Concrete repair · Based in Eau Claire
Sidewalk Replacement and Trip Hazard Repair
When a panel lifts, the step it leaves is what people catch a toe on. Under the federal standard the numbers start at a quarter of an inch. We take the panel out and pour it new, tied to the panels on either side.
What Counts as a Trip Hazard
A trip hazard is a change in level between two panels. One of them has moved and the other has not, so where the walk should be flat there is a step, and people find it with a toe rather than with their eyes.
The federal standard is where the numbers come from. Under the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, a change in level up to 1/4 inch is allowed to stand vertical (303.2). From 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch it has to be beveled at a slope no steeper than 1:2 (303.3). Anything over 1/2 inch has to be ramped (303.4).
Those are federal figures for an accessible route, and they are not a city's repair criterion. That distinction matters, because most people assume a city has published an inch figure. Wisconsin's sidewalk statute contains none, and Eau Claire publishes none either. What the statute gives a city is a judgment: it may order any sidewalk that is unsafe, defective or insufficient to be repaired, or removed and replaced (Wis. Stat. 66.0907(3)(b)). So the quarter inch tells you what an accessible route asks for. An order, when the city sends one, comes from an engineer who looked at the walk.
What we look at
- How far the panel has lifted
- Whether the lip is clean or broken off
- Which way the panel is tipped
- Whether there is a root under it
- Whether the surface has scaled
- What the panels on either side are doing
A walk with one bad panel in a run of twenty is a different job from a walk where every joint has moved. Which one you have is usually visible from the end of it.
What the ADA Standard Says
From the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, with the section beside each figure so you can check it against your own walk. These are federal minimums, and a state or a city can require more.
| What | The standard | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|
| Change in level, vertical | 1/4 inch maximum | 303.2 |
| Change in level, 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch | Beveled, no steeper than 1:2 | 303.3 |
| Change in level over 1/2 inch | Ramped, to 405 or 406 | 303.4 |
| Clear width of a walking surface | 36 inches minimum | 403.5.1 |
| Running slope | No steeper than 1:20 | 403.3 |
| Cross slope | No steeper than 1:48 | 403.3 |
| Surface | Stable, firm and slip resistant | 302.1 |
The standard asks for a surface that is stable, firm and slip resistant and puts no number on it. There is no coefficient of friction anywhere in the 2010 Standards. We pour walks to these dimensions. We do not survey, assess or certify anybody's accessibility.
The Sidewalk Order and the 20 Days
Wisconsin runs sidewalk repair through one statute, and the cities in this valley point at it rather than writing their own procedure. Under Wis. Stat. 66.0907(3)(b) the board of public works may order any sidewalk that is unsafe, defective or insufficient repaired, or removed and replaced to the standard the council has fixed. A copy of that order is served on the owner of each lot in front of which the work is ordered (66.0907(3)(c)).
Then the clock starts. If the owner neglects it for 20 days after that notice, the city may cause the work to be done at the owner's expense (66.0907(3)(d)). What it costs goes on the tax roll as a special charge, collected like other taxes on the real estate, and the council may allow payment in up to ten annual installments (66.0907(3)(f)).
Eau Claire publishes how its own program runs, and the part worth knowing is that it is condition rather than age that puts a walk on the list. A concern turned in by December 31 goes onto the following year's list. Once the work is set, the owner has 20 days to decide between the city's contractor and hiring his own, and the cost is payable in full or in ten annual installments at 6 percent. Where the repair runs more than 30 feet, the city requires grade stakes.
Eau Claire's sidewalk program
- Condition, not age, puts a walk on the list
- Concerns in by December 31 go on next year's list
- 20 days to take the city's contractor or hire your own
- Payable in full, or ten annual installments at 6 percent
- Grade stakes where the repair runs over 30 feet
From the City of Eau Claire's sidewalk repair and installation program page, and from Wis. Stat. 66.0907. A property in Chippewa Falls, Altoona or Menomonie runs on the same statute and on that city's own program.
What Breaks a Sidewalk
A panel sits on ground that holds water, or on a root. The water in that ground freezes, it expands, and it lifts the panel. In spring the ground thaws and settles, and the panel comes back down with it, but not all the way. What was flush in October is a step in April.
Then the plow finds it. That lip is standing proud of everything around it and it takes a blade five months of the year. The leading edge spalls off, and a clean step turns into a broken one with the aggregate showing.
De-icer works on the surface rather than on the level. Salt drives more freeze and thaw cycles right at the top of the concrete, the cement skin comes off in flakes, and the stone underneath stands proud. That is scaling, and a walk can be rough underfoot and still be flat.
A lift and a spall are two different failures. A panel that lifted has moved, and what moved it is underneath, so the ground has to be dealt with or it lifts again. A panel that is still sitting level and has lost its edge or its surface has not moved, it has come apart. Both of them come out and go back as new panels, and knowing which one you are looking at is what decides how much of the job is under the concrete.
Lift, spall and scale
- Lifted: the panel moved, and the ground moved it
- Spalled: the panel is level and the edge has come apart
- Scaled: the surface has flaked and the stone is showing
The one that comes back is the lift, because the ground that moved it is still there. A panel set down again on the same wet subgrade lifts again the next winter.
How We Replace a Sidewalk Panel
Measured, cut at the joints, out to something firm, formed, tied in and poured.
Measure the level change
How far the panel has lifted, and whether the edge is broken as well as high. A lift and a spall are two different failures, and which one you have decides how much of the work is under the concrete.
Saw cut at the joint lines
The panel comes out at the joints rather than at the crack, so the new pour starts against a straight vertical face and the walk goes back panel by panel.
Break out the panel and haul it off
Broken slab out and hauled away, down to whatever the new pour needs to sit on. A root that lifted a panel gets dealt with while the hole is open, or it lifts the new one too.
Prepare and compact the base
Graded and compacted. Concrete poured on soft ground cracks on a schedule set by the ground, not by the concrete, and ground that holds water is what lifted the old panel.
Form the panel and tie it to the walk
Formed to grade so water runs where it should, and tied to the panels on either side, so the new one and the old ones stay in the same plane instead of the joint becoming the next step.
Pour and broom finish
Placed, screeded, floated and broom finished across the walk, with control joints cut where the slab is going to crack, so that it cracks there instead of somewhere visible.
What Usually Comes With It
A walk that has moved is rarely the only concrete on the property that has.
This page is the walk. For new flatwork, curb and gutter, dock aprons and the rest of it, see concrete.
Questions We Get
What is considered a sidewalk trip hazard?
The city sent us a notice about our sidewalk. How long do we have?
Who pays for the sidewalk in front of our building?
One panel has lifted but it is not cracked. Does it still have to come out?
The surface is flaking and the stone is showing through. What is that?
How does a walk get onto Eau Claire's sidewalk list?
Send a Photo of the Walk
One down the length of it, and one close in on the worst joint with a tape or a shoe beside it for scale. If the city sent a letter, what it says about the walk is the other half of it.
(715) 450-9897