How to fill gap between concrete garage floor and driveway pavers?

We just replaced our 40 year old, badly cracked, asphalt driveway with pavers. The edge of the concrete garage floor has a lip that slopes down to the driveway. The lip is about 3" wide and drops about 1.5". The garage door closes just before the lip so that all of the drop is outside the garage when the door is closed.

The old asphalt driveway had a crown about 1 foot from the egde of the garage, probably as a water barrier.

With the pavers, the grade is continous right up to the edge or the garage floor, which leaves the edge of the last row of pavers sticking up about .75". I am concerned that this will be a good place to stub a toe or stumble.

The guys who installed the pavers suggested getting something they called "self-leveling concrete epoxy" to fill in the trough from the end of the pavers for about 2". The problem is that they could not agree on what the product was called and whether it is a liquid or a powder.

Can someone suggest a product that I can use to fill in this little trough that will (a) look like the concrete garage floor (blend in) and (b) adhere to the existing concrete?

Thanks

Reply to
Prof Wonmug
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The pavers should be flush or below the outside edge of the concrete lip to prevent wanter/snow/ice from flooding into the garage. They did a piss-poor job and are trying to get you to fix it.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Agreed. Call them back and make them re-do it right. And if your old driveway had a hump for water diversion, you may need one of those slit drain things at the foot of the concrete apron by the door, draining sideways to daylight or a drywell, off to the side of the driveway. Does the driveway slope toward the garage, by any chance?

First heavy rain will tell you for sure.

Reply to
aemeijers

The pavers should be flush or below the outside edge of the concrete lip to prevent wanter/snow/ice from flooding into the garage. They did a piss-poor job and are trying to get you to fix it.

Make that three votes for a bad job that needs to be corrected.

Reply to
Colbyt

It sounds like the old garage door had a one foot wide concrete section that was pitched and extended out past where the door closed. That is normal. What is not clear is, did they remove this and bring the pavers all the way to the door edge? If so, the easy solution is to remove some pavers and repour a new concrete section.

If they left the concrete section there and have the pavers sticking up 3/4" where they meet it, then you have a bigger problem. If there is enough pitch, you could still go with the first suggestion, removing the existing one foot section of concrete, then repouring it to meet the pavers. That assumes you still have enough pitch so water doesnt' flow into the garage.

Either way, whoever did this blew it and they should be responsible for fixing it. Being so stupid to not have the first course of pavers meet the existing critical boundary, one can only wonder what else they did that was incorrect and could lead to even bigger failures.

Reply to
trader4

Make it four votes. I get minor ruts in pavers where tires track and my pavers said they will come back and repair again for second year running - ruts getting smaller each year. I wouldn't have complained but they called and asked. They said warranty does not matter, their job will look good no matter what it takes.

Reply to
Reno

I appreciate the concern expressed by everyone about the pavers being installed incorrectly, but I'd really like an answer to my question regarding the best filler material and method.

As for the installation, they did what I asked them to do. The pavers are at exactly the same elevation as the old asphalt was. We've never had a problem with drainage or water in the garage. I ran a lot of water over the pavers and none gets into the garage. It is draining exactly as it did with the asphalt. It's actually draining a little better than before. We used to get a bit of a puddle in one corner. That doesn't happen now.

The "gap" I am trying to fill is exactly the same as it was with the asphalt. The difference is that the asphalt was rounded so the gap did not have a sharp edge. The pavers have a square edge, which is more of a problem.

In any case, they told me what they were going to do and I signed off on it. I can call them, but I don't think it's fair to say it was done wrong.

Reply to
Prof Wonmug

Okay, alternative theory here- clue is the rounded asphalt (which one side of my driveway also has)- has maybe your garage apron settled since it was poured? Even if it was originally sloped, maybe it slopes a lot more now? Proper cure may be mud-jacking or replacing the existing apron.

But as to your question- no, none of that filler or patch stuff will do what you need. That apron has years of rubber and oil grime on it, and nothing will bond well to it. And the edge of the patch will be thin and flake away. If you can demo the old apron yourself, getting a new one poured will be cheap, since it is basically self-forming at this point. Box in the ends if needed, add strips of joint material along the long sides, and screed off to garage floor and pavers to get the slope.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Either a whole new apron as suggested or follow an earlier response and grind down the edge of the pavers.

Why didn't you have them put the pavers in flush with the apron - I'm curious?

Reply to
hrhofmann

The garage is 50-60 years old. I don't think it hasn't settled in the

20 years we've been here. The overall grade is still good. Water in the garage drains out and rain never flows in. There is a bit of a slope to the right, which is where the pavers form the largest edge.

Not even if I grind or sand it down a bit?

Yeah, I was worried about that.

The garage floor slopes very gently from back to front. About an inch before it gets to the back edge of the front wall (ie, the front edge of the garage door when closed), it starts into a rounded edge about

3" wide that drops the elevation 1-2" or so and protrudes 1-2" beyond the front of the garage door.

I would need to cut the concrete for the full width of the garage and about 2-3" deep. Probably just where the rounded corner starts, which is about in the middle of where the garage door meets the floor.

Reply to
Prof Wonmug

The pavers are mostly concrete with a fairly thin top layer (.5-1"). If I grind them, the concrete will show through.

They *are* flush with (or just slightly below) the high point of the apron. A level placed anywhere across the full width of the garage slows a constant gradual slope in the right direction. The problem is that the front edge of the garage is rounded and drops 1-2". If they made it flush with the bottom, the slope would be wrong. If they make it flush with the hiugh point, which is what they did, then there is the gap that we have now. There was also a gap with the asphalt, but it was less noticeable because they put in a crown about 2-3 feet down the driveway. I didn't want a crown in the pavers.

Reply to
Prof Wonmug

To correct this properly: Cut the asphalt with a concrete saw to make it square (take off the rounded edge). Then install another row or two of pavers to make everything flush from the concrete to the asphalt (not so much level as FLUSH).

This may be more than you want to do, but it is the correct way.

Hank

Reply to
Hustlin' Hank

You want to look for epoxy polymer concrete, or epoxy resin cement. This stuff is not cheap, but is tough. They come in one gallon or five gallon containers; are two part systems (base plus hardener) and need to be mixed well before application. You need to find a product that is castable.

As for the installation: Either you, or they, goofed. Adjoining grades should meet at the beveled elevation (end third of radius from finished grade) not finished grade. The minimum that should have been done was to have the abutting pavers cut at a 45 degree angle to match the concrete's radius. In your case you stated that there was a 1.5" drop and that is where the 45 degree cuts should have been made.

The last row of pavers may still be cut.

If you plan on filling with epoxy the minimum thickness you will want is .75 inch on the edge adjoining the concrete, and do not just pour the epoxy in the gap. You need to form the edge. There are various ways of doing this and is a different subject.

Reply to
[SMF]

Long haul I'm betting anything added to the gap is eventually going to come loose. Lowering the pavers would be the simplest, even if it's just lowering a few rows gradually.

Reply to
jamesgangnc

There are two products that we use and have excellent results on the type of work you are considering. You do need to get the old concrete basically clean or abraded.

Jet Set:

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Mapei:
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at the Planitop listings. We've been using Planitop X

There are other primers and bonding agents - Larsen's is one of the best, but freeze/thaw cycles will require rework every few years. The Jet and Mapei have been holding about 3 years at this point with no signs of degradation.

Reply to
DanG

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