Fill in my expansion joints?

[fxeditor]

Hi All,

I am in the process of rebuilding my garage. It's 20x25 and has a concrete floor. I expressed a concern to my contractor over the expansion joints that "slice" the floor into four pieces. I am probably going to epoxy the floor (although tiles do look nice) and am worried about painting the cracks and potential difficulty gunk that will inevitably collect there. The contractor says not to fill them in because of the potential for cracking the joints eliminate. Anybody out there got suggestions on weather to fill them or not?

Thanks in advance,

Michael

 

[GearHead_1]

Hi All,

I am in the process of rebuilding my garage. It's 20x25 and has a concrete floor. I expressed a concern to my contractor over the expansion joints that "slice" the floor into four pieces. I am probably going to epoxy the floor (although tiles do look nice) and am worried about painting the cracks and potential difficulty gunk that will inevitably collect there. The contractor says not to fill them in because of the potential for cracking the joints eliminate. Anybody out there got suggestions on weather to fill them or not?

Thanks in advance,

Michael

Are they strike joints, cuts or expansion joints? If they are just cuts leave them as is.

 

[Willy Victor]

Leave them alone. Thats my story and I'm sticken to it.

Willy

 

[toolfreak]

If they are sawcuts you can use a caulk to fill them in and keep dirt out of them. SL 1 works very good for that.

Brad

 

[GearHead_1]

If you fill them and then cover with epoxy it is likely that somewhere down the road you'll see the crack. Bottom line is the cement moves and they are there for that very reason. Touching up the epoxy once it cracks just doesn't sound like fun to me. I guess you can tell what I did with my cuts.

 

[fxeditor]

Thanks for the quick responses! I'm not sure if they are strike joints, cuts or expansion joints so I will post a couple of pics tomorrow morning.

Thanks again!

Michael

 

[GearHead_1]

Though technically all of them can be considered expansion joints my reference was to those that have some type of "felt" in them. Cuts are just that, saw cuts typically made after the cement has dried a day or so and strike joints are done by trowel or machine while the cement is wet. Strike joints leave a slight radius on the edge of the joint. Cuts are my favorite in a garage environment that has any type of wheeled equipment being used on it (i.e. creepers, wheel stools, carts etc.). They are the easiest to roll things over and if you choose to fill them are the easiest to fill.

 

[The Money Pit]

My joints were laid in the concrete when they poured the pad. The concrete cracked naturally so there are no joints per say but controled cracks so I don't need to fill mine in except for the ones by the roll up doors. I filled them in with caulk so the water that gets in there in the winter won't freeze and crack.

 

[rt66jt]

There are semi-ridgid joint fillers available, usually a polyurea product. They are used in industrial applications so forklifts and carts can roll smoothly across them, and the edges don't chip due to wheel impacts. They have some flexibility to allow for slab movement. I don't know if epoxy will stick, or not.

 

[rikbolen]

use sikaflex comes in a tube just like caulk. it is poly and is designed to fil cut joints. is available now at home depot

 

[VvvJRvvV]

Most of the concrete guys in this area use metal keyway. Basically, this is a metal seperator for the concrete that provides a screeding surface and eventually will leave a natural crack. If it is this, you should be able to epoxy over it, the floor will not crack anymore.

http://www.jdrussellco.com/bometals.htm

 

[ersatzs2]

My concrete guy said fill in the sawn-cut joints with caulk. Interestingly, natural cracks appeared within days right at the place the joints meet the wall, where the saw cut stops 5-6 incheds from the wall. I filled with some permanently flexible concrete caulk from home depot, then did the whole floor with epoxy-coat. Looks great so far. In some area the crack disappeared completely where expoxy/caulk filled it all the way. If it reopens it reopens, but if not it is a nicer finish with no where to collect dirt.