A-1 Appreciates Exceptional Customer Compliment!

A-1 Concrete Leveling routinely receives compliments from our customers. They call and tell us about their positive experiences. They tell our crews when their project has been completed. They visit us at the home show years after we completed their projects to tell us that it still looks great. In the busy world we live in it is rare that we receive a letter. This letter, sent to us last November in reference to work completed during the Summer, was received with much appreciation from Mr. Robert R. Radel. As we finally and thankfully begin our season, we are grateful for Mr. Radel's time and his expression of satisfaction with the work we completed at his home. This letter is published in full entirety with Mr. Radel's express permission. Thank you, Mr. Radel!

Wow! Earthquake in WNY!

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck in Canada and I felt it here in Buffalo!

I have been in a few earthquakes in my lifetime and as soon as I felt the distinct swaying while sitting in my office, I thought, "I know what this is!" It took me about an hour to find anything online about it and the first place I looked was the USGS website (it's all there now, of course!).

The funny thing is that I addressed this exact topic in my post on May 23rd. In that post I discussed how long concrete leveling will last and I said:

"So, A-1 Concrete Leveling has been around almost 30 years but could concrete leveling last 30 years? Sure, in an ideal situation. But, then, a new pour wouldn't sink if it existed in ideal conditions and no one would need us! The fact is that the ground moves. There are a variety of factors which affect the sub-surface support of a slab and every situation is different.

According to the USGS earthquake website (www.earthquake.usgs.gov), as of today, there have already been almost 7,000 earthquakes worldwide in 2010 with almost 2200 of them occurring in the US; while that may not affect us on a daily basis, it is having a constant effect deep below the surface."

Little did I know that it would be affecting us just one month later!!!

The USGS reports that the two most damaging earthquakes Western Quebec had previously experienced were a 6.1 in 1935 and a 6.2 in 1732.

Click this post title to view the details of the quake at www.usgs.gov (be sure to check out the info on different tabs as it is really fascinating!).

Edward D. Warren Benefit Fund

Our friend Ed Warren has brain cancer.

You may have met Ed; he has worked for Siegel Landscape & Drainage for years and has been at thousands of homes over those years. Along with Siegel owner, Bill Miller, Ed has been an annual fixture in Siegel's booth at the Buffalo Home & Garden Show as well.

Ed had brain surgery on March 31st but only 40% of the mass could be removed and the remaining mass is entangled in his optic nerve; additional surgery will result in blindness and possibly diminished higher functions. Ed is now undergoing a year of radiation and chemo to try to stop the growth of the cancer. Ed's family, including wife, Jen, sons, Josh, 8, and Jake, 6, are doing their best to help support Ed through the treatments.

Please visit Ed's support website, www.edwarrencancerfund.com (or click the post title above to visit) for more information.

A group of Ed's closest friends are organizing a benefit for Ed and his family at the Polish Falcons Club (www.polishfalconsdepew.com), located at 445 Columbia Avenue in Depew, NY, on Sunday, August 29, 2010. This location was just decided two weeks ago. The website will communicate information on the benefit as it becomes available. Tickets will be available to purchase in advance and will include soft drinks, draught beer and food, which is being donated by local restaurants. There will be a basket auction as well as a live auction. If you would like to donate anything to include in a a basket or a big-ticket item for the live auction, please contact Joe Makowski at joe@edwarrencancerfund.com.

A PayPal donate button on the website links to a benefit fund set up by Ed's father, Dave Warren, who works for Lake Shore Savings Bank. Donations are also being accepted at any Lake Shore Savings Bank branch location. This money is being used to pay for medical expenses which are not covered by insurance (already thousands of $$$) and for basic needs for his family including mortgage, utilities and food.

Please donate if you can! Your help is much appreciated.

How Long Will Concrete Leveling Last? Check Out Our Pic Below: Before ~ After ~ Now!

People often ask how long concrete leveling will last and the answer is, well, it depends... Corporate A-1 Concrete Leveling was born almost 30 years ago and has over 50 franchises nationally making A-1 America's largest concrete leveler.

So, A-1 Concrete Leveling has been around almost 30 years but could concrete leveling last 30 years? Sure, in an ideal situation. But, then, a new pour wouldn't sink if it existed in ideal conditions and no one would need us! The fact is that the ground moves. There are a variety of factors which affect the sub-surface support of a slab and every situation is different.

According to the USGS earthquake website (www.earthquake.usgs.gov), as of today, there have already been almost 7,000 earthquakes worldwide in 2010 with almost 2200 of them occurring in the US; while that may not affect us on a daily basis, it is having a constant effect deep below the surface.

Erosion may be accelerated if there is a poor drainage situation which contributes to greater slab movement during freeze/thaw cycles; when water freezes it increases in size by 9% so if it is in a void under a concrete slab, it results in the slab heaving (www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/122Adensityice.html).

Another situation which may compromise the sub-surface is if a utility line or drainage is installed underneath the slab; if it is an original installation and the slab has sunken, leveling is a great option to return it to original position as all the initial settling will have occurred, but if you have a new utility line or drainage installed, be prepared to see some shifting of the slab...then call us and we can help!

Whether you have your existing concrete leveled or have newly poured slabs, as in life, the only true constant is that everything is changing.

We wanted to share a recent picture of a project we completed in 2007 (our first year as a member of the A-1 family); this is the first in what will be an ongoing series of "Before ~ After ~ Now!" project recaps.




Thanks for checking us out!

University of Buffalo: A-1 Goes Back to School to Teach Sunken Concrete a Lesson!

This video was recorded while completing a concrete leveling project at Hadley Village Apartments at the University of Buffalo on March 29th, 2010. We raised a string of centrally located walkway slabs in an effort to eliminate surface water pooling. This saved UB budget dollars, saved their maintenance crew clean-up time from mud tracked into the apartment common areas, saved students the inconvenience of having to maneuver through an area being under construction for a lengthy time and resulted in the desired solution of redirecting the surface drainage of the slabs and eliminating pooling water. Our thanks to the UB staff and students for their support!

"Oops!" says The Nicole of Buffalo! Our foreman, Josh, pointed out an error I made in one of the slides included in this video. Because it would be complicated to replace the slide in the video, I am letting the world in on my mistake (wish I could say that I never make mistakes, but I think everyone knows that's not true...)! So, on the second to last slide in this video, which is titled "The Concrete is Raised & Class is Out!", I mistakenly put in our first year of business as 1997 instead of 2007; why I am stuck in the last century and over a decade behind I do not know, but I made this exact mistake on a piece of literature for the home show in March and had to cut out stickers printed with 2007 to cover up my mistake on 1000 postcards... You'd think I would have learned my lesson (maybe I need to go back to school?). So, while it may sound less impressive that we have only been raising concrete slabs since 2007, rather than 1997, it is infinitely more impressive that we have raised over 4200 slabs since 2007 rather than what would be a much lesser accomplishment if we had only raised that many since 1997! My apology for my error! Thanks to Josh for catching it and pointing it out!

YouTube Upload Totals

Visit our YouTube channel! We are 1 upload visit away from 7,000. Click this post's title and then sit back, relax, watch a video or two!!!