Should I Lift Concrete on My Own?

If you find yourself concerned about the cost of pool deck repair, you may be tempted to try and take on repairs on your own. After all, there are plenty of other DIY solutions you can do around your home, so why not this one? DIY pool deck repair solutions, unfortunately, rarely work out in a homeowner’s favor. Instead, these endeavors can become costly and riddled with errors, meaning that you’re actually going to end up paying more if you try to DIY the fix. 

Concerns About Costs  

Most of the time, homeowners who try to lift their concrete on their own are concerned about the cost of professional repairs. If you’re already someone who enjoys DIY, you might know that certain DIY projects can save you lots of money — after all, making food at home is cheaper than eating out, so why wouldn’t concrete lifting follow the same idea? The problem is that concrete lifting isn’t at all like making food, and DIY work can actually cost a homeowner far more than professional help.  

For starters, you’ll need to find the materials and tools you need to bring your concrete back up to its original height. If you don’t have any similar projects planned for the future, many of these tools may be of one-time use. Professionals already have many of the tools they need on hand to restore your pool deck. That means they can afford the hundreds of dollars in tools they need for pool deck lifting, whereas you probably can’t. Similarly, experts can reach out to industry peers for materials they might need, garnering industry discounts you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of.  

The Dangers of Errors  

Most of the time, DIY mistakes aren’t that big of a deal. If you mess up a recipe, even to the point of complete disaster, you’ll just mess up a couple dollars’ worth of food and have to get takeout. Making a mistake while trying to lift your pool deck, however, can make the structure effectively unusable. For starters, you may end up leaving your pool deck more uneven than you found it, putting you and your family at risk of injuries. You may also put the other nearby concrete structures you have in place at structural risk.  

Then there’s the question of your property’s value. If you fail to appropriately fix your pool deck, or if you make a mistake while trying to repair it, you can put your home’s market value at risk. You risk losing up to 30 percent of your home’s market value if you try to list it with a damaged pool deck or any other type of concrete failure on the property. That might not be a big problem now, but if you’re ever going to sell your home, you could end up taking a big hit on it. If you work with professionals, you’ll be far less likely to eventually sell a home that’s lost some of its value due to damaged concrete.