How To Repair A Big Crack In My Garage Floor

Garage Floor Scissure Repair 101 (Plus When to DIY & When to Call a Pro)

Updated: February 5, 2022 | Categories: Garage

No matter how dainty your garage floor is when it'southward first installed, and regardless of how well you take care of information technology, you lot'll somewhen get a garage floor crack that needs repair. The footing around your garage will shift, and the brunt of that will be felt past the flooring since your garage doesn't have a basement or a deeper foundation (in virtually cases).

Garage flooring crevice repair is probably easier than you think. Whether you're just starting your inquiry, or you're looking to try to justify a surprising estimate y'all got from a contractor by ameliorate understanding what'due south involved, you're in the right place.

To get right to the point, you can admittedly have care of this repair yourself in most cases. If it'southward a very serious scissure and your garage foundation is significantly shifted and uneven, it may be time to phone call in an practiced, merely for smaller cracks or ones that aren't causing any major issues, it'due south a very doable DIY fix and by and large cosmetic.

One time this crack appears, you lot can exist like nigh people and more or less ignore it, or you tin take steps to repair information technology. The crack will be a gathering-ground for grit and debris, not to mention water ice and slush in the wintertime.

Having water and ice get in there isn't ideal, it tin can lead to boosted damage, especially equally the ice expands and puts force per unit area on it. And you lot don't want to apply temporary sandbag alternatives at your garage door forever.

Granted, freezing ice isn't going to unmarried-handedly or rapidly shift the cement around it, but it's like decease by a thousand papercuts and information technology's not even that hard to repair the crack then that's what I recommend you do.

I have a feeling we're already on the aforementioned folio, since people who aren't interested in fixing this trouble aren't going to be the people searching for how to repair concrete cracks in garage floors.

Before Fixing Cracks in Your Garage Flooring

Cracks in the physical tin be very thin and small-scale, or they can be more than than an inch wide and they can span the entire length of your garage. Most of them fall somewhere in betwixt once they start to go noticeable and attract plenty attention to take a homeowner looking for solutions.

Sometimes, yous'll fill in the scissure and that's that, like when it'due south caused by a i-time shift in the footing effectually your garage. Othertimes, the crack will keep getting worse and worse until a structural issue is addressed.

In the first instance, you gear up it and you're washed. In the second example, the fix is more of a band-aid. That's okay, all the same, because even if the garage floor continues to crack every bit more time passes, you'll still exist able to patch it up in the meantime while you decide what to exercise in the longer-term.

When To Call a Professional for Cracks in a Garage Floor

Before nosotros get into specifics on how repair cracks in garage flooring, let'south go over a few examples of when yous'll want to phone call in a professional person for aid instead of taking the DIY route.

Getting a professional to fix these types of cracks early tin lead to less long-term damage, and the sooner you lot get it sorted out, the meliorate.

Generally speaking, there are cosmetic cracks and cracks that appear as a sign of structural problems. Corrective cracks look bad, merely that's about it - they aren't a sign of a greater problem. They're isolated, and in one case they're fixed you lot're all set.

Structurally-caused cracks, on the other paw, are a alarm sign that there'due south something more serious that needs to be stock-still. Especially if it propagates along the entire length of your standard garage size.

Look for these telltale signs of structural issues:

When the crack is bulging out of the floor, that'south a sign that the foundation has shifted and contracted a flake, pushing up the bulging area. This is something that a professional can evaluate.
Erosion of the flooring can be some other sign that there's a deeper structural issue.
When the cement on one side of your crack is lower than the other side of the cleft, the fissure is likely due to the ground below shifting and a structural effect.

Regarding the concluding sign above, one side below your floor had more "wiggle room" than the other side, and eventually the floor couldn't support its ain weight anymore, and one side cracked then shifted lower.

When this gets really severe, there are companies who tin shoot textile beneath the floor to raise-up the part that's sunk, it's not cheap merely it's a really expert way to set this blazon of issue.

Granted, most of this happens very slowly. If you're in a climate where the temperature varies a lot, for example somewhere with hot, dry summers and cold, freezing winters, this can help amplify and speed upward the spread of damage, just even at that, it can take years for it to get from noticeable to bad.

I'm not telling y'all to but ignore or let information technology elevate on, merely understand that yous don't have to telephone call an emergency contractor to come up the next twenty-four hour period. Shop around, go some quotes, get some opinions, take photos of the crack and compare it a month later, encounter if information technology'southward getting progressively worse or staying relatively the same.

How To Fix Cracks In a Garage Floor

Alright, if you lot've decided to tackle this yourself, here'due south the best fashion to practise it. We start past cleaning and prepping the area, so we fill up it in.

Clean Out The Area of the Crack

Start by cleaning the area where the cleft is, and all effectually it. If there are any loose pebbles or minor stones inside of the crack in your concrete, make sure to become them out of the way. The aforementioned goes for any concrete alternatives including woods or rammed earth.

A ShopVac volition do a good plenty job of removing dirt, debris, stones, and any else may be in in that location. A wire brush can also milk shake loose any pieces that are on the verge of coming off.

The goal is to get any devious pieces out of the scissure, and too to knock loose whatever parts that have crumbled and are about to fall off. Repairing effectually a aging foundation will just ensure that your repair doesn't last very long, regardless of the types of house foundations you have!

garage floor crack chaser repair — Cheque Price on Amazon

Y'all may besides want to consider using a tool called a crack chaser. Information technology's essentially a type of saw blade that volition make the cleft more than uniform. It's better for longer cracks. It tidies everything up, and turns a crack that could be tricky to fill into one straighter road.

This makes it easier to fill up information technology in, and helps y'all get the filler-production into whatsoever smaller cracks that may not otherwise adjust it correctly.

Filling In a Crack In Your Garage Flooring

There are two types of filler you tin can employ. For smaller cracks, self-mixing filler is a practiced choice. For larger and longer cracks, you'll probably discover information technology more economical and practical to mix the filler yourself.

In any case, there are a number of commercial products available for this and any hardware shop will be able to assistance you out with choosing the best fit for your area. Your local climate is something to proceed in mind (how conditions-proof does it demand to be?).

Epoxy is a mutual way to fill in larger cracks, and and so is a polymerized concrete mix. The polymer acts as a binder, and helps adhere the filler to the rest of the original concrete on your floor.

Unlike products volition have their own instructions to follow, but the master thing I recommend time and fourth dimension again, peculiarly when using epoxies, is to read the entire instruction procedure before you get started.

These things can take some time to set, they may need special UV lights or sunlight to properly cure, and if y'all just outset on step 1 and make your way down the list, you're bound to run into at to the lowest degree one or two unexpected hurdles.

Last Thoughts on Garage Flooring Crack Repair

Across that, it's merely a affair of mixing the product you lot choose together, applying it into the crevice, smoothing it out, and letting it dry or cure every bit the example may exist.

It'due south definitely a project that you lot can DIY on your ain, merely again, have precautions to ensure that information technology's non a deeper structural event.

Even if it is, yous can brand the fissure expect better in the short-term, merely you lot'll still want to call back near getting things levelled out in the long run because patching up the signs of structural issues can only take you lot and then far.

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Editor: Rick Worst

Rick Worst Headshot Rick is a home design consultant and enthusiast, whose life is consumed by all things home and garden. Started every bit a hobby, Worst Room has grown into an information and inspiration wheelhouse for professionals and dwelling owners akin. Rick serves as owner and editor for our many content contributors. Learn more almost Rick & the Worst Room functioning here.