Concrete Garage Floor Question

Hi folks,

I'm in a cold climate - eastern Canada.

The apron (for lack of a better term) of my 30 year-old concrete garage floor is starting to chip rather badly. You can see the nature of the chipping here:

formatting link
Any ideas on how best to not only stop the decay, but how it might be returned to its original condition?

Thanks,

Dave

Reply to
Dave
Loading thread data ...

Do you let a salt laden car thaw there in the winter? That would explain cause, as to how to stop it, if that is the case cover it, stop doing that or at least wash the car off before garaging it (I've lived in cold places and know how impractical that is.) Even hosing the garage out is a bit impractical as the driveway would then become sheet ice. As to how to fix it, pouring a new one over it would work, unless you are unwilling to give up height inside.

Reply to
Eric in North TX

Classic salt spalling. Water and salt get in the pores, freeze, and a chip gets blown out. If rest of garage slab is in good shape, you could get a price on having front edge of slab cut off, and about 18" of the asphalt driveway, and have a proper new sloped apron poured there. They do sell patch material, but on a sloped high-impact spot like that, it is not likely to last very well.

If it is any consolation, here in SW Michigan, I have stripes of pits like that, inside the garage, under the tire tracks and body drip lines. Salt sucks.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Stopping is to keep the salt and slush from getting on it. Returning it to original condition is a bit more difficult. It requires a jack hammer, dump truck, cement mixer, trowels, etc. For the apron of a garage, you may be able to protect it with a sealer.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Dave wrote in news:7061c423-0543-4ec3-8987- snipped-for-privacy@z31g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:

Well I never lived in eastern Canada. Just in VT for like 25yrs, 45th latitude, exits marked Exit/Sortie, yadda yadda.

Salt.

Reply to
Red Green

Thanks for the replies. Yes, we park the car in there. It certainly isn't a practice that we would want to stop. And I agree - washing the car off each and every time isn't practical. However, I had been neglecting any real protection for the slab over the past five years or so.

So would that be the idea? Bring in an expert to cut it back and pour in new? I wasn't sure how well new concrete would adhere to the old stuff once it was cut back.

I assume that proper care after would help to extend its life properly?

Reply to
Dave

quoted text -

yeah and they should pin the old concrete to the new provided its thick enough.

at this point do clean remove all loose material and do the top and bond coating. let cure for at least a month before coating with something like thompsons water seal so water and salt cant penetrate and cause future damage.

in the future you can always replace the floor if needed before say home resale

Reply to
bob haller

- Hide quoted text -

Apologies for my ignorance - what exactly is top and bond coating?

Reply to
Dave

No need for it to adhere- you would be adding a new joint at the cut line, with a suitable material in the crack, and 2-3 grooves headed downhill from the new joint to keep it drained. If your part of Canada follows similar practice to the states, most concrete flatwork companies give free rough estimates. Invite a couple over, show them the problem, and see what they say. You just want to make sure the new slab won't screw up the drainage of the main garage slab. Around here, there is usually a half-inch or so drop at the edge of the garage slab, and if garage slab slopes properly, most of the salty water flows right out the door. Your problem is nothing an experienced concrete guy has not seen before.

And yes, there are sealers you can slop on to fresh concrete once it cures a month, and reapply every year or two. So if you don't get it fixed quick, wait till spring. You want any new concrete to be good and hard before salt season starts.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Moving on a tangent, why do you garage the car? I live the other side of The Pond where the winter temperature rarely gets to -17C but is frequently sub zero. Putting an auto after use in a garage encourages those little russet creatures to invade the vehicle.

I deliberately leave our regularly used autos on the drive to avoid that little mite that lives in the garage.

We do have a '57 motor sat in there that I've not used for a while, motor bikes and KIDS' junk! The garage would fit both my wife's and my motor which I chose not to do. The concrete in the near 30 year old garage is fine.

My younger kid's motor (Peugeot 306) that has been in the family for over 8 years and is over 12 years old has now done just short of 100 kmiles has no surface rust but some in the seams of the bonnet over the engine; my motor, a Ford Focus that is almost 8 years old, has evidence that the russet bug has attacked the bonnet surface as a result of paint chips (only) and has over 150 kmiles on the clock; my wife's 206cc that is just 2.5 years old has no evidence of the russet bug.

Before you ask!, my elder son has no desire to own an auto though he has a license.

Reply to
Clot

y?- Hide quoted text -

top and bond is a special kinda concrete made to be thin, it recoats damaged surfaces. not as good as a new slab but often does the job

Reply to
bob haller

Because I detest digging the car out of snow cover, and even when it isn't snowing, scraping the frost off the windows?

