How do you quickly fix a garage floor that has heaved and cracked?
Question:We don't have the money to go through and cut out the entire garage floor and replace it. The garage floor has cracked and heaved in some places, and some places the concrete was never there.
My idea was to cut or bash out the areas that have heaved higher, and then overlay with a new concrete.
Would this work? Is there a better solution? The house and garage are both very old. Looking for something that would not be expensive and make the garage more usable.
Answers:
Your idea is along the correct lines. I poured a concrete slab yesterday.
Follow these steps for a very cheap but passable looking job:
1. Bash out high spots
2. Wet / wash the floor (right before putting down mortar)
3. Buy type S Mortar from Home Depot / Lowes
4. Use mortor mixed with water to make floor smooth and level.
5. Paint the garage floor to hide colour differences, etc.
Follow these steps for the cheapest best looking repair job ever:
1. Bash out high spots as you said.
2. Wet your garage floor until water no longer readily soaks in. This will keep your new floor from drying out from below before the mortar can cure.
3. Roll on a "bonding coat" of Type S portland about as thick as paint (Type S portland is about 70 lb per bag and costs about $8 per bag. One bag should be enough for your floor. It is NOT the same as type S mortar mentioned above and is often called masonry cement)
4. Roll out chicken wire over the garage floor. If you do not use chicken wire your thin coat of mortar (at least 1 in thick) will crack. You want to overlap by several inches. Go ahead and use up the entire roll for this project. Too much never hurts and some other type so projects call for as much as 10 layers.
5. Mix 3 parts sand (costs about $28 for 2000 pounds from your local paving place but make two trips so you don't hurt your car suspension. Home Depot will charge you way too much so don't buy your sand from them) to one part portland cement type I or II by volume. (Normally sand is about 80 lb per cubic foot and portland I/II is 94 so if you buy 2000 lb of sand you will need 8 bags of portland (they come in 94 lb bags). Also add a bag of lime if they have it, otherwise skip it. ONLY MAKE THIS WET ENOUGH TO SPREAD, EXTRA WATER WEAKENS THE MIX AND CAUSES SHRINKING
6. Spread it evenly over the chicken wire and smooth it level with a 2x4. Also add some expansion joints at this stage if you have a big slab. You can do this by embedding a rope in the surface which you later pull out.
7. After it starts to dry use push broom to make a nice broomed texture.
8. After brooming place a cheap plastic painters tarp over it.
9. Let it cure for at least a week. If it starts to dry out mist it with a hose.
10. Tada!
PS: This should take you about 1 day and cost you somewhere around $150. You will not find a cheaper professional looking fix. Next most expensive option is to pour a 4 inch thick coat of concrete. To do this have the concrete delivered already mixed and just spead it out evenly with a 2x4 before it dries. This third option might not work for you because of the extra height and cost but if it was my garage it is what I would go for if I could.
First thing you need to do is find the cause of the cracking or any repair you make will just crack again. If it cracked just because it's old, it might not be too bad of a fix. Or it might be tree roots or something that's causing the damage. You might be able to tear up the old floor, pour a slab and then put a new floor down.
well,are you sure it's done moving?if not,that won't help,maybe it didn't raise,maybe the perimiter dropped,that's more common,the guys who pump in sand could raise it all to one level,it's not cheap but works,first though you do need to determine exactly what is causing the problem before you waste m oney on something that may not even work
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