I have a 2-car garage whose floor in cracked right down the middle from front to back. The floor has settled so that the center is highest and either side is about 1/2″ lower; the overhead door only touches in the center. When it rains water runs and is blown into the garage through the gap. It seems to me that if I had a self-leveling product compatible with the concrete floor I could pour it in a small form under the door and solve the problem. I’m not skilled enough to do it with regular cement patch, and the job is apparently too small to interest any of the cement guys in the area. Any product suggestions or alternate ideas? Thanks for the help–this is a very messy problem in a big storm.
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Hi Paddington, and welcome to Break Time.
I don't know about any self leveling solution, but I could make a couple of suggestions. You might be able to have the lower sides hydraulically raised to level. They do it with sidewalks and driveways. I'm not sure if they could do it with a garage because the edges are not as accessable, but they might be able to.
The second suggestion is obvious, have a new slab poured. I think they can break up the old slab into small pieces and pour the new on top of it. That would raise the whole floor a few inches. Of course, they could also remove the existing slab completely and pour a new one to the same level as the original.
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Edited 5/29/2008 12:25 pm by Ted W.
If'n you do level the floor it may very well continue to sink at the sides. so in two years, five years you right back to where you are now.
Rather than level the entire floor how about grinding the concrete strip directly below the door to create a good seal for the width of the door.
You may need to adjust your limits on the door opener and possibly thicken the stop at the header.
Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not talking about leveling the whole floor, just the strip under the door, about 16' by 4". I thought about grinding, but it has the same problem that using non-self-leveling patching material has--how do I make sure it is level? I didn't mention it in my post, but the floor seems quite stable--it hasn't moved in several years. I may have to take your advice--it can't make it worse, and it very well might help.
Maybe you could attach something to the door to fill the gap. This is just off the top of my head, but something about 1/4" thick and 6" wide. That way you won't have to drive over it when you park your car. And if there is any further movement, adjust the pieces as needed. --------------------------------------------------------
Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at AWorkOfWood.com
There are self-leveling floor compounds. But I think that they are limited to 1/2 and designed as an underlayments under a finished floor. Have no idea of how they would hold up in this kind of application.And there is self-leveling concrete. Don't know how common it is, but is designed for placing full slabs, not thin overlays..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
What Ted is talking about is "MudJacking."
Look it up in your yellow pages and have a coupla guys come out and give you a bid. It's cheeper than you imagine.
Mudjacking is often listed under foundation repair or concrete..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Sounds like a LOT of work, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion
I've had it done several times. And once you've had it done, you can see others who have also.
The last thing it is, is hard! Making a phone call and watching the guys do this is easy. In fact, you'll see how easy it can be once someone has invested $100,000 into a rolling ceement truck/pump with the right tools
I had them raise the apron to my one side of the drive 1", and fill a number of settled voids under the original 'poxied and pinned floor slab. These voids were causing cracking from the weight of the concrete and loads. 24 injection holes made, pumped, and filled for $600. They drove up at 10am and drove away at noon. Everything is nice, flat, and solid. And I know it won't keep settling.
Seriously, this is the easiest solution to un-flat ceement.
You can go ahead and buy the levelers, but you'll fall over from the price for a few bags of ceement. It's a very specialized mixture. And you'll still have the cause possibly repeating itself.
Thanks Pete. I'll check it out.
Can you get a new gasket for your garage door that bridges the gap?
You could scribe and trim your door to fit, but that seems bass ackwards. But it might work.
The self-leveling cement you use for underlayment doesn't hold up to direct traffic. It's not made for abrasion resistance and the other things it would be exposed to.
Billy
I fixed the same problem for a client by ripping a tapered piece of VG doug fir and screwing and gluing it to the bottom edge of the door (Cedar door in my case) and then re-attaching the existing rubber seal. The height difference was 1 3/8" from left edge to center of a 16' door. If your door is metal, you could use construction adhesive and sheet-metal screws.
Building up the floor could work, I suppose, but then you introduce a tripping hazard and make sweeping out more difficult. I would also be concerned that the built-up section would suffer from car wheels repeatedly rolling over it.
target traffic patch fine will work and hold up to traffic