Challenge
Voiding beneath two new-build ground floor slabs threatened imminent buyer handovers and required a rapid, low-disruption remedial solution.
Solution
Geobear’s slab stabilisation solution treated the voiding in two shifts while retaining the existing slabs and avoiding excavation.
Works completed
Treated together
Enquiry to completion
A major Irish residential developer identified voiding beneath the ground floor slabs of two adjacent new-build properties in Co. Laois.
Both properties were already sale agreed, creating significant time pressure to resolve the issue before handover to the buyers.
The affected areas extended across the full ground floor footprints, including living and dining rooms, kitchens, utility areas, WCs and storage spaces. The developer therefore required a solution capable of treating the affected areas quickly without introducing a lengthy remedial programme immediately before completion.
Voiding beneath the newly constructed concrete slabs had left areas of the floors without full support.
The project documentation identifies ground settlement or consolidation after slab construction as the mechanism capable of creating this type of unsupported area. The treatment therefore needed to address the voiding beneath the existing slabs without requiring their wholesale removal.
Programme pressure was a major constraint. The properties were approaching handover, with the developer contacting Geobear less than ten days before the works were ultimately completed.
Any solution involving extensive demolition, excavation, curing and reinstatement would have risked delaying completion of the sales.
The main conventional alternative considered was excavation and reinstatement, commonly referred to as rip and replace.
This would have required the existing concrete slabs to be broken out, the underlying ground conditions addressed and replacement slabs poured and allowed to cure.
For two properties already subject to live sales and handover commitments, the additional demolition, excavation, spoil removal, reinstatement and curing period would have created substantial disruption and extended the remedial programme.
Geobear instead proposed a slab stabilisation solution that allowed the existing ground floor slabs to remain in place.
Targeted geopolymer injection was carried out through small openings in the existing slabs to treat the voiding beneath the affected floor areas.
Because the treatment was carried out from above, there was no requirement to excavate beneath the floors or remove and replace the concrete slabs.
Both properties were treated as part of a single continuous programme.
Geobear designed a solution to address voiding beneath the ground floor slabs while retaining the existing construction and protecting the developer’s handover programme.
Targeted geopolymer injection was used across the affected ground floor areas of both properties.
The existing slabs remained in place throughout the works, with no excavation, slab breakout or spoil removal required.
All treatment across the two properties was completed within two shifts.
From the developer’s initial contact with Geobear to completion on site, the entire process took fewer than ten days.
The properties were subsequently able to proceed to buyer handover without programme delay, avoiding remedial works extending into the completion period.
| Rip and replace | Geobear slab stabilisation |
|---|---|
| Break out existing slabs | Existing slabs retained |
| Excavate underlying material | No excavation required |
| Remove spoil | No spoil removal |
| Pour replacement slabs | No slab replacement |
| Allow new concrete to cure | Rapid return to service |
| Extended remedial programme | Completed in two shifts |
Every home is unique. Our experts are ready to listen and provide answers tailored to your specific property and concerns.
