Data from 2019 shows that 15% of smaller homes include a one-car garage. While 65% of new homes include a two-car garage, which is the most popular parking option.
Having a cracked garage floor is more common than people realize. This can be alarming at first if you do not know what to do about it.
The good thing is that there are several ways you can prevent your garage floor from cracking. There are also ways you can prevent cracking from becoming worse.
Keep reading to find out more about home maintenance for a cracked garage floor.
Properly Cure
If you are building a new garage floor, there are ways to prevent cracking. You will want to approach this project with this in mind since it is such a common issue.
Garage floors are usually made with concrete, and concrete takes 28 days to cure, minimum. Many people tend to forget this and skip over this curing step.
Although concrete can cure a bit faster in some situations, it will not completely cure unless left alone to complete this important process. This creates a strong slab of concrete that is going to be much more durable.
Your concrete garage floor is going to be much more likely to crack if it is not cured. The curing process allows the moisture to slowly evaporate from the concrete mix.
When it is not given this time, the overall structure is going to be weaker. To allow it to cure slowly, concrete professionals may spray water over the surface.
The water helps to keep it wetter so that the water evaporates slowly for a longer cure time. If you do not do this, the concrete may dry too quickly and won’t have that cure time.
Keep in mind that there are some special additives you can use nowadays. These additives are often designed to help your concrete cure completely without any extra steps from you.
Use Control Joints
Even a garage floor that has been cured has the potential to crack. This is the reality for concrete since so many things contribute to cracking over time.
Control joints can be used to help reduce how bad the cracking is. Control joints are areas that you create that help to control cracking.
These areas are usually cut areas of concrete that provide weak spots. This may seem counterintuitive since you are actually creating weak areas in the concrete.
But this is a good way to give the concrete some leeway as time goes by. It allows for movement without creating so much tension that the concrete begins to crack badly. Basically, control joints work to direct the concrete where you want it to crack instead of dealing with cracks wherever they might happen.
These control joints can be made in different ways, depending on the effect you want. They should be added when the concrete is fresh, but adding joints may be a helpful solution for any concrete floor.
Use Reinforcements
A garage floor with reinforcement materials is going to be much more durable. These materials help it to withstand better over time and crack less.
Some cracked garage floors could be the result of how they were installed. Concrete is strong on its own, but it may not always hold up very well over time.
Rebar grid reinforcements are a very common option to add strength within a concrete slab. These are laid down before the concrete goes over the top of them, creating an inner structure.
If installing a new garage floor is part of your project, this is something you need to do. It is easy to forget about this, but it will be vital in preventing cracking later on.
Reinforcements make the floor stronger and more flexible. It will not be as vulnerable to temperature changes and ground shifting over time.
Even if cracking does occur, a floor with reinforcements will be easier to repair. The cracking is not usually as extensive, and you can usually seal it.
Fill In Cracks
If your home has a cracked garage floor, there are ways of repairing this. Once the cracking has happened, there isn’t much you can do about the damage.
The good news is that a cracked garage floor does not always affect structural integrity. This is a common issue and is not considered to be severe for most garages.
Because of this, you can often leave cracks as they are or put a “Band-Aid” over them. You can do this by filling the cracks with a solution to help them look better.
To do this, you need to first remove debris from the cracks. Cracks are often in the perfect place for all kinds of grime to make their way into and build up.
You want to remove all this before you fill the cracks with your solution. The most common option is epoxy-based products for filling these cracks since it is easily available in most home improvement centers.
But there are all kinds of good options to choose from. You can go with something that’s clear or something that’s tinted so that it blends in more.
You may choose to leave small cracks as they are since filling them may not make much difference to improve the appearance of the floor. Keep in mind that filling cracks is not going to always prevent them from expanding.
Use a Sealer or Coating
One of the best ways to prevent a cracked garage floor is by sealing or coating it. It is very common for garage floors to not have this protective coating when they should have it.
Many people may think that this is not necessary when they install a concrete garage floor. But concrete is vulnerable to plenty of things and would benefit from this extra form of protection.
Some types of coatings are used in a decorative way. They give your garage floor a shiny finish and can be made with different colors and effects.
While a larger variety of sealants are specifically used for durability. They create a protective finish over the concrete that helps to better protect against cracking.
