Help with flooring options on damaged slab

[LakeTahoeBlaster]

Hey all, new to posting on the forum - been lurking for a while now trying to find flooring options for my damaged slab. There is a plethora of info on this site, but want to pick the brains of some fellow garage OCDers.

Here's the story in a nutshell:

I have a 2600 sq foot garage and 750 sq foot boiler room on the same 5" pour/slab with #4 rebar 12 inches on center, hydronics, 18" of compacted base rock, on top of bedrock in the Sierras that I built my home around. Literally. The guys that poured/finished it did it when the temps were in the teens, and it froze/heaved in a big way. I found out later that the general didn't use any chemicals, fibers, or heat/blankets (this was done while I was out of town and no lid/walls were around the house, I now know that the GC rushed the pour to beat a storm so he could have a flat surface to build from). I now have spalling, major cracks (1/4" wide and through the entire slab) in a couple of places, ice crystals that are on the surface, deterioration, and enough dust from the latter to drive any man insane, not to mention coating bikes/cars with a lot of dust. My question is what product to use. I put rust oleum epoxy in the boiler room before any problems had become apparent, and before any equipment had been installed; I chose this because I knew there was only foot traffic in that area, but cracks are showing through it. The shop/garage area was originally going to be polished, but when we tried to grind it, it started to look like hamburger meat, that is when I found out just how bad it was.

My fear of epoxy is that the slab is continuing to crack and I don't want to chase cracks for eternity, and polishing is out of the question. I have been looking at Race Deck and the like, but am hesitant due to water, snow, and dirt issues that may make the tile "loose" after time. Vinyl ma discolor and have the same issues with water/dirt...?

The only proper way to fix this is to rip up the entire slab, but that is the last thing that I want, and the insurance company for my general has been less than cooperative (go figure) and their settlement offer would pay for roughly half the cost to do so.

Sorry for the long-winded post, but I can use all the help I can get! Any and all input is appreciated; this has consumed a year of my life, and I can finally get going on the completion.

Here are a few pics of my "project". Excuse the mess, I haven't been able to put things away because of the lawsuit; what with all of the "experts" from the insurance company wanting to see every inch of it. If you look at the first one, you can see the major crack running across the slab.

 

[LakeTahoeBlaster]

Anyone?

 

[pstnbly]

If it were mine I would consider having the slab shot blasted and use epoxy filler to level out the bad spots, then epoxy and flake to rejection.

 

[LakeTahoeBlaster]

Thanks much - I had not thought of shot blasting; good one.

 

[paxtoneaton]

You should install hardwood floor, it would be better than any other flooring and then put carpet or mat on it. It would provide more classy look and also it's easy to clean.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Epoxy would stick to the weak surface, later the weak surface would detach from the substrate. Not fun.

Go with a modular garage tile.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[slickgt1]

How about some tile. Porcelain. I see that it is a big space, but do it once, and it will last for ever.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Hey all, new to posting on the forum - been lurking for a while now trying to find flooring options for my damaged slab. There is a plethora of info on this site, but want to pick the brains of some fellow garage OCDers.

The question is how much work you want to do and how much you want to spend. If you want to do the repair work for epoxy , Legacy Industrial is better suited to walk you through it than I am as coatings is all he does.

If however, you want to make it look good without a lot of work, a PVC Tile such as TrueLock PVC is a great solution. The Gray and Black TrueLock PVC is about $8.95/tile for a 19 5/8 square piece.

If you want to do some quick repair, use some backer rod and a product like Novallink SL prior to putting the tiles down, but that's overkill.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

I would try to densify that floor to see if you can at least get the dusting under control.
Saturate it.

 

[LakeTahoeBlaster]

Thanks for all of the input, guys - I like the densify route to keep the dusting down. I'ts eventually going to get pulled and replaced, but that will take a couple of years from the look of the lawsuit. Thanks again

 

[pop pop]

The only proper way to fix this is to rip up the entire slab, but that is the last thing that I want, and the insurance company for my general has been less than cooperative (go figure) and their settlement offer would pay for roughly half the cost to do so.

OK, you know what is required. Maybe you just need a push??
Life is too short. Get it replaced unless your GC / insurance adjustor has a remedy (you didn't say). The lawsuit is about money, not concrete. Removing it now will not change that course, just shorten your misery.

