Fine crack in garage floor

I have a double-width garage. I presume that when they originally built the property (about 8 years ago) they laid the concrete floor in two halves.

There's a crack developed more or less centrally between the two bays, running about 80% of the distance front to back. The crack is nothing serious (yet anyway), but I'm wondering whether it's something I ought to be concerned about? If so, what should I be considering as my options?

Knowing how stingey builders are it wouldn't surprise me if they short-changed the concrete in the garage floor and this crack is due to settlement, bearing in mind that there's a car parked on one side and not the other (we are a one car family).

Andrew

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Reply to
Andrew McKay
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I should only worry about it if and when the walls of the garage start to crack. If it doesn't bother you aesthetically then leave it.

Rob Graham

Reply to
robgraham

You have a double garage and the whole is not filled by a workshop? You strange man. I would almost kill for that amount of space.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

Any short change or settlement would have presented itself much sooner than 8 years.

It may be a natural shrinkage or movement caused by seasonal changes in the ground or air moisture. Alternatively by constantly loading one part of the floor with a car, this can cause uneven loading of the slab and ground below leading to differential movement.

Unless the crack carries on getting bigger, damp starts to rise through it, or similar movement occurs in adjacent walls then it can be left alone - after all it is just a floor slab.

A cementeous grout, resin or even a polysulphide mastic can be used to fill the crack if required. Alternastively cut out a proper movement joint and fill with a flexible seal.

BTW, I find it curious how someone who knows "how stingey builders are" can promote a handyman service involving building work.

dg

Reply to
dg

The car moves out during the day, and is immediately taken over by a foldaway bench etc.

Now all I have to do is find a new home for the lawnmower and childrens bikes (see other thread about garden shed purchase).

Andrew

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Reply to
Andrew McKay

Sorry if I offended you, it wasn't intentional. However I've worked on enough houses to know that when an estate goes up it isn't unusual for the workmanship to be poor, or for mixes (etc) to be maladjusted. It is possible that one reason for the crack appearing is that I have a slightly heavier than normal car (Freelander), so if the concrete floor was in any way "thin" then I guess that would explain why the slab has moved causing this crack - it wouldn't take much short changing of concrete on the part of the original groundworker for that to become a possibility.

Advice I've received from several different places suggests that when workmen are hired for these estate homes they are paid a basic flat rate for the job. Simple logic will tell you that they ain't going to waste any more time than they have to.

As an example, a couple of weeks ago one of the dual 13A sockets in our home was playing up so I decided to fix it. Took the socket off the wall to be met by an obvious bodge job by the electrician who wired the house - the socket hadn't been off the wall since we moved in. The earth ring wasn't complete because one of the two earth wires wasn't made to the socket.

And for what it is worth - concrete isn't one of my deliverables.

Andrew

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Reply to
Andrew McKay

"Peter Ashby" wrote | shed, ... too much lego in there too.

Can one have 'too much' Lego?

I still have all of mine and am looking forward to my second childhood when I can play with it again.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

chandlery. They can be a right pain to stow but this way they are well out of the way. (The structure of the garage/workshop is gable walls built up with multibeam purlins spanning between them. This give an open roof space. Very useful)

Paul Mc Cann

Reply to
Paul Mc Cann

I'm not offended, but it just came across that you were knocking people in the area of work you were involved in - and therefore yourself.

I am involved in quality assurance of construction works, and it is very easy to criticise work that one was not involved in. In this instance was it the groundworker, his foreman, the site agent, the concrete supplier, the designer, or the quantity surveyor that was responsible for the thin concrete - or just normal wear and tear?

I have found that our clients and customers have more respect for the operative that does not make specific comments of others work, but rather give a balanced opinion based on the facts at hand.

I look for this too in those that work for us.

dg

Reply to
dg

I have a triple 8-) It is, however, slightly filled by a hibernating Alfasud.

I'd expect most domestic double garage floors to crack. That's a wide piece of concrete, and if it isn't unusually deep, then it's going to shift. If you're lucky, then they'll have put a groove down it to make a neat crack. If you're unlucky, then it's ragged and will start to break up along the edge.

Personally I'd stick some bitumen down it and ignore it.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

You can when there isn't enough space left to store the mower in the shed. Besides, being teeanagers they don't touch it any more.

I think ours should be carefully boxed up for the grandchildren and shoved in the attic. Problem is that I know as soon as I go there people will want to play with it again....

Peter

Reply to
Peter Ashby

Since we're comparing sizes...

How big is it? We spent the weekend putting the roof on mine (box profile), which is 8mx6m. Superb size, especially compared to the single I had at our last house.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to insulate it for reasonable money.

Reply to
Grunff

Ah, your problem is obviously the single car storage. It's creating uneven stresses on the concrete... you garage is in danger.

Tell you what, I'll sell you a lovely Honda Prelude, that should balance the problem out, and save the garage....

;-)

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Reply to
RichardS

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