Fix a sloping concrete floor?

[marketermac]

I bought a house a year ago with a large polebarn that is acting as my garage. After a few months we got a fairly bad rainstorm and I found water running in from the garage door through the garage back to the far corner. When I investigated it, the concrete slab that half the door sits on appears to have settled and now slopes back into the garage, leaving a gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. When rainwater hits the door, it rolls down, hits the concrete, and ends up inside.

I've now had 3 local concrete guys come out to look at it, after reading some threads here I thought that mudjacking might be the way to go (the section that is sloping is about 15x10, the rest of the floor is fairly level). None of them have called me back (this has been over the course of a few months) so either they don't like me or this isn't a problem that can be solved with mudjacking.

Anyone have any idea's how I can fix this? You can see some of the water damage on the OSB to the left of the garage door.


Some pics of what is happening:

 

[ARBCobra]

Can try mud jacking where they drill small holes in the top of the slab and inject a slury underneath to raise the slab.

 

[SunsetsAndFriends]

Looks like if you could get the concrete under the door leveled then the garage door would seal and rain water would not enter. Is this correct?

 

[James-W]

I was watching a television show several years ago where they do home repairs. The basement floor was not level and they wanted to do something to level it up. They ended up pouring a whole bunch of this liquid that was really thick, sort of like honey, and it was self leveling. It took a couple days for the liquid to cure but when it did get hard the whole floor was level. I have no idea what that stuff was called, and I have no idea what it would cost, but it sure seemed to work good. Possibly something like that would work for you.

 

[Dr Stan]

I was watching a television show several years ago where they do home repairs. The basement floor was not level and they wanted to do something to level it up. They ended up pouring a whole bunch of this liquid that was really thick, sort of like honey, and it was self leveling. It took a couple days for the liquid to cure but when it did get hard the whole floor was level. I have no idea what that stuff was called, and I have no idea what it would cost, but it sure seemed to work good. Possibly something like that would work for you.

That sounds a lot like thin set. I've seen it used to level a floor that was in turn covered with tile. Not sure how it would stand up in a garage without being covered with tile or something similar.

One question. Does the garage have footings? Sounds to me it does not.

As to leveling the floor, instead of calling Concrete contractors look for someone who levels buildings.

 

[matt_i]

Since its a polebarn, I would saw out (then breakout) the sloping part, dowel the edges, recompact the stone base, reapply vapor barrier, and pour a new, level slab in the same spot. 10x15 is not bad. You can also have a little step-down pocket that ensures the garage door is slightly lower to alleviate this in the future.

Also I'd consider getting the OSB up off the concrete no matter what, put on a piece of Azek or a pressure treated edge.

 

[marketermac]

Looks like if you could get the concrete under the door leveled then the garage door would seal and rain water would not enter. Is this correct?

Correct.

That sounds a lot like thin set. I've seen it used to level a floor that was in turn covered with tile. Not sure how it would stand up in a garage without being covered with tile or something similar.

One question. Does the garage have footings? Sounds to me it does not.

As to leveling the floor, instead of calling Concrete contractors look for someone who levels buildings.

Going to show my ignorance here, but I know nothing about concrete work or foundation. How can I check? Also any idea how I go about finding "building levelers"? My Google searches are turning up some less then useful results.

Since its a polebarn, I would saw out (then breakout) the sloping part, dowel the edges, recompact the stone base, reapply vapor barrier, and pour a new, level slab in the same spot. 10x15 is not bad. You can also have a little step-down pocket that ensures the garage door is slightly lower to alleviate this in the future.

Also I'd consider getting the OSB up off the concrete no matter what, put on a piece of Azek or a pressure treated edge.

This was also my thought, I was just trying to keep costs down. As far as the OSB you're absolutely correct, and that should happen sooner rather then later.

