Hello,
I bought a house with a concrete floor, and the floor had a crown of about 3/4 inches in the middle of the living room. Wanting to put down Pergo, I cut out a patch roughly 10 by 10 feet and repoured the area, using the surrounding remaining concrete (about 2 feet all the way around) as a guide for the screed. All started out well…
Here’s the problem — the concrete closest to the outside of the house (2 feet from the patch to the outside of the house) is now 1/4 inch lower than the patch. I hadn’t put rebar “pegs into the original concrete, and my only guess is that the expansive clay that this all sits on had been expanded when I poured the patch (April, in Northern California), and now has shrunk and sank as it has dried.
I’ve given up on the idea of Pergo for the area — now I’m just looking for enough stability so that the carpet that goes over the area will not be higher some months of the year than others.
Can I break out the corners, drill into both the patch and the original concrete in order to put rebar in there now, or is that just a waste of time and rebar? The opposite end of the patch seems to be holding steady with the surrounding concrete. I’m not looking for pretty at this point — just functional. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Two Sheds
Replies
The concrete should be settled by now, they do sell vinyl patch that could bring the original concrete up that 1/4 inch. To drill holes will not solve the problem of the hight. If it is a small spot then smash it out and do it over and drill the rebar into the existing concrete.
Hi dsr,
Thanks for the reply. The concrete patch has not shrunk, it is the part that is taller than the original. I'm thinking that the original floor settled after the clay underneath it dried out.
I'm guessing that the corners (where the height difference is the greatest) will have to be smashed out and re-poured. Will it do any good to try the rebar in the area I pull out to tie all of it together?
Thanks,
Twosheds
Actually, I see them do this all the time on the highways around here. They'll cut slots at right angles to the joints, put in tarred bars, then patch with probably a specially fortified concrete patch. Then they come along with the miller and grind the joints smooth.
Dan,
Thanks- this gives me some hope of tying it all together. I'm going to smash out the corners where it is the highest relative to the original, then drill into the patch and the original concrete, and finally re-pour the area that I break out. I'll grind the rest of the difference between the two areas smooth, and hope for the best.
Any other suggestions are welcomed!
Thanks,
Twosheds