One of the best things about this option is that you can hire someone to install it for you. You can hire professionals to seal or coat your garage floor in a way that will last for years.
Or you could go the DIY route and do it yourself. No matter what option you choose, this is going to be one of the best ways to preserve your garage floor.
Remove the Crack
If your garage floor has a severe crack or is broken and crumbling, you may be faced with complete garage floor replacement. This will be an expensive job, and will likely require professional installation.
The good thing is that garage floor repair is much more affordable and less work. If your garage has a bad crack, you have the option of removing it entirely.
To do this, you can cut away the cracked or crumbling portion of the concrete. Once you have done that and cleaned the area, you can fill it with a concrete compound. This may not be the strongest, longest-lasting, or best-looking option, but it may give you more use from your floor before addressing the entire slab.
What Causes Concrete Cracks?
Now that you know some of the ways to prevent and treat garage floor cracks, let’s look at what causes these? Cracked garage floors are very common, and you would think there was a way to prevent them.
This is something that the majority of homeowners are going to have to deal with. Whether they have built the garage themselves or it was already poured when they bought their home.
This is a very common concern that people have as they may worry about how it will affect the value of their home. It can be especially concerning to those who want to resell their home.
The best way to prevent cracks from happening is to understand what causes them. This way, you can try to prevent your garage floor from cracking in the future.
Shrinking
The most common cause for cracked garage floors is when the concrete surface shrinks. This is something that happens as the concrete cures.
A lot of materials tend to shrink as they dry, resulting in a smaller end result. This is why some people lay down a larger garage floor than they need to make up for this shrinking.
Unfortunately, cracks can form if your concrete shrinks too much. It may have dried too fast or was it mixed the wrong way, which caused it to be weak.
Some cracking is not preventable because you can’t prevent shrinking. Because of this, most homeowners don’t worry about smaller cracks since these are inevitable.
A properly laid garage floor is going to have minimal cracking during this process. It should not have deep cracks or cracks that go from one end to the other.
Settling
A cracked garage floor is going to be sitting on the soil that is your property. Over time, soil moves, and this can impact your garage floor.
This movement creates what we refer to as settling that can cause floor cracks. Your garage floor will feel the pressure of the soil moving underneath and will settle, cracking the concrete slab.
This is another cause of cracking that you can’t prevent for the most part. There is no knowing how much the soil will move, and you can’t predict how bad the settling will be.
Homeowners will need to pay attention if the cracks become serious, however. The floor may continue to settle, which can widen the cracks and result in the floor becoming destroyed.
Moisture from underneath can also start to penetrate the cracks and cause more damage. Overall, settling cracks can pose a bigger problem if they are not taken seriously, especially because it may be a sign of a larger underlying problem with the overall stability of the foundation.
Incorrect Installation
Sometimes a cracked garage floor is bound to happen due to poor installation. That is why it is so important that the floor is installed with all of these considerations in mind.
Cracks can often start when the floor is first laid, which is something that will grow worse over time. The lack of reinforcement is a common issue that can destroy a floor.
The solution of cement may also be incorrect if it is mixed with too much water. There are all kinds of things that can go wrong if you do not know what you are doing.
That is why it is important to either hire a professional or educate yourself on the subject. Every step is important and is going to help keep your floor durable for the future.
Poor Drainage
Certain types of soil are going to create issues for your garage floor. This usually includes dense soil or clay soil that tends to hold onto moisture.
This moisture on its own is not necessarily going to be a problem. It is if the temperature becomes cold that the moisture can freeze and expand the soil.
As the soil expands, it is going to create pressure on the concrete base. Concrete is not flexible and is not going to move as the soil does, resulting in problems.
This pressure is going to push on the concrete floor and may cause it to heave and crack. This can be an especially common issue in areas where freezing temperatures are expected.
To prevent this from happening, dense and clay-based soil needs drainage. The ground under the garage floor needs to be designed in a way where the water can naturally leave the soil.
If the water is able to drain, it will not remain in the soil beneath the floor. When the temperatures become freezing, there will not be as much water to expand the soil.
Can a Cracked Garage Floor be Repaired?
If you have a cracked garage floor, you may be worried about what this means for the value of your home. The good news is that garage floor repair is not always difficult to do.
Do you want to seal or coat your garage floor? Contact us today at Garage Force for the best polyurea floor coatings.