 

[Rimplecord]

the company i work for has pollished worse than that,
i would overlay the floor with something like rapid set tru and then polish that savage

but, i am quite partial to polished floors vs coatings

my .02 even though i know you said polishing is out of the question, overlaying would adress your problem quite well

 

[LakeTahoeBlaster]

OK, you know what is required. Maybe you just need a push??
Life is too short. Get it replaced unless your GC / insurance adjustor has a remedy (you didn't say). The lawsuit is about money, not concrete. Removing it now will not change that course, just shorten your misery.

Tell you what - you give me that $35,000 push (which is half the cost to rip it up and replace - without any polish/epoxy), and i'm all over it. Unless I scrap the hydronics, then it's about a $26,000 push that's needed. Bottom line is I already paid for the work to be done properly, and here I am. Structural engineers have highly recommended that it comes out; capping it will eventually wind up in the same arena, so they say.

Grinding it down to polish makes the surface look like ground chuck, and that won't fix the hollow spots under the slab caused from heaving anyway. Thanks to everyone who has given opinions, but I don't need a "push" to pay for my slab twice. Never mind the fact that the walls will inevitably get hammered from the removal of the slab either.

 

[hickory]

Very amused by all of these Sales Pitches for Recommendations,
Here's what you need to do
Diamond Grind the Floor with Edco Dual with 6 Blocks, Hooked up to A Blastrac,
Diamond Grind Again with 7 Inch Attached, to Blastrac, stop and shake filter every 200sqft
Route out the crack with a Crack chasing blade on a 4 inch Grinder hold Blastrac behind grinder for dust
Blow entire area with echo gas blower preffered, but ellectric will work
Now for filling the Crack, you have 3 options
1. Fill with Rapid Set mixed like a milk shake with SIKA GLUE 1/10 Water Ratio
Seconds after painting the crack with SIKA GLU OR QUIKQRETE mixed 1/3 water ratio
overflow the joint like a mushroom, dont worry , you gonna detail all patch work with the 7inch attached to the blastrac

2.Fill with 100% Solids Epoxy ,overflow the joint like a mushroom,this method takes 2 applications, dont worry , you gonna detail all patch work with the 7inch attached to the blastrac

3.Saw Cut Crack 3 inches away from crack on both sides of crack, then sawcut L shaped sections one inch wide, 4 inches one way then 4 inches other way & 2 inches deep, every 12 - 16 inches along the crack one way, then do the same on other side but the L shapes saw cuts pointing the opposite direction , then for the just get some a couple rebar and Cut every 22 inches, bend 4 inches one way on one end then 4 the other on other end, Demo all Concrete in between saw cuts, and clean very good, then set rebar in there and fill with a Joint Filler TYPE of Polyurea out, the Type in the Saw Cuts in your Local HD STores, overflow the joint like a mushroom, then Grind 2-3"s at a time and use your Concrete Slab as a Guage
if you pocket is low, just use blu bag of rapid set and pour wet concrete to wet Prime Surfaces,

the above method is called concrete stiching, but is over kill if you ask me,

all the you need to do is number 1, i have garage's & warhouse's that i have done 10 years ago with these methods, and they look like they were done yesterday

for the materials
you can go with
APF
Vaporsolve
400 100% Solids
Broadcoast to Refusal
Scrape
Sand with beat up sand paper on big floor sanging machine
blow
apply 1 Coat of the 600 to 900 Novolac Epoxy in the water tank Area's
Apply 1 Coat of 400 UVR in in the Rest of area
then top that off with the APF Polyurea 5001 or Polyaspartics 7500

or u can use Verstaile Building Products
4150 Vapor Stop Tinted
Broadcast Flake
Scrape
Sand
Blow
5100 Polyaspartic 2 gallon kit 100% Solids
thin with 10 % xylen

not sure if VPB has a FDA Approved top coat like APF,

PS i have this one job i did 10 years ago, where the slab had a crack going threw the center , crack was half inch wide to 1 inch, starting at one point going to the other, to top it off, it was raised 1 Inch on one side, from a 40 ft euculytous tree 6 feet from the garage planted 30 years ago when house was built, i spent 1 day grinding down the slab with a dual edco with 2 100 pound bags of portland cement , then did the Number 1 method with the rapid set, and it doesnt even have a hairline crack, and i did light flake, i have pics and the reference that anyone can call to prove it :} will post the pics later in the week, gotta find them