My attached garage is not heated, other than what leaks out from the imperfect house walls, and the hot engine block and other moving parts that the car brings in from the cold. It freezes in there, but seldom freezes hard. You are correct that thermal cycling promotes rust, but I put that under the chapter heading of an acceptable tradeoff.

Now if I could just find a cost-effective way to make the driveway shovel itself when it snows.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Well for starters , stop putting salt on it...I don't get the need for a completely clear and dry driveway in the winter..A paved drive will melt off by itself in a few days unless it is below zero....In my gravel drive I always pack down the first snow of the season by driving over it with the plow truck and only plow after I have a good base...NO SALT and I only sand if it gets icy like after freezing rain or sleet , ect....ALOT less damage to the drive and lawn....I put studded snows on SWMBO's car anyway for my peace of mind while she is commuting and I drive a 4X4...If you live in snow country you should run snowtires and lay off the salt....IMHO...

Reply to
benick

I don't put salt on my driveway. I do, however, drive on the public roads, and they put plenty (sometimes way too much) salt on those. Entire lower side of car and suspension ends up covered with an ice-snow-salt slurry, and when it isn't cold enough to keep all that crud frozen, it drips on the garage floor.

If I had a barn, I'd keep an old beater 4x4 in it for the 3-4 weeks a year the roads are really bad, but since that is not an option, I make do with a snow blower for my steeply sloped asphalt driveway, and paying attention to what I am doing when out driving. Driving on the snowpack is not an option with a sloped driveway and an automatic transmission. DAMHIKT. And yes, if I can expose even a third of the asphalt surface, half a day of sunlight will burn the drive clear if it isn't below 10 degrees or so.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

I was refering to the garage apron in the OP pic with the stop putting salt on it comment...That damage was caused by salting it alot.....My garage floor hasn't got any pits YET from salt dripping off the cars but it is only

3 years old...Sloped drives are a PITA but studded snowtires help ALOT...I put studded snows on my wifes '06 Elantra with auto tranny and toss a couple of tubes of sand in the trunk and she goes everywhere I would with my 4X4 truck here in the hills of Maine....I don't know how many times I thought I was gonna have to pull her out into the road and warmed the truck up , got the chain out , only to have her buzz out of the garage and out to the road on her way to work 40 miles away and back home again in a snowstorm...LOL...
Reply to
benick

There are companies that do concrete resurfacing, specializing in garage and driveways. Get an estimate from a few of them and get references to work that they have done in the past.

The new salt replacements being used in eastern Canada are even worse than salt as far as causing damage. The best protection that I have heard of on a good surface is to have a high quality sealer applied to the concrete after proper preparation of the concrete. This is not a one time application and requires maintenance (re-application every year or two) to maintain its effectiveness.

Good Luck Another Eastern Canada guy.

Reply to
Worn Out Retread

For a great part of Eastern Canada, -17C is just a cool day and nothing to worry about.

I don't know the location of the person that started this thread but sometimes the garage interior is much colder than -17C in some parts of Eastern Canada.

Reply to
Worn Out Retread

Studded snow tires are not legal in a lot of places due to the damage they cause to roads.

If your driveway is oriented in such a fashion that the sun gets a chance to melt the snow off your driveway, you are lucky. Not everyone is in that situation. I have had to use an axe to get ice off of the driveway because the sun was just warm enough to melt the little snow that was left after show shoveling getting as much snow off as possible getting right down to the surface. There is however always a very fine layer that you cannot get off. That layer gets heated by the sun but not long enough to run off then it freezes hard with mid afternoon temperatures in the -20C or colder so salt will not work. After a few weeks of this, ice is starting to thicken on the drive and start backing up the slant. Sooner or later it is several inches thick. If not removed by smashing the ice and getting it off the driveway, a freak rain storm could cause some real damage.

My neighbour across the street having a southern exposure, had very little problem with ice and snow. The amount of sunlight that your driveway gets in the winter makes a very big difference in the problems that winter poses.

Reply to
Worn Out Retread

Here in Maine Studs are legal to run from Oct. 1 thru May 1....I have never heard of a state in the snow belt outlawing studded snow tires all together , EXCEPT during the summer months.....Please enlighten us with an example or link....Thanks....Exactly what damage is done to the road by studds ??? Here they are illegal in the summer because the tires get hot and the studs will fly out at highway speeds and could be dangerous , not for the damage to the roads...

Reply to
benick

Here in Ontario, studs have been banned almost from the year that they first came out. I don't know of any province that allows them but there could be some.

What damage is done by the studs? You're kidding....right!

Reply to
Worn Out Retread

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.