My new concrete surface is cracking away! Recomendations would be appreciated!

Tommydogg · Aug 19, 2010

My First post is bad news. I just bought a new house and this weekend I was going to tackle the garage floor prior to bringing in the cars. It is a 3 car garage and I wnt to epoxy it. Today I found a few spots the the top surface of the finished smooth surface is chipping away, the edges of the chiped areas feel not too solid. The chipped away spots are in multiple areas. Any recomendations?

bazzateer · Aug 20, 2010

Hard to tell from the pic but looks to me as if a thin skim has been added over the slab. Hire a diamond grinder and take the lot off, then epoxy.

Tommydogg · Aug 20, 2010

Here are a few more pictures, I have several locations chipping and sounding hollow.

willymakeit · Aug 20, 2010

By sounding hollow, do you mean when it is tapped it sounds different than the surrounding area ? If so combined with the cracks it seems the base wasnt compacted and has settled from under the concrete.

Tommydogg · Aug 20, 2010

Just hollow enough sounding like more of the surface is going to chip up, not like the floor will cave in. Hopefully that is what you are asking!

RaceDeck1 · Aug 20, 2010

Hi
There is definetly an issue with how the concrete was installed or repaired. From the looks of it, the previous homeowner had someone do a quick patch job on a problematic floor, you may have recourse due the fact it was not disclosed to you when you bought it.
This is just the type of problem that RaceDeck is geared for. With very little surface prep, you can simply install RaceDeck right over this subfloor and it will look great.
Good Luck

Tommydogg · Aug 20, 2010

It's a brand new house, the builder's rep is coming out Monday to look at it. I'm now trying to get a notion of the scope of it, so they don't try to blow smoke up my anterior orface!

Black Moon · Aug 20, 2010

Have him hit it with a hammer (several times) or do it yourself before he comes. If it continues to break up or sounds hollow make him pull it up and replace it. It would be nice to know if there is a vapor barrier and compacted gravel/ stone under it.

If you are really concerned have him get his testing company to drill a core sample and test it. That will also let you know what's under it. It's not that expensive and tell him that's the only way you'll be satisfied.

Do you have a home warranty from him?

70 chevelle · Aug 20, 2010

I think sometimes that is caused from the way the floor was finished you have too much cream to the top surface and over work it before it starts to set up. It can be fixed but you will have to chip out all the loose surface and patch with a surface bounding cement. If your builder is any good at all he should take care of it. The only other thing he could do is have him bust out the floor and do it over. One other thing you could do is have your local concrete company come and look at it they deal with defects all the time and most are good at identifying problems.

GarageEnvy · Aug 20, 2010

Most large builders have customer service reps with varying amounts of money and latitude at their discretion. If it were me I'd try the friendly approach with the builder's rep and see what kind of remedy he's authorized to provide. If that fails then I'd try a little firmer approach with the builder. If that fails I'd check with your neighbors to find out if they have had similar problems. If they have, then let the builder know you are aware of other problems in the subdivision. This will raise a red flag with the builder. Builders are being plagued by class action lawsuits from homeowners based on construction defects. Hopefully the nice approach works and you don't have to resort to this but if you do then I'd bet they will fix the problem, whatever it takes. Always start out nice and work your way to angry PITA. It works much better than trying to go the other way.

FThera · Aug 20, 2010

Where do you live and what time of the year was the floor put in? If it was below 32 degrees the floor may have frozen before it was cured. If so they should tear it out and replace.

Tommydogg · Aug 20, 2010

I'm in South Florida above West Palm Beach, the concrete was poured in mid May.

blue dog · Aug 20, 2010

Do you see any moisture weeping from the cracks?

Tom McDermott · Aug 20, 2010

This has the appearance of what is called 'spalling'. You can look it up at:

http://www.cement.org/basics/concretebasics_faqs.asp

about half-way down the page.

-- Tom

hldtyt · Aug 20, 2010

I agree with being nice and be his best buddy when he arrives. Instead of him blowing smoke up your rear you blow smoke up his. Object would be to get the pad replaced. If being his buddy dont work then contact his boss. You are right in doing your homework prior to his arrival. Knowledge is power!

Tommydogg · Aug 21, 2010

Thanks fellas, spalling for either 2 or 3 looks most likely. The house is on a slab and the garage is attatched, so replacing the pad would be hard. I'm thinking after reading all this that rather than patching it, mayhaps diamond grinding the surface down might fix it. All my tools are in a storage unit as I was waiting to epoxy the floor before moving them, so I don't have a mic handy, but, the spalling looks to be pretty thin. I might ask the builder just to grind it down. If he agrees I'll be set?

