Installing a 2 post lift on spalling concrete. Need advice.

[Andrew Drizmo]

My concrete is spalling and pitting. Garage is 650sqft.
I attached pictures.

I'm wanting to put in a 2 post lift. Obviously not where the spalling is.

From what I am seeing the options are to either break the concrete out and re-pour an area for the lift or just get the pad re-poured ( quoted $10k for a complete re-pour).

Not sure what to do, first time home owner and just want a comfortable space to build my vette!

 

[landlord30]

I personally would not worry about the appearance. Do you know how thick the floor is where you want the lift? I'd drill a few small holes to check the thickness. Once you know that and decide on a lift, see what thickness is recommended. If its not thick enough, I would cut and break out areas for the lift. Dig the subfloor deeper to needed depth, key in rebar to your existing floor and pour new concrete.

Save as much money for you car, you'll more enjoyment out of that.

 

[Andrew Drizmo]

I personally would not worry about the appearance. Do you know how thick the floor is where you want the lift? I'd drill a few small holes to check the thickness. Once you know that and decide on a lift, see what thickness is recommended. If its not thick enough, I would cut and break out areas for the lift. Dig the subfloor deeper to needed depth, key in rebar to your existing floor and pour new concrete.

Save as much money for you car, you'll more enjoyment out of that.

Thank you. Great advice. I'm not worried about the look just not a fan of all the dust it puts out. I am using a hardener (L3000) this weekend to see if it fixes the issue.

 

[Armorpoxy]

Hi, if you want to just stop dusting apply two coats of acrylic sealer. Hardener (densifier) since it penetrates won’t do much of anything to stop dusting. We carry the sealer if you go that route. Sealers are good to stop dusting at a low cost.

 

[purediesel]

I'm not a pro at all but to me I would think that the integrity of that slab is in question. It could also be that there was too much slurry that came to the top and that is causing the spalling. Since you don't know anything about the slab you can't tell if its 3000psi or 5000psi. Most lifts require a min of 4" and 4000psi. At minimum I would find out the thickness by drilling a small hole, and if its think enough you could possibly grind down the spot for the posts as long as they end up somewhat level to each other. For piece of mind i would just cut out 3'x3' pads and pour 6" of concrete with 1/2" rebar 1' o.c.

 

[UMDSmith]

My old garage only ended up having between 3.5" and 4" of 3500psi fiber reinforced. To make sure I didn't have to worry, after talking to the lift manufacturer, I cut out 2'x2' squares, dug down 12", keyed it slightly under the existing slab, put rebar under the slap and then down into the ground, and then poured new concrete (3500psi fiber reinforced). Once that cured, I lifted a 4000lb vehicle without issue multiple times.

 

[65ranchero]

I agree that the minimum to do is drill test holes and check the thickness
but the proper way is to see what the foot print of the lift will be and the cut a 3x3' or 4x4'
square cut it out and add rerod then pour a 6" 4000lb pier for each lift leg to stand on.

 

[purediesel]

The reason for your pad to be so large is because you'll have to look into your lift manufacture's recommendations for distance to a crack, control joint or expansion joint to your lift pads. Most lifts require to be 6-8" away from any of these.