Need an experienced opinion on this crack....

[Fyrme]

I wish I had a nice pic of a mid twenties female crack to post up, but only this crack in a front porch. I'm kinda on the fence as to which way to go with this thing. The house is one I'm remodeling room to room and belongs to my MIL. At some point she wants a new hand rail on the stairs and around the perimeter of the porch. It is elevated about 28" a top a brick (and likely block) stem wall. The concrete was poured in 1956, and I'm not sure if there is any steel in it or not. My doubts as to it's strength, is based on the fact that it is at the corner, and partly in the pathway just above the steps. the lip only goes back about 2 1/2". You can see in one pic where there had been a hand rail mounted before, possibly causing the cracks on the edge. Obviously I need to repair the chunk that is missing, but I'm a bit concerned the whole corner could bust off eventually. I know if I cut the corner off and repour the concrete, it will be an eye sore to look at, so I'd like to try and avoid that if possible.



This crack is the one that concerns me most. It's lifted just a bit but only in the center, and doesn't appear to go all the way to the edges.

 

[Marctrees]

Slightly off topic - On the News - Oprah Winfrey stopped at Airport - Suspicion of concealing Drugs- DEA searched and lifted up her skirt - and found 22 lbs of crack.

Back to the concrete question..............

Marc

 

[forAK]

Tile over it. It'll look great.

 

[bcradio]

Tile over it. It'll look great.

not a bad idea. Its already 60 yrs old... I'm sure it'll continue to hold just fine.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

That doesn't look like 60 year old concrete to me. An idea what caused the cracks which would be a lot worse if the started long ago. They will only get worse, even if you cover them.
It looks like it would be pretty easy to break out and repour.

 

[ard]

I'd pop it out and repour- you can deal with the railing at the same time. A few hours to remove and set the form, a few hours to place and finish.

 

[Fyrme]

My thoughts....

Tile over it. It'll look great.

not a bad idea. Its already 60 yrs old... I'm sure it'll continue to hold just fine.

If I tile it, and the slab moves anymore, it would likely bust the tile.

That doesn't look like 60 year old concrete to me. An idea what caused the cracks which would be a lot worse if the started long ago. They will only get worse, even if you cover them.
It looks like it would be pretty easy to break out and repour.

The house was built in '56, and it's original to the house. There are non structural stress fractures all over it, but the cracks in question are the only close to being structural.

I'd pop it out and repour- you can deal with the railing at the same time. A few hours to remove and set the form, a few hours to place and finish.

If I cut out the corner and repour it, I think the exposed joint and bright white concrete would look worse than the existing cracks.


One thing I considered was drilling some 1/2" horizontal holes and fill them with epoxy and then drive 3/8" steel rebar into the slab in hopes of strengthening the corner.

 

[redneckcharlie]

If it was truely done in 56-57, patch it and top in with something that is cosmetically pleasing. Your way over thinking this. Concrete seems to be one of the most over analyzed subjects on this site.

 

[ssdave]

Buy some epoxy modified grout, patch the chipped out area, and put some urethane sealer into the surface cracks so they don't take in water. If the appearance of the surface bothers you, then paint it.

Like redneckcharlie said, don't overthink it. If it lasts 5 years, you're probably well ahead on the couple hours and $40 you'll have in a patch and paint repair. If and when it fails, then break out all the concrete and redo the whole thing. You've got 95% of a perfect slab there. 4% of the 5% defect is cosmetic. Why bust it all out and redo for such a trivial item? Wait and bust it out when and if you need to.

 

[CNGsaves]

Cut out bad spots and repour.
. . .
. . . . . THEN tile over the whole porch, including front lip to hide all flaws.

. . . . . . . . . OR . . . .
There was episode of Ron Hazelton where he sawcut design into the porch and stained the concrete to make it look better after cleaning up paint spills, discolored spots, etc. You could design the saw cut "areas" to just so happen to match the replacement square you cut out and repoured. Be creative that would distract someone from concentrating on the repoured portion.

 

[Dr Stan]

We had a similar problem at our front door. Turned out the foundation for the slab was falling apart. I rented an electric jack hammer, broke it up, repaired the foundation and re-poured.

BTW, don't forget to pitch the pad away from the house, about 1/8" per foot.

 

[Fyrme]

Thanks for the incite guys. I think I'll do like redneck and ssdave suggested, patch it and seal the cracks. Then if it gets worse down the line, tear it out and do it over.