Black Moon · Aug 21, 2010

Tommydogg said:
Thanks fellas, spalling for either 2 or 3 looks most likely. The house is on a slab and the garage is attatched, so replacing the pad would be hard. I'm thinking after reading all this that rather than patching it, mayhaps diamond grinding the surface down might fix it. All my tools are in a storage unit as I was waiting to epoxy the floor before moving them, so I don't have a mic handy, but, the spalling looks to be pretty thin. I might ask the builder just to grind it down. If he agrees I'll be set?

If he grinds it have him do a proper skim coat. Why should you be responsible? Is this a new house? Also replacing the pad is no problem. He just saws out the bad and repours. Being attached to the house makes no difference.

Let us know what the rep says tomorrow.
Good Luck

Vettman · Aug 24, 2010

Tommydogg said:
Here are a few more pictures, I have several locations chipping and sounding hollow.

I have a sililar situation (30 yr. old slab) In my case it was caused by poor drainage. During torrential rainstorms the water wouldn't drain away from the footings. It seeped under the garage slab and carried away some of the soil. I'm at the bottom of a hill, so it made the problem difficult to address.

LegacyIndustrial · Aug 24, 2010

too much water when poured or it froze.
Either way, you need to resurface those areas.

We have a resurfacer that looks like wet sand. You could patch it in thin.
Not only will it fill this area, but it will be stronger than before.

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/epoxy-concrete-patch-1-gal-hd110-p-6.html

alexb2000 · Aug 25, 2010

I agree looks like too much water. Either the whole mix was watered down or perhaps they sprayed the surface to make it easier to finish. This is such a common problem in residential concrete since there are no inspectors for the pour and the workers can get away with anything. I would do as suggested above and hit the spalled areas with a hammer and make sure the concrete doesn't come apart before continuing with an epoxy job. Also, if the garage floor shows any problems deeper than cosmetic then you can assume the rest of the house will have the same issues.

LegacyIndustrial · Aug 25, 2010

Yes, good point. Lightly tap the surface with a pipe or hammer.
Flush out all the bad areas, then fill.

Tommydogg · Aug 25, 2010

The bulder's production manager came and looked at it, used his hammer to tap out and pop a couple places, and said it was horrible. He left and said he would talk to one of his contractors. It is still only the top surface that is affected only about 1/16th or less deep. The rest of the slap was not polished, so it looks fine.

d33pt · Aug 25, 2010

i would definitely be concerned about the rest of the house's slab. do those cracks go all the way through?

bazzateer · Aug 26, 2010

"do those cracks go all the way through? " post 23

"It is still only the top surface that is affected only about 1/16th or less deep" post 22

WkndWarr72 · Aug 26, 2010

bazzateer said:
"do those cracks go all the way through? " post 23

"It is still only the top surface that is affected only about 1/16th or less deep" post 22

I don't care who tells you that the crack is superficial, it isn't. I have spent the past 6 months slowly repairing a very similar crack which was like a bolt of lightning right up the middle of my garage floor with arms travelling left and right all the way up to the walls. After starting to chisel out the crack, discovered it went right down through the entire pad. They did something wrong beneath it to cause this - poor drainage, bad poor, etc.
My reason? Bad drainage - downspout right beside the outside corner of the garage caused water to get under the pad and lift it with frost - problem you probably don't have in Fl. Seriously take a chisel and find out how deep it goes. I would seriously be demanding they repour - I have spent what little time I have over the past 6 months trying to correct it - I ran my downspout underground to the road to get the water away from the house and it seems it isn't heaving anymore - the patchwork I completed last year has held so far.
No way I would put up with that on a new house.

Man I just realize I used my real name as my username, I musta been tired from chiselling when I registered...

oldwino · Aug 26, 2010

As the saying goes, concrete is guaranteed to "get hard" and "crack". Cracking can be controlled by proper placement of grooves or joints to create a weakened plane. Then the crack will (mostly) follow the weakened section of the slab. If joints WERE PROPERLY PLACED this is likely a problem of excess water to cement ratio.

Tommydogg · Aug 27, 2010

The Production manager came out and looked at it, and said it was horrible, a follow up call today with the warranty dept says it will be fixed. They are consulting with contractors to determine the best plan. The production manager liked my Fords, that helped!

Tommydogg · Sep 9, 2010

Well, I had my floor repaired yesterday with Renew Coat by Lambert. First the spauled areas were chipped up, then patched with renew coat. After that had set, the whole garage received a coating of renew coat. So far it looks good, and feels good.

Here is what was used: http://www.lambertusa.com/resurface/id22.htm

oldwino · Sep 9, 2010

glad it's working out for you...getting warranty work done can be a PITH...glad these guys stepped up to the plate.

My new concrete surface is cracking away! Recomendations would be appreciated!

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