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!).

Another Great Video from The A-1 Akron Franchise!

Click on the title of this post to view another great commercial video from Rob Keith in Akron, Ohio. You may remember from one of my previous posts that Rob is the franchisee of the original A-1 Concrete Leveling location which is near Peninsula, OH, where Grover Miller, the inventor of our equipment lives. This one shows the before and after of a driveway upper apron. Our thanks to Rob for posting this and others on YouTube. Enjoy!

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!

Check Out This Fun Commercial from the A-1 Franchise in Akron, Ohio

Check out this commercial from Rob Keith in Akron, Ohio. Rob is the franchisee of the original A-1 Concrete Leveling location which is near Peninsula, OH, where Grover Miller, the inventor of our equipment lives. Click the title of the post to view Rob's video. Enjoy!

List of Corporate Customers

Happy Springtime! The sun is out and we are happy to have our season starting off. Thought it would be nice to include a list of some of our corporate customers many of which for whom we have completed multiple projects over the past several years.

Applebee’s (TL Cannon)
Baker Victory Services
Basset Park Manor
Ciminelli
Delaware Towers Condos
Delphi
Elderwood
First Niagara
FMC Peroxygens
Goodyear-Dunlop
Greif
Honeywell
Kenilworth United Church of Christ
LBM Construction
LMM Properties
MJ Peterson
National Air Cargo
Niagara Hospice
People, Inc.
Sharp General Contracting
Timon Towers
Tonawanda Church of Christ
Town of Newfane
Town of Tonawanda
Town of Wales
Town of Wheatfield
U.S. Border Patrol
Uniland
University of Buffalo
Village of Akron
Walker Center
Weinberg Campus