Bought a house with a 25x24ft garage in the backyard. Located in a southwest suburb of Chicago. Garage is built on a thickened edge slab. Code in the area calls for 5" min thickness with welded wire fabric halfway through the thickness. Built in 1999 and only used for storage by the previous owner, who lived here since 2008.
I should have looked closer before finalizing the sale, but I've now noticed the garage floor is slightly heaved. The concrete has two control cuts, cutting the pad into 4 square sections. The cut that is perpendicular to the garage door looks fine. No separation or anything. The cut parallel to the garage door (cuts the garage into a front and back half) has opened up a bit as shown in the pictures. It opens up more towards the middle. Out near the outside walls it looks pretty normal. The floor is also not flat across the control crack.
What do you guys recommend I do, or is there anything I can do to correct this? Garage will be used for hobbyist automotive work. Long term plan was to put a two post lift in the garage. Some thoughts I had:
-Leave it as is, making a big deal out of nothing.
-Have someone grind the area near the crack down to make the transition smooth and fill the crack in?
-Is mudjacking or foam jacking an option? Not sure it would be a good idea to put a two post lift on concrete that has been jacked. Maybe do the mud jacking to smooth out the floor and then put in two piers for the lift?
-If I plan on putting in a two post lift, cut out a larger section that is the entire width of the two post lift and pour new concrete in? Use this to make a smooth transition where the current control crack is separating.
If the garage was built with footings it would be a easier decision to tear the concrete out and put in new. But that's not as easy being a slab construction.
I should have looked closer before finalizing the sale, but I've now noticed the garage floor is slightly heaved. The concrete has two control cuts, cutting the pad into 4 square sections. The cut that is perpendicular to the garage door looks fine. No separation or anything. The cut parallel to the garage door (cuts the garage into a front and back half) has opened up a bit as shown in the pictures. It opens up more towards the middle. Out near the outside walls it looks pretty normal. The floor is also not flat across the control crack.
What do you guys recommend I do, or is there anything I can do to correct this? Garage will be used for hobbyist automotive work. Long term plan was to put a two post lift in the garage. Some thoughts I had:
-Leave it as is, making a big deal out of nothing.
-Have someone grind the area near the crack down to make the transition smooth and fill the crack in?
-Is mudjacking or foam jacking an option? Not sure it would be a good idea to put a two post lift on concrete that has been jacked. Maybe do the mud jacking to smooth out the floor and then put in two piers for the lift?
-If I plan on putting in a two post lift, cut out a larger section that is the entire width of the two post lift and pour new concrete in? Use this to make a smooth transition where the current control crack is separating.
If the garage was built with footings it would be a easier decision to tear the concrete out and put in new. But that's not as easy being a slab construction.
