ot crack in garage floor Help!

Anonymous-0 · Aug 3, 2012

I have a large crack (as in wide) in the garage floor and one side has settled lower than the other. I know it is from the lack of rain, so here is my question, is it wise to run water in the crack to try to get the ground to swell back up or would I be washing away the existing dirt underneath and causing more problems?

tomturkey · Aug 3, 2012

just as well wait til next spring and see what the fall and winter do to that crack. My guess is it will probably get bigger with freeze thaw and wet soil(maybe). Yours is probably the result of expansive soils. Expand when wet shrink when dry but almost always moving in one direction or the other. I'm no soils engineer but am experienced with soils and construction. gobble

Ralph Bauer · Aug 3, 2012

not sure how to fix the problem you have but folks soak the grounds around their homes here with water to prevent exactly that from happening.... may want to do that for your non-cracked buildings.

Uncle Ernie · Aug 3, 2012

Hate to burst your bubble but that slab ain't never coming back up on its own...
Either hire a slab jacker or rip it out and pour another.

550Doug · Aug 3, 2012

We have a local contractor who levels concrete by drilling 1 inch holes then pumping in an epoxy type ooze to raise concrete slabs. He pumps in enough to raise it 1/8 inch then switches out to another hole and does that one by 1/8 inch increments. This epoxy ends up sealing and waterproofing the base. He can raise slabs several inches if needed. He also gives a 10 yr guarantee on his work so the technology must be fairly robust. Will soon find out since I"ve got a job for him next month.

larry@stinescorner · Aug 3, 2012

my friend raises suken cocrete here in nj take a look at his web site ,,, concrete chiropracter

larry@stinescorner · Aug 3, 2012

www,concretechiropractor

Anonymous-0 · Aug 3, 2012

Thanks for all the input and thanks Larry for the site. Very interesting information. I will have to contact some locals in my area (NW MO) and get some bids. Though I am afraid of what I may hear. I have the one in the garage which involves concrete steps and then the front steps are dropping down from the house too. Place was built in 68 and I guess the clay has shrunk from not enough moisture. I have been trying to water around the foundation and out about a foot but obviously I am losing the fight.

Phil in Pa · Aug 3, 2012

I did some slab jacking jobs for our company 20 years ago, it's very reliable. We never used epoxy, though, just a slimy grout mix.
It's once and done, and not very complicated with the little wheelbarrow-sized machine.
The same machine is still doing jobs to this day.

MSD · Aug 3, 2012

Seems to me putting water to it will only make things worse. First if the ground was not fully compacted when the concrete was poured, it may settle worse yet if you water it down. We do this around new foundations to get the dirt settled in before putting the topsoil down. Also, if your in a colder climate, the wet soil will freeze and cause it to heave even more. Either pour a new slab or have someone out that can raise it as suggested by others.

old · Aug 3, 2012

Floating slab or a true foundation slab?? If floating then yep find some one who knows what they are doing. If a foundation type they did not use the correct re-bar etc in it

ss55 · Aug 3, 2012

Check around the outside of your garage to see if the ground is settling around the outside of the foundation also (and around the house too if it's an attached garage). If the back-filled ground around the outside is settling, then the back-fill inside the garage is likely settling too.

The ground around my home is still continuing to settle over 20 years after it was built. A neighbor tells me it was very dry when the foundation went in. The blue clay was dry to the bottom of the footings. It dug up in big chunks that had to be broken up. Now every 5 or 10 years I add some dirt around the foundation to make sure water drains runs away from the foundation, not into it. The driveway slab in front of the front steps has settled about 2 1/2 inches so far. A previous owner had someone pump cement under the slab to re-level part of it.

Texasmark1 · Aug 4, 2012

Had a friend that rented a mud (concrete) pump and ran it under his garage. Said it only put out a couple of # of pressure pumping the concrete but 2# on a 400 sq. ft. slab is a lot of force and it raised his slab with no further problems. Unlike running water and hoping the dirt will swell and stay, the mud will stay there. He didn't say how many bags of Sacrete it took.

Course if you're picky or there is some peculiarity to getting it back where it was, you might need to seek professional help.

Mark

ot crack in garage floor Help!

Anonymous-0

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tomturkey

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Ralph Bauer

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Uncle Ernie

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550Doug

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larry@stinescorner

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larry@stinescorner

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Anonymous-0

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Phil in Pa

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MSD

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old

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ss55

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Texasmark1

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