices) to "watch the fort" the next time you have future work done, or all of this mess corrected. It would be money well-spent.

irev210

so this doesn't look like a slab leak or anything like that?

Just poor construction?

nealtw

How old is the concrete slab outside?
Over what period of time did this move?
Did the floor tile move at the same time?
Is the floor inside also a concrete slab?

irev210

The concrete slab outside is about 8 or 9 years old.

The heaving happened over the span of years but it seems to have gotten much worse and more amplified in the past couple of years.

The floor tile has also been moving over a span of years but also have gotten much worse in the past couple of years

The floor inside is also a concrete slab. There is no visible buckling in the inside where there is wooden flooring. There is visible buckling in the kitchen area (tile pictured).

Thanks for the help. Sorry I don't know more about this stuff, I am glad you guys do!

nealtw

The outside concrete MAY be able to be fixed, mud jacking or foam lifting the outside edge. The inside dosn't make any sense, if there is a hollow sound when you tap on it, you may be able to remove grout and stick them back down.

inspectorD

I think you have settlement issues under your slab.
This looks just like a job we had 2 years ago on a house where the uncompacted soil underneath, sank 16 inches in some areas.
We discovered voids underneath after we picked some areas and drilled 3 inch holes into the slab. Sure enough, there where voids up to 8 inches underneath.
Only after we brought in the concrete saw cutters and removed the 3 foot pieces did we discover the larger voids.
The next step was to compact the existing soil before we poured the new concrete. The next problem came when we lost the compacter into a 4 foot deep hole in the center of the floor area, I mean , it just disappeared and we had to dig it out. Turns out, we dicovered lots of nails and debrie as we dug it out....looks like this was where they buried the trash for the job.

Get an expert out there, the shotgun effect as we call it, is only guess work at best. You could also have water issues under there that will never go away until you divert it or control it.
Good luck, and keep us in the loop.

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irev210

So what type of contractor would be best for fixing this?

Seems like it is going to be expensive

I really appreciate all of the feedback and help - I was totally clueless as what would cause this.