Garage Floor Crack

[amateurfishing]

anyone have garage floor concrete cracking like this and is it a bad thing?

[Down Deep]

I don't think there are any slabs that don't develop cracks over time. You should fill the crack otherwise water salt and other debris will continue to drain into the crack. I've used pourable Quickcrete on both my driveway and garage slab. Seems to work fine. After several years the cracks are still filled and look good. Pourable Quickcrete comes in a bottle. Wait till it warms up, blow out the crack and fill. Very easy.

[reddog]

Concrete does two things: it gets hard, and it cracks. Control joints help, but if they are not sawed in the first 12-24 hours, they are for the most part cosmetic. Once concrete cures (if it hasnt been cut) the shrinkage cracks are already in the concrete to stay, and its just a matter of time before they open up.

[Fairchild_82]

yeah you can't avoid that

[hawgchaser]

I've often quoted a statement a concrete guy made to me 30 years ago: "Concrete is either cracked, cracking, or getting ready to crack." Seal the crack so water doesn't seep in and turn the crack into a heave when it freezes.

[cavalierowner]

Like others have said, concrete cracks...it's just what it does. I would have a tendency to caulk the crack with silicone caulk rather than a cementitious material so if the concrete moves at all, the silicone will move too.

Years ago I had to laugh because one of the young structural engineers I worked with was building a garage and decided he was going to pour a floor that wouldn't crack. He used a mat of #4 bars at something like 12" each way in addition to the standard 6x6 mesh. He used a very low slump concrete and tested the slump from each load off the truck. There were probably a few more things he did that I don't remember any more, but he still got a crack!

[amateurfishing]

thanks for the info, sounds like a summer project this year

[amateurfishing]

would hydraulic cement be a proper remedy for fixing when it gets warmer?

[Archtek]

If you want to keep it sealed against water penetration, you need to caulk it because, in all likelihood, it will move again. I would suggest a good quality construction grade silicone sealant.

[smalliehunter]

I have cracks like that in my basement floor. Would you recommend the same fix for those cracks as well?

[Archtek]

Unless you have something unusual going on in your basement, such as a high water table or poor soil, and they haven't changed over the years, you can patch with almost anything. Normally the cracks in a basement floor are shrinkage cracks and don't move any more.

[slammer]

Get a tube of a product called Fulcrum. Its made for filling cracks. Application is easy with a caulk gun and when dry it is flexible and seals the crack.