Can I Level my Driveway Alone?

No, concrete lifting and leveling are specialist jobs that require experience and the right tools (as well as a certain level of skill) to ensure that you get the best possible results. If you try to use these tools alone the process could go wrong and have serious repercussions. 

You Need Specialist Products  

As with many structural repairs, there are many concrete lifting products that will not be available in your local hardware store. PolyRenewal™ polyurethane foam is an example of these kinds of specialist products which work very well in the right hands (and can go very wrong in the hands of the inexperienced). As well as requiring a lot of experience, this solution requires special tools for installation. 

These tools can be expensive to purchase and difficult to use, meaning that a DIY job could be more expensive in the long run.  

If you try to install these products without the right tools and experience, you could cause injury to yourself and anyone helping you (you do not want to know what happens when polyurethane foam gets into hair, for example). Beyond this, however, it is actually more expensive for you to seek out specialist tools or products as a non-professional than it would be to simply hire a professional who has the skills and experience already. After all, this is what specialists do and they will usually have all that they need to hand. This guarantees you a better result in a smaller time frame.  

Improper Lifting Causes More Harm Than Good  

If you do try to do this alone, you run the risk of simply making the issues worse. PolyRenewal™, for example, is a two-part system that allows for customization. This makes it very useful to a professional and very dangerous to an amateur. Why? Because this is a chemical substance that expands and sets quickly once it is deployed. If you mix the foam improperly and it over-expands, it can cause your driveway to buckle upward. It will also set to 90% of its rigidity within an hour. This means that once it is in place, it is hard to get rid of.  

If this happens, you will not only have to call a professional to lift your driveway. Worse still, any expert you do call will have to remove the foam and correct any mistakes before they can even think about restoring your driveway. This will increase your costs exponentially. As such, it is better to let a professional in the Kansas City, Moberly, St. Louis, and Springfield areas deal with your driveway lifting from the start. This will give you a better result at a better price and is more likely to prevent the recurrence of the underlying issues later.