 

[SunsetsAndFriends]

marketermac - cutting out the sloped concrete and re-pouring will be the cheapest and best solution, when you factor your time and wear and tear on your body. You could use a laser lever and a grinder to level the concrete under the door. But you will spend hours upon seemingly endless hours doing it. In the end you will not be as happy with it. You could use a self leveling topping to level the floor but doing this well takes practice, so you would be better hiring that work out. The right craftsman could do it but you will pay for that level of skill. On the other hand, you could rent a gas concrete saw and cut up the section in a day. Order some stone, etc as needed. With a few days work you could have a new section of floor done right. As others have said, you will want to pin it to the existing slab and use vapor barrier.


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[marketermac]

marketermac - cutting out the sloped concrete and re-pouring will be the cheapest and best solution, when you factor your time and wear and tear on your body. You could use a laser lever and a grinder to level the concrete under the door. But you will spend hours upon seemingly endless hours doing it. In the end you will not be as happy with it. You could use a self leveling topping to level the floor but doing this well takes practice, so you would be better hiring that work out. The right craftsman could do it but you will pay for that level of skill. On the other hand, you could rent a gas concrete saw and cut up the section in a day. Order some stone, etc as needed. With a few days work you could have a new section of floor done right. As others have said, you will want to pin it to the existing slab and use vapor barrier.


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Thanks, this is the route I'm planning now. It'll have to wait until the spring I think, it's under 20 degrees here now and the forced air gas burner out there just took a **** this week.

How hard could pouring concrete be?

 

[chrispitude]

Thanks, this is the route I'm planning now. It'll have to wait until the spring I think, it's under 20 degrees here now and the forced air gas burner out there just took a **** this week.

How hard could pouring concrete be?

Is there a PolyLevel dealer near you?

http://www.polylevel.com/

They did an impressive job on my buddy's sunken garage floor (fill settlement). He showed me a chunk of the cured foam, and I was surprised how hard it was. Apparently it's got great support characteristics once it cures under pressure and exerts its lifting force.

 

[pauls340]

If you want to self level it yourself, find a Dist. for MG-Krete Lock the Top. Minimal prep; clean n dry, grind the surface and vacuum. As fast as you can mixup a 5gl bucket with a swivel mixer and drill, you pour out the product and then the next bucket and then the next bucket and so on. It will self level as deep as you need it. It gets over 7800 psi and is completely impervious to anything you spill on it. It's non-cementitious and no water, except to clean your tools. I did a nasty 100 yr old warehouse and it came out awesome AND waterproof. You can also color it any color you want. It covers ~16sqft @ 1/4" per bag and I think it's about $45.00. We've completely stopped using Ardex and mapei since we found Lock the Top. There's a youtube video showing a 10# hammer test which is kool. Good Luck.

 

[marketermac]

If you want to self level it yourself, find a Dist. for MG-Krete Lock the Top. Minimal prep; clean n dry, grind the surface and vacuum. As fast as you can mixup a 5gl bucket with a swivel mixer and drill, you pour out the product and then the next bucket and then the next bucket and so on. It will self level as deep as you need it. It gets over 7800 psi and is completely impervious to anything you spill on it. It's non-cementitious and no water, except to clean your tools. I did a nasty 100 yr old warehouse and it came out awesome AND waterproof. You can also color it any color you want. It covers ~16sqft @ 1/4" per bag and I think it's about $45.00. We've completely stopped using Ardex and mapei since we found Lock the Top. There's a youtube video showing a 10# hammer test which is kool. Good Luck.

Just looked into this for a minute and it seems to fit the bill. Your picture makes it look a lot more liquid then the videos on YouTube??

 

[TractorJeff]

Thanks! Wife's 2 car garage could use that stuff! I'll look into it too!

 

[pauls340]

The shiny look is five minutes after we finished. Every unit you pour out blends into the first and the cold joints go away. In this pic you can see the MGK drying enough for us to sawcut the control joints back. We have ground smooth the edge down to zero prior to epoxy coating.