DIY - Slab repair / garage conversion

[jaruss01]

Hey guys,

We just bought a 100 yr old Tudor house. There is a detached 18x18 garage in the backyard, but on the opposite side of the driveway. The seller removed the driveway leading up to the garage to pick up green space and the garage functions as storage.

The town and house are both historical, so I cannot demo or relocate, or even rebuild the garage this close to the lot line. Additionally, the town is highly taxed with sensitive reassessment. the taxman becomes almost the number one decision as to what renovations to make and how to make the construction process not so in your face. He could jack up the annual tax bill by a few grand without hesitation. I want to do as much work myself as possible, and try my best to rehab the existing structure.

Any regards, I will be converting the garage to a multi functional space. Basically a nice rustic existing interior with glass doors plus barn doors, and an oversized side window. Occasional car storage in winter, and open up for large family events in the summer.

The garage needs slab rehab, new electrical, a new roof, and new doors and windows. I would like to do the slab, drainage, front stone apron, and interior myself. Then have a contractor do the electrical, roof, and doors/Windows.

Slab

The slab in cracked and separated. The current design of the slab was to be sloped towards the center, with a center drain. The drain hole is basically just a circular opening filled with dirt and looks to have been inoperable for a generation or so. Within a 5 foot radius of the drain, the concrete cracks and dips down into a "basin" that is sunken about 3 inches. Basically a 10x10 foot area that is as low as 3" below grade at center. The slab is relatively thin and rests on dirt. There is no water build up, except for the far front of the garage but that is due to poor drainage. I do not want to tear up the slab and start new. While the concrete is thin and slightly flexes if jumped on, it does feel to be fully settled.

Could I fill in the sunken "basin" area with mesh and concrete, blend it. Then repair other cracks. When that is all done, I could epoxy over for a smoother look? Or even add planked wood on top. Would that work? Or a near impossible job for one man to fill a 10x10 3" basin with concrete by bucket mixing?

Garage Door

The door gets stuck 90 percent of the time if manually opening. You need to lean into it, and then open. It's an old wood door that will be demod. However, it makes me think that The garage may be off square. I took general dimensions and took a leveler to the edges and at first blush, it seems close to level. Most of the wood framing has been reinforced, which leads me to believe someone squared up the garage, but that could have been 50 years ago, not sure.

Any recommendations for how to see if the garage is square, and how to adjust?
Any manufacturer reccs for swing out wood and glass double doors? Something that looks like a French door, but could fit a single car through with no bottom door jamb?

Thanks boys!

 

[jaruss01]

 

[winlinmac]

If you don't want to shell out too much, buy several 10 oz tubes of Sikaflex Crack Flex Sealant from Home Depot. It's worked great for me, and the cracks have not expanded since then. Its been over a year now, and still looks new. Good stuff...

 

[jaruss01]

 

[jaruss01]

If you don't want to shell out too much, buy several 10 oz tubes of Sikaflex Crack Flex Sealant from Home Depot. It's worked great for me, and the cracks have not expanded since then. Its been over a year now, and still looks new. Good stuff...

Thanks! Probably the easiest way to patch it. I do however want to have a level floor in the end though. Maybe I could patch it first, then level with concrete.

 

[winlinmac]

This stuff pretty much self levels out, when you apply it, you'll begin to see it level out as soon as it begins to slightly expand over the surrounding concrete. I had to fill up a pretty deep hole with one of these tubes as well and it still looks new. You can also fill up a little at a time if you don't want to apply too much. Overtime, the material will compact itself, and it should look virtually leveled.

Thanks! Probably the easiest way to patch it. I do however want to have a level floor in the end though. Maybe I could patch it first, then level with concrete.

 

[73fxe]

I'd start with a electric hammer and break up the concrete. Using it as a base for a new concrete floor. If the framing is close to plumb, You should be able to put in new doors, exc.

 

[rockettgpw]

By the looks of the previous repairs to the slab, I would suspect it wil keep moving due to moisture changes and other influences. Assuming the wall footings are stable, I wonder if you could build a timber floor over the top of the slab by supending/anchoring the new floor on post stirrups fitted into new concreted holes bored through the old slab into the ground and sealed to the old slab with a flexible sealant so that movement in the slab would have less effect on the new timber floor. of course this would depend on how much head room you can afford to lose.
One way to check plumb/square is the 3,4,5 rule. right angle triangle with one known side to be 3 units long, the other side of the 90o to be 4 units long and the long side will measure 5 units if the 90o is true. Thats what my concreters used anyway.
I'm also a little envious of your garden and garage.nice.

