crumbling floor suggestions

[He who turns wrenches]

I am looking for some suggestions on how to handle my crumbling garage floor without having it completely cutout and repoured. The garage was built in 1924 and has several spots of varying sizes and shapes in the floor that are crumbling.

I have tried to grind out the areas and patch them over but it seems the crumbling continues at the edges of the repaired areas. I ground out the areas of concern going deeper and wider than needed and had gotten all of the bad material.. or so I thought I did.

Crumbling is normal for the conrete because of age and materials used to make it back in the 20's.

If anyone has any suggestions I woud love to hear them.

Thanks,
Your brother from another mother.

 

[914tom]

hi

maybe you can do as i did.
i used tile adhesive on the floor to stabilize / fix it the way you use Car Filler.
some selfe leveling concrete after and as top cote EPXOY.
Not as level some of the floors here, but fair, quik and budget.

TOM

 

[Jack Olsen]

My garage floor was poured in 1925. It had no crumbling, but the different sections had shifted and heaved quite a bit. It was stable, but uneven.

I didn't see any crumbling -- but I'm in a place where it never freezes. Instead, we have earthquakes and hot tar shifting things around. Are you in a place with a freeze/thaw cycle?

I leveled the worst of it with concrete and installed ceramic tiles. But I don't know that the tiles would sit well on crumbling concrete.

I wonder if you could sink the soupier leveling concrete down into it to arrest the crumbling.

 

[914tom]

if you plan to tile your floor, also first filler with tile adhesive.
(cheaper then the self leveling concret stuff)
can level about 1/4 - 1/2 inch.

(i came from southern Germany, lots of freezing here, not as bad as in US these day's but i cant these see snow enymore this year... lucky jack.)

TOM

 

[PAToyota]

Crumbling is normal for the conrete because of age and materials used to make it back in the 20's.

Crumbling is not "normal" due to age. There is "concrete" from Roman times that is still intact.

Crumbling is only "normal" if not done properly to begin with. Unfortunately, there is no easy, inexpensive way to stabilize it. Better to tear it out and start fresh.

 

[rickycobra]

The best you can do is preventative maintenance.

 

[little d]

He, i don't think there is going to be a quick, easy, cheep fix for ya. I have a floor that is cracked really bad and very unleveled, I'm going to cap mine with 4" of new concrete. Height is not a big concern of mine.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Google up Radonseal, and see if any of their products could help. I would get directly in touch with them. The product works by penetrating concrete and turning non crystallized limestone into crystals. They have a super strong product for concrete that is made for spalded concrete .

It is the only product I know of that MIGHT help.

 

[thrifty bill]

Crumbling is not "normal" due to age. There is "concrete" from Roman times that is still intact.

Crumbling is only "normal" if not done properly to begin with. Unfortunately, there is no easy, inexpensive way to stabilize it. Better to tear it out and start fresh.

The porch floor and stairs on my 1934 rock house were crumbling. It had nothing to do with age, it had to do with a lousy concrete mix back then. Demo was really the only viable solution. Just depends how bad your situation is, in my case, it was pretty bad.

 

[He who turns wrenches]

wow!
thanks for all the great helpful suggestions and informaton.

before I proceed with replacing the whole floor which i would love to do, I may try some of the tips first. costs is a big factor right now and the damaged areas may be managable.

I'll post how it goes and thanks again for all the helpful responses.

 

[mobetta]

how many SF overall?

4" of concrete is about $1.50/SF here. About 80 SF per cubic yard.

find a couple(or one if its small) out of work finishers on CL or such, flip them $150 ea/ for the day, have a beautiful new slab when done....

of course there is the tearout and grading....

but do a decent cost analysis before you start spending money on band-aids....

 

[Bill_Brasky]

Pictures of the floor damage would help give a good recommendation.

My garage floor had large areas where the cement had crumbled and pitted to a depth of around 2" in the deepest areas as a result of road salt. You could see 8 large pits where the 4 tires of each of the previous owner's cars had parked.

I'm no pro, but did a lot of asking around and research. This is what I did.

1. Chisel out any loose and soft concrete. Use a chisel, hammer, and pressure washer.

2. Thorougly degrease and pressure wash. I used purple degreaser and scrubbed with a broom, then pressure washed and repeated a few times.

3. "Prime" the holes with a very watered down mixture of pure portland cement applied with a paint brush. This helps the concrete applied in step 4 adhere.

4. Fill the holes with Sand/Topping concrete mix if your holes are less than 2" deep. If they are deeper, use gravel mix. Your goal for the mix is max adheasion, not strength so add a fair amount of additional portland cement to the mix to further aid with adhesion. It will be difficult to get nice and level with the "good" portion of the floor, especially the feathering around the perimeter of the holes, so don't worry about getting it perfectly level with the floor.

5. Apply a thin layer of concrete resurfacer over the entire floor per the manufacturers directions. You can use a broom to add texture in this step if you desire. You could probably forgo step 4 and use only resurfacer, but it is expensive. Over $20 for a 40lb bag whereas sand mix is $3-$4 IIRC. I used this:

6. Apply epoxy or latex floor paint over the floor as preventative maintenance.

It probably won't be mistaken for a brand new floor when you are done unless you are far more skilled then myself. But, it will look a million times better than it did.