Broken Sidewalks and Steps Are a Liability Before They're an Eyesore

A Trip Hazard Doesn't Look Dramatic

Most people picture a serious hazard as something obviously broken, a gaping hole or a slab in pieces. In reality, the sidewalks, walkways and steps that cause the most falls are the ones with a small, unremarkable lip where one section has settled slightly lower than the next. A height difference you can barely see in daylight is exactly the kind of thing a foot catches on, especially in low light, rain, or the first icy days of a Chicago winter.

Who's Actually Responsible for a Broken Sidewalk

Responsibility for a broken sidewalk isn't always where people assume it is. In many Chicago area municipalities, the property owner is responsible for the public sidewalk in front of their home or business, not just the walkway leading to their own door. Commercial properties carry this risk more visibly, since a customer or delivery driver who trips on a cracked or uneven walkway on the way into a business has a direct claim against the property. Residential owners aren't exempt either, and homeowners insurance doesn't always cover every scenario the way people assume it does. The safer approach is simply not to let a known trip hazard sit unaddressed.

Trees and Freeze-Thaw Are the Usual Culprits

Two things account for most of the sidewalk and walkway problems seen around Chicago and North Shore properties. Tree roots growing under a slab lift and crack it from below, unevenly, so the damage often shows up as one panel heaved higher than its neighbors rather than a uniform problem across the whole run. Freeze-thaw cycling does the opposite over time, working water into small cracks that then expand every time it freezes, gradually turning a minor crack into a larger one and a level joint into an uneven one.

Steps Carry More Risk Than People Assume

Concrete steps fail in a specific way that's worth paying attention to separately from flatwork. Spalling on a step edge, or a step that's settled unevenly relative to the ones above and below it, changes the actual rise between steps without it being obvious to someone walking up or down at normal speed. That inconsistency is a classic cause of falls, particularly for anyone carrying something, using the steps in the dark, or visiting a property for the first time without knowing the steps aren't perfectly even.

Why Winter Makes a Small Problem a Bigger One

A slight lip or dip that's a minor nuisance in the summer becomes something else once ice and snow are in the picture. Ice hides the exact edge that a foot needs to see coming, and shoveling or salting a walkway doesn't fix an underlying height difference, it just makes it harder to notice until someone catches a toe on it. Freeze-thaw cycling through the winter can also make existing cracking and settling worse from one season to the next, so a walkway that was borderline in the fall is often noticeably more uneven by spring.

A Repair Doesn't Always Mean Replacing the Whole Walk

It's a common assumption that fixing a bad section of sidewalk means tearing out the entire run of concrete, but that's not usually how it works. Sidewalks and walkways are poured in sections separated by control joints, and in most cases the sections that have actually settled or cracked badly can be removed and repoured without disturbing the sections on either side that are still performing fine. The same is often true of steps, where a single damaged tread or landing can be addressed without rebuilding the whole staircase, as long as the work is tied in properly to what's staying.

What to Check Around a Property

• Any point where two sections of sidewalk or walkway meet unevenly, even by a small amount
• Cracking or spalling concentrated right at a step edge or nosing
• A walkway that's developed a slope or dip toward a low corner
• Areas that collect standing water or ice because of settling
• Sections repaired years ago with a visibly different patch aging differently than the surrounding concrete

Getting It Fixed Before It Becomes an Incident

This is flatwork and step repair that Carl Johanson & Son Construction Co. Inc. has handled across Chicago and the North Shore for generations, going back to when Carl Johanson Sr. started the business in 1909. The company holds a City of Chicago CDOT License along with licensing across the North Shore suburbs it serves, is bonded and insured, and carries an A+ rating with the BBB. A free estimate is the easiest way to find out whether a sidewalk, walkway or set of steps needs a section replaced or the whole run redone. Call (847) 933-1709 before that small lip in the concrete becomes somebody's fall.