What is the best way to fill a 3 inch gap under my concrete front porch?

Question

I'm in need of some help with my concrete foundation. As I was leaving the house this morning I discovered two or three skunks crawling into a gap under my porch. The hole is on the bottom of the porch where the grass and porch meet. The gap is about 42"L x 3 1/4"W. What's the best way to fill this gap?

Also, what would be the best way to get all the animals out of there? I wouldn't want them to get stuck under there if I pour concrete; that would not be good news at all.

Answer 1

I'll assume that the hole is there because concrete was put onto unrammed gravel. The current state is left on the picture

Now assuming you've got rid of the animals you have to stabilize the existing concrete and the gravel beneath it. The easiest way would be to excavate some of the gravel until you reach some stable foundation (I'd guess it's around one foot deep) and put new concrete forming an extra "step". That will be the easiest way to force the new concrete under the old concrete.

Answer 2

To remove the animals I'd hire an animal control company to get rid of them for you. You could buy some humane traps and relocate the animals yourself but a) depending on where you are that might be illegal, and b) they're skunks! Check with your municipal government to see whether they can help with the removal and if not bring in the professionals.

Once you have the animals removed put in a temporary cover to prevent more animals from coming in. This could be a plywood sheet that is anchored to your home's frame or maybe screwed into the foundation itself.

As for filling up that gap I can't really say, it depends on what caused the gap in the first place, the condition of the ground and other factors that can't be determined from a picture.