Settled floor

[Firetacoma]

The house that we're closing on a week from Friday has a severely sinking floor... the end closest to the house has sunk down about 6" totally messing up the drainage. Would it be cheaper to rip up the entire floor, compact the soil and repour a new slab or mudjack it? Can it be mudjacked up that far?

The slab itself is in good shape... no cracks at all. The house is about 40 years old.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Have a GOOD concrete guy that you trust look at it. Pay him well for his opinion and LISTEN to what he says. You don't need internet opinions on an existing house that you have not bought yet...

By the way, is it the floor in the house or the driveway outside that is sinking???

I got confused by this: "severely sinking floor... the end closest to the house "

 

[mxgo]

Hire a soils engineer to tell you what has caused the problem and how to correct the problem.

It could be that the soils under the slab was not properly compacted, a sand lens under the slab, or a sink hole. Get a price for the consultation. The repairs could easily be repaired by injecting some slurry concrete, but the soils engineer could tell you if that would work.

Any other soil settlement in the immediate area?

From a retired civil engineer who did some soils work.

Martin

 

[Firetacoma]

Thanks for the replies.

Would a soils engineer have to drill a core to determine what's under the slab?

The sinking floor is just the slab of the garage. None of the walls have moved at all and there is no settling apparent outside of the garage floor.

If you ignore all that, I guess the root of the question is, which costs more generally? Mudjacking or slab replacement?

 

[NUTTSGT]

I wouldn't close on that house til that problem was fixed.

 

[Firetacoma]

The foundation itself is in good shape... no signs of settling. No cracking walls, doors all close fine, etc.

It's just the floor of the garage. I'm not too worried about it, but might want to have it fixed in the future.

 

[CenTex52Chevy]

I wouldn't close on the house until I knew what was going on with the garage. You don't say if the garage is attached or not, but whatever is happening to the garage could be happening to the house and just has not shown up yet.

Worst case is you could be sitting on a sink hole waiting to happen.

 

[mxgo]

I agree with the rest, who say do not close. You really do not know why it settled.

Martin

 

[Firetacoma]

It is attached... the house is 40 years old. My thought is that they got lazy because it was JUST a garage floor and didn't compact it properly.

I've never heard of a sinkhole in this part of Colorado... and I checked the mine maps and there were no shafts anywhere in this area.

The inspector didn't think it was a big deal... which I know he isn't an engineer, but he does see a lot of houses with problems. If he was concerned we probably would be more worried about it... I just want to know about fixing it, should we decide to in the future.

 

[benjamming]

Remember though that the inspector doesn't always look out for your best interests.

 

[Firetacoma]

I hired the inspector, why would he not look out for my best interests?

 

[OccupantRJ]

If you force the sellers to fix this before you buy, then it's their problem and motivation factor. If you buy, then it's YOUR problem. Even if you have a legal recourse, it almost always gets ugly. I assume the value of the home was adjusted for this situation? If so, will this amoount take care of the problem? Can you be sure? When I bought my last house, I had the price adjusted to account for a new roof, not knowing shingles had gone up so much in price since my last roofing job. It was almost double the amount by the time I had it done.

 

[Firetacoma]

We're past the deadline for inspection items. We're getting a great deal on the house... the price doesn't specifically take into consideration the garage floor.

I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take on as the new owner. Yes, it COULD be a major problem (though there is no evidence that would point to that) but most likely it was just backfilled and then poured 40 years ago without ever being compacted.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

If it is just the garage floor, more than likely is was poured over poorly compacted soil or the house has had a water runoff problem in that corner of the garage in the past. The only problem with mud jacking is that the slab might crack from the pressure. It has settled over a period of years and mudjacking occurs a little bit faster....

If it were me and I was getting a GREAT deal given market conditions, I would rip it up, add fill as required, compact it and re-pour the slab. This will allow you several other options as well, floor drains, footers for a possible later lift, conduit for control cables or additional wiring, hot and cold running water, etc.

In other words, it would not be a deal killer if it is limited to that one corner of the garge only. As long as you know it exists and have the money reserved to fix it, I'd say go for it.

 

[Firetacoma]

Thanks Georgia, that's the advice I was looking for. I'm not too familiar with mudjacking in general... but that certainly makes sense about cracking the slab by moving it suddenly (after taking 40 years to sink as far as it has).

Ballpark figure what's it cost to replace a 2 car garage floor?

 

[veedubman91]

i had issue somewhat like what you are having, my house is 51 years old and the garage is an addition but is about 40 years old. the owner just poured concrete right ontop of dirt, no stone, no rebar, no nothing. because of that the floor was sunk down in some places and also cracked and other issues. it also varied in thickness from about 2 inches in one place to 4 inches in another. we dugg out the entire floor, then dugg out more dirt to get a better final stone and concrete total. we ended up doing 4-5 inches of stone, then vapor barrier with wire ontop for strength, then about 4-5 inches concrete. granted, we did not have to have that thick of a slab but better safe then sorry, and that way it will last longer then i will, ha ha ha.

 

[OccupantRJ]

It could be a case of a sorry **** contractor digging a hole inside the garage before pouring the slab to get rid of all the construction debris, which may have rotted and settled by now. As long as you feel comfortable with things, a new slab may take care of it. Then you can go ahead and form for that in-ground scissor lift you can tell the wife you need to work on the mower, motorcycles, whatever. hehe. Seriously, those are some handy suckers! Instant lift or worktable when you need it, out of the way when you don't.

 

[Firetacoma]

The in floor scissor lift would be great for the wife's accord... I'd have to raise the roof to get my lifted Tacoma on it... it BARELY fits in as it is.

 

[katit]

I'm in exactly same shoes, but I had wall crack too. Hired engineer, he said don't do anything, just get rid of water. Make sure it doesn't stay around garage. My new house (closed today) is 50yo. I'm calling contractor today and will rip floor out. I will get new floor which is ready for epoxy and will have it poured so I install my scissor lift in-ground.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

The cost will be dependent on a lot of factors, how long to demo, access to the garage with equipment, how much fill to remove (could be debris as noted above) cost of new clean fill, the thickness of the new concrete, cost for re-bar/wire mesh/fiber, vapor barrier, termite treatment, current market conditions and even the time of the year will all influence the cost. Ask around and find three concrete companies that people trust, get a quote from all three, and take the best bid. Make sure that they all quote the same concrete psi and thickness as well as the other requirements noted above.

Enjoy your new house and start dreaming about your new garage floor!!!

 

[Firetacoma]

Thanks! Very helpful.

After 6 years in a condo surrounded by neighbors above, below, and to one side, I cannot wait to have my own garage with attached house on 1/3 of an acre!

Already looking at garage goodies (how I found this site).

 

[ScaldedDog]

Where are you in Colorado?

Mark

 

[Kevin54]

I'd have it ripped out and pour new. You could have it mudjacked, but would probably have as much in that as just pouring a new floor.

 

[Firetacoma]

Where are you in Colorado?

Mark

Boulder, the house is technically in the county just north-east of Boulder proper.

1 week until closing!