Help!! New Garage Floor Cracked..

My Dream Garage had the Garage Floor Poured On Friday and On Sunday the Floor started to Crack

It has been determined the cement dried to quickly. Now a crack runs back and forth either side of the cut line in the center of the floor. 6-8 inches on either side of the cutline. 28 x 36 pad.

The floor has Pex tubing in it. Piece are chipping off now and it seems the cracks are spider cracking it's been getting worse since exposed to rain.

The contractor want's to cut either side of the failure grind an inch off the floor pour epoxy and then paint the floor so it looks good.

What is the correct fix for this?

 

UCoat it all!

 

its all gunna crack eventually. Get a discount and fix it when it becomes a problem.

 

it will not fix itself....if you had gone to a good mason you would not have this problem,,,a shiney truck and matching t shirts does not make a company...epoxy is like putting a piece of tape on a windshield crack,,,dried to quick is not knowing the temp the slump was it wired,,,a lot of factors that mean it should all come up

 

Shouldn't he tear it out and start over?

 

Beer.

There are two types of concrete, cracked concrete, and gonna crack concrete. Unless you use a high PSI concrete and big finishers.
If there is metal in the slab (and there should be) the cracks will annoy you but should not be structural. Did they use aluminite or any other accelerator in the mix?

On the other hand, if the contractor is admitting a problem with the pour, it's on him now. He's not gonna coma back in 6 months or a year. The time is now if he is admitting fault.

Make sure you and your contractor agree on warranty issues before the job is done, and paid for.

Good Luck!

 

If he wants it right, yes. all those little cracks would annoy me.

 

OK, hold on a minute, first of all, cement is the powder form and only turns to concrete when you add the water, second, concrete does not dry, it cures. It take concrete 28 days typicaly to cure, what you are seeing are called surface cracks and do not penetrate the slab. When you poured the concrete you probably noticed a lot of watery mix or slury coming to the surface, this is normal. Now depending of the weather conditions at time of pour, be it hot and windy, the slury on top will cure out at a rapid pace, it ain't pretty but it doesn't mean you have permenant damage to the slab.
So, tell me what it was like the day you poured and when did you pour it?
Gary

 

Sadly if it dried too fast then obviously the mix was wrong for the pour conditions.

If the floor has a proper amount of screen or rebar in it, the crack should not go any further.

That is also providing the base under it was properly prepared as well.

I would not attempt to do any repairs to it for at least a year down the road to see where it ends up, continued cracking etc.

After that filling with flexible cauck and floor coating will hide it.

There is no real proper repair beyond removing it and starting over.

I once did a 32' x 40' floor for a shop, 12"x 10' around the outside for a foundation. 6" thick floor and rebar and screen throughout.

3000 lb mix for the concrete , poured all in one pour and floated and finished smooth. No cuts, all one piece.

That was in 1995, and that floor here in Alberta has never cracked not even a small one.

 

When my garage floor addition was poured in Nov all looked good then it had some cracks about 2 months later, they took it all out and did it over. A little thicker the second time they said but now I am getting some small cracks again but nothing serious. Have it done over again

 

Your in Wisconsin not a earthquake area or something.

Options Wait to see if it settles more. Fix it now under warranty (if any).

It's the earth it'll settle. Doesn't look like a sink hole to me and just a causality of new construction.

Not that major in my opinion.

 

not sure of your building codes, but if youre building with a permit the inspector may not approve it. make them rip it up and redo! at no cost to you!! including the mesh and pex tubing!!

 

Funny from the picture you posted it looks like old concrete not new by any means.

 

Just for the record, I have been a custom home builder in Texas for 35+ years, I have poured over 4000 slabs in my time, I've seen it all, poured slabs in weather below 20 degress and above 100 degress.

 

Just me, I'd let it do what it's going to do, then plan the next move. This soon after the pour seems hasty, and temporary. I am not an expert on this, just going by what I've seen floors do.

From what I see there, it does not look doomed.

 

Ok it 95 degrees on the day he poured it . the light cracks you are referring too are in the slab as well. This crack is opening and closing with the heat of the day pieces are breaking off (the light cracks are not)

 

Wrong, concrete will turn colors as it cures, from the picture it looks like it's still green, you'll notice change in color as time goes by during the curing process.
I will agree with the proper prep work, Is this a rebar and mess slab or post tension slab?

 

What do you mean by that, corners, where?

 

Are you talking about the chips at the scored areas?
As seen in the picture?

 

Huh grits I've never seen that before. I;m no concrete expert but I framed a few houses and done concrete work. I be worried if that's a new floor then.

Floor looks worn to the aggregate already...

 

The crack is getting wider every day. and it's lifting and uneven in a couple spots.

 

I would worry if it is cracking that bad this soon what happens when you start using it IE floor jacks and moving engines on stands and dragging stuff across it. The whole painting it so it "looks good" kinda sounds like lipstick on a pig. Make him tear it out and do it correct and have him do it now I am in the construction industry and there are plenty of guys who put the "con" in contractor

 

I had a 4-6 inch thick slab poured in a 24x32 garage about 5 years ago it was polished smooth and after a day or so ( i forget) they cut it in quarters. It's never cracked and looks great...However I've been a realtor and have seen LOTS of brand new slabs crack.

 

That's not good, this soon after a pour.

Is this a real foundation with 3 or 4 foot frost walls, or just a slab? If it's a slab, yeesh! If it has frost walls, did they layer and compact each layer?

 

The slab does not have rebar or wire.

One of the pieces that broke off is visable in the picture at the cut line.

 

Several things can be happening here, if the concrete was not Jitter bugged or tamped down, meaning, using a wire mesh type device used to force the aggregate down below the surfice you will see what you are descibing as looking worn. looks like little rocks or gravel just under the surface, this means that the concrete was not trialed soon enough.

I'm trying to understand the OP saying it's lifting?:? not sure what he means about that, and the breaking off parts ether.

 

It is a slab with a one foot footer that has rebar in the footer . all poured at the same time.

 

Looks to me like your typical plastic shrink cracks. They can be caused by moisture loss from the top surface which "shrinks" the volume of the boundary layer. What curing procedure did you use that would have prevented the moisture loss? There appears to be saw cuts in the slab. Were these intended to be control joints? If so, how deep are they? Plastic shrink cracks aren't fatal from a structural viewpoint. Just ugly, particularly when they start to spall from thermal movement. I know of no concrete contractors that will guarantee a crack free slab unless it's made a condition of the contract up front. Then special (and costly) measures can be taken to prevent them. I'd say that in your case, the cracks are just the nature of the beast.

Bob

 

The cutlines were made a day later. It was buffed after being poured.

The cracks appeared as he was cut in the lines.

It was not cooled and it was very hot that day, 95 at least at the time of pour.

 

I spent most of my working career doing project management for construction.
As stated above..all concrete will crack.
My experience over the (45+) years is if the cracks are wider than a paper match, they are structural, mesh or not....and if less, normal shrinkage cracks...unsightly, but not structurally a problem.
I would NOT pay more than 50% of the bill for that floor at this point.
Wait for full cure time...minimum 30 days, then take a good look at the CORNERS of your garage for settling/cracking.
If it starts to spall, demand a complete new floor...you will NOT be happy with a covering.....Only other way if corners are OK is to chip/grind off minimum of 2", slam plugs into the concrete about every 9 square feet, (3'x3' squares) and pour a new 2" cap using fibremesh over it.
JMHO...
Good luck,
Cheers...