Have you taken a close look at your concrete garage floor lately? If you have big renovation plans involving your garage or you’re getting your house ready to put on the market, maybe you have. Otherwise, you’ve probably ignored any problems with your garage — after all, you have a whole house to worry about.
A concrete garage floor is a sturdy, durable platform to park your cars, but it needs regular care and maintenance just like the other concrete structures around your home, including your patio, driveway and foundation. A garage floor may become damaged for many reasons, and repairs should be done as soon as possible.
Why Do Garage Floors Suffer Damage?
A garage slab usually is not poured as deeply into the ground as a foundation; rather, it is layered on top of compacted soil. The concrete can crack as the ground below the slab freezes and thaws, causing the soil to move.
Contraction joints are placed in sections throughout the slab in an effort to encourage cracking along these lines rather than throughout the slab. Regardless of whether the contraction joints were placed correctly during the installation, sometimes the frost heaves below are drastic enough to cause some deep and wide cracks.
Another reason for floor damage is moisture on the slab’s surface. When snow and ice melt, spread into the garage, then freeze and melt again, the freeze/thaw cycle causes expansion and contraction in the concrete, leading to surface crumbling and deterioration.
Types of Damage You May Encounter
Cracks are obvious to spot, but pitting and spalling also are issues you may encounter. Spalling — rough, crumbling patches on the surface — is a result of the breakdown in concrete due to the freeze/thaw cycle .
Pitting — deeper gouges or missing pieces — is usually the result of mistakes made during slab installation, including an imbalanced concrete mix or an incorrect finishing procedure. Pitting may affect large areas of the floor.
Why Refinish, Repair or Resurface?
In all cases, whether your garage floor has numerous cracks, widespread spalling or pitting, you must address the issue. When you let the slab continue to degrade, you are putting your garage at risk of water damage. Also, if the problems are not addressed, eventually you may have to rip up and replace the entire slab.
At Lift-Up Concrete, our repair professionals use techniques such as slabjacking to restore your garage floor to its previously smooth, undamaged condition. Call us today and find out more about how our experienced team can help you with your concrete garage floor.