 

[ratdoggy]

That electrical panel gave me the willies!

 

[winlinmac]

This one also seems to be good

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sikaflex-10-1-oz-Flex-Concrete-Fix-221066/206200601
$5.47 on sale

Breaking up a little more of that concrete should also be good idea, definitely don't want to go for temporary solutions, something for the long term should be chosen

The Sika-flex works great for many for 3-4 years, but it really depends on climate and how its being applied

 

[jaruss01]

I am trying to fill all cracks, spot fill and level some rogue areas, and infill the cracked and sunken center area. The center area is the worst, and dips down 3". not sure why you are recommending something that comes in a tube. I need to fill up the volumetric equivalent of a bathtub.

 

[brownbagg]

no you cant, where ever the old slab is crack, the new one will crack in the same spot, you cannot bridge concrete, you are going have to demo under the cover of darkness.

 

[jaruss01]

Hmmm. If I put a layer of epoxy over the new concrete infill, will it matter if the new concrete underneath the epoxy cracks down the road? It would still be level to support the epoxy, no?

Or maybe I could epoxy over everthing? Which would be a 1 inch thick in most areas and 4 inch thick in the center, but level on top.

 

[rockettgpw]

Epoxy is expensive, way expensive. Over 10 years ago I was tasked with filling in the grooves of a railway in a workshop concrete floor, the grooves were only 2" wide x 1" deep to clear the wheel flanges and about 60' long. it took about 6 x 25 kg drums to do the job and cost over $3500 for materials only, stupidly concrete was available on site for free. It was a pain to mix this amount and stunk badly. It did cure and fill the grooves. This was over a very solid slab.
Your slab will keep moving, if it is cracking, it is moving and will push up or drop away from the epoxy skin. The cracks in the slab are also likely to draw water up under the epoxy and reduce its bond to the old slab. The epoxy will not stabilise that slab and over time the unsupported epoxy will also start to crack.
If you want this to be a satisfactory and long term fix you will need to get rid of the slab and pour a new one to suit the conditions. You may be able to cut out just the floor and leave the wall footings in place and drill and fit tie bars from the footings into the new floor to tie it all together.
I understand you have strict heritage type conditions in your area but I would think the authorities could see that you are not changing the look of the area and maintaining the current built environment with a long term fix as you are changing like for like with a new floor albeit a more reliable one.
Best move would be to find a good local concreter/builder/engineer that has some experience dealing with the heritage conditions, even if you paid him for his opoinion and did the work yourself.
I really dont think the epoxy will keep you happy in the long run.

Looking again at the pic of the front of the garage, you have active gardens all around the area with largish trees/shrubs and an uncollected downpipe, these are all factors that will continually change the moisture levels in the soil under and around the slab and will always affect its stability. These conditions must be considered when thinking of the longevity of your floor.
Sorry about the long post, I have spent 10 years working on my 90 year old house in Adelaide Australia and have a soft spot for old builings and I hope you find a suitable solution.

 

[rockettgpw]

Me again.. If you are to fit large hinged doors (barn doors?) you may need to improve the diagonal bracing of the side walls to stop the garage racking over when the doors are open as the old siding is unlikely to still have much bracing abillity left in it.

 

[Firebrick43]

"While the concrete is thin and slightly flexes if jumped on, it does feel to be fully settled. "

Reread this to yourself several times. Concrete slabs should not flex period when a man jumps up and down on it. There are voids underneath or some other serious malfunction.

If you want to throw good money out the window can you do it going past my house?

 

[rockettgpw]

^^^ This too. A shorter version of what i was saying.

 

[dondarnell]

I used a floor leveler product from menards. $50 for 50lbs. Pretty easy to use. I mixed 1 bag at a time in a 5 gal bucket using exacting water measurements, and did 5 bags on my basement project. I moved it around a bit with a sqeezgee, and troweled the edges. Turned out great.