The back end of my garage floor settled (opposite end of the doors). You can still see the chalk line the concrete people put on the wall and the floor is about 3-4″ inches below that line.*
To accomodate this settling, the whole floor cracked across the middle so the door end of the garage has not moved much (it’s raised up a bit).
Now each winter we get a nice pond in the middle of the garage from the snow melt (We call it Lake Lacrimose from the Series of Unfortunate Event books).
I think the whole floor should be removed and regraded and replaced. Is that so? Or could we pour more concrete on the floor to regain the proper pitch?
Thanks,
Mark
* The wall at the head of the garage extends down about 8 feet because it is the wall of the basement as well so the footings, which would have normally preventing the settling, are quite a distance away from the floor.
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Edited 4/7/2005 8:13 am ET by Mark
Replies
The real question here is "Why is it settling so much?". Until that is taken care of the new one will do the same thing.
Many questions have to asked and answered before any one here can help.
1: You say that this wall is part of the basement wall. Is there any signs of settling in the basement? Rest of the house?
2: What kind of style of house is it?
3: How many floors is above the basement?
4: How old is the house?
5: Is this part of an addition?
6: What type of soil is this house sitting on?
Others with more knowledge in this area will be adding more questions to this list.
There are a 101 reasons why a building will settle with most of the problems dealing with the subgrade and water.
You tried to make a picture by using the computer but it didn't come out very good. See if you can take some pictures of the problem. Take pictures of both sides of that wall and any other spots where there are signs of settling and post them here. Also take some pictures of the general area outside the house.
More then likely You will have to get an engineer out there to take a look at it. Be ready to move out of the house if he/she feels that it is unsafe to stay there.
A drop of 1/8th to 1/4 inch is not alarming, but a 2 to 3 inch drop is very alarming so do not wait any longer to have this looked into.
Keep us up to date on this.
Dane
I will always be a beginner as I am always learning.
"The real question here is "Why is it settling so much?". Until that is taken care of the new one will do the same thing."Quick answer - the hole was filled with fill and not given enough time to settle or packed properly.No settling anywhere else. Only one floor above the basement at this portion of the house.10 Years old.Not part of an addition"What type of soil is this house sitting on?"New England Glacier deposits :-) rocks, rocks, dirt, and some rocks.Note, the building is NOT settling. The garage floor is settling. The driveway leading to the garage is not settling (except where it abuts the garage floor)There is 8 feet of fill between the footing and the floor. 3 to 4" of settling in 8 feet of poorly packed fill is probably not a lot. Though others can confirm.
The wall is fine. No cracks.
Here is a better picture:
<img src="View Image">Thanks for your concern,
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Edited 4/7/2005 11:46 am ET by Mark
Thanks for answering the questions. The drawing help a lot.
You could just pour more concrete on top of it but then the big question is "is it done settling?". You will be constantly looking to see if it is.
The best way, and the most expensive in the short run, would be to remove the floor and subgrade right down to the base and do the whole thing over. Use a roller instead of one of those wacky packers. Don't let them put two foot of fill in then start to compact it. Even a 20 ton sheepsfoot roller can not compact that much fill at one time.
I may not know much about vertical construction but I do know something about horizontal construction.
I am sure that others will give you some ideas too, but IMHO the later suggestion is the best one.
DaneI will always be a beginner as I am always learning.
DaneBThanks,
My wife and I are in the debate - she asks "do we need to replace the whole thing?"I think yes, she's hoping no.I'm not sure I'd take the fill down to the footings again.It does not appear that settling has continued since the floor does not appear to have moved in the past year or so but I wouldn't know until the floor was pulled up.If the builder put rebar in the floor, the deconstruction is going to be a bear. Cutting and breaking un-rebarred concrete is bad enough...
I'm afraid it's going to cost me a fortune...Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Mudjack the thing. Far cheeper than you imagine.
Look in the Yeller pages under either concrete work or mudjacking.
Thanks, but nothing in my yellow pages - might it go by another name?Thanks,
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
I think they are called 'slab jackers' around here. Don't know if it would work on a garage slab, but Mom has had it done on some bad spots of sidewalk.jt8
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -- Ann Landers
Actually found stuff on the web.Could work! My only concern is that at the front of the garage, the floor has lifted. Like the slab pivoted on the middle of the floor then cracked...Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Depending upon how long its been like that and how clean the pivot point may be - it's possible that you could end up with it almost looking like new.
I've had it done a coupla times. They'll probably be done with the project within an hour and half. These guys are quite competitive and efficient. It's almost a waste of time to get more than one bid...
You'll wonder why you didn't have it done sooner.
Wow, so that technique works on a whole garage slab, not just sidewalks and smaller items?
Pretty cool. Lets see, of my options:
#1 spend hours jackhammering out a pad, haul several tons of material to the dump, grade the area, form the area, pour new concrete (screed/float/brush), wait a couple weeks before I can use the floor.
#2 have the slab jackers come in and spend 2 hours and viola!
Hmm... tough one ;)
Hope Mark lets us know how it turns out.
jt8
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -- Ann Landers
I've got to find a supplier first. I'll come back when I've solved the problem.Thanks for all the help.Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Can mudjacking be used to regrade a patio without ripping up the patio?
I would imagine it depends upon how the patio is constructed. If its a ceement slab, I don't see why not.
Call your local jacker and ask him.
Just as an FYI, if the floor had of been filled with stone, (gravel) the slab would have not setteled as much, maybe not at all. The thing is that if that large of an excavation were compacted in lifts of soil the basement wall would likely have cracked or maybe even pushed in some from the pressure. - unless the wall is 12" concrete...
Edited 4/10/2005 8:06 am ET by DIRISHINME
If there was inadequate compaction of the subgrade before the original floor was poured, and settlement cracking is the result... how long can mudjacking be expected to work?
If the underlying subgrade condition is never addressed, I think it will come back to haunt again.
Any takers?