a cement garage floor question

hey all, just moved into a new house and the garage floor has some serious fault lines running through it! is there a recommended epoxy or some kind of quick fix I can purchase? wanna turn this space into another tiki area and possibly paint the floor, should I maybe leave it as is to enhance the look? photos coming, thanking you in advance,
pele paul

here are the cracks...........

Paul they sell a crack patch in the home improvement stores but I have never tried it. I think it has a high percentage of acrylic or some other plastic to give it a bit of flexibility. Should be perfect if you are planning on putting epoxy paint over it.

We have a hardware store in Boulder, Colorado that touts itself as the world's largest: McGuckin Hardware. I like to browse it to see what's available, and I know I've seen some flexible cement "glue" that would work. You might call them and see if they can give you a brand name (the staff is very knowledgable). https://store.mcguckin.com/inet/home.html

Although I'd imagine the first step is correcting whatever caused the cracks in the first place!

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[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-04-09 13:02 ]

Cement Crack Central?

On 2014-04-09 13:01, TikiTacky wrote:

Although I'd imagine the first step is correcting whatever caused the cracks in the first place!

Considering location, and depending on the age of the property, the two likely scenarios are that it was a quake or there is no rebar under the garage floor and it was simply poured extra thick which leads to cracks like that. Many people blame quakes for their cracked pavement and whatnot but it is the lack of support that causes real problems.

On 2014-04-09 13:47, wizzard419 wrote:

On 2014-04-09 13:01, TikiTacky wrote:

Although I'd imagine the first step is correcting whatever caused the cracks in the first place!

Considering location, and depending on the age of the property, the two likely scenarios are that it was a quake or there is no rebar under the garage floor and it was simply poured extra thick which leads to cracks like that. Many people blame quakes for their cracked pavement and whatnot but it is the lack of support that causes real problems.

yep, that was it, poured in 1958 without re-bar and poured extra thick! I had an inspector come out, and he said other than an ugly appearance, everything looked structurally sound! so now, to look up all the good info you all have given me, thanks all!!!

Also anytime you pour a slab too big, it always cracks. I am not a contractor, but I was told that by my friend, although I don't recall the maximum size. It could have just been poured too big and cracked. You can refinish the whole floor easily with products from Home Depot. I am not sure if it will crack again though or not. I just laid down fake grass in my whole bar and it covers up all the concrete.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43736&forum=20&90

On 2014-04-09 14:22, lunavideogames wrote:
Also anytime you pour a slab too big, it always cracks. I am not a contractor, but I was told that by my friend, although I don't recall the maximum size. It could have just been poured too big and cracked. You can refinish the whole floor easily with products from Home Depot. I am not sure if it will crack again though or not. I just laid down fake grass in my whole bar and it covers up all the concrete.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43736&forum=20&90

great!! good to know!!! any idea if the fake grass gets hot outside in the sun? thanks so much

No fake grass does great in the harsh sunlight. Here in San Diego, I would estimate 30% of the lawns near me are fake and look great for years.

ok great to know!!!! water out here gets pretty pricey so I was wondering how it holds up! thanks for the info

If it's going to be outdoors at all, just double check with your city in regards to the fake grass. Some cities require a permit.

I was going to put it in the backyard

Sorry to hear you have a crack problem....snicker snicker.

Once you apply the crack fixer...maybe you can paint your floor in a marble like appearance to incorporate the repair texture. They also have those neat epoxy kits that have chips in them to look like terrazzo. Look forward to what you do.

I don't think you will need any permits in SoCal, I know you don't need a permit in SD. I will try to upload a picture of my neighbors house soon so you can see what they did. I think it looks really nice.

Congrats on the new place!

In So Cal you can, I'm in OC.:D

Just because someone installed it doesn't actually mean they don't need a permit, most cities are quite shit at keeping track of things and it takes a neighbor feud to get caught.

Dunno anything about fixing the cracks, but I'm considering doing something like this to my garage floor when the time comes to build my bar.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/home-3/flooring

howlinowl

P.S......actually, now that I think about it, maybe a bartop would be cool, too.

I don't remember the brand but I have used filler to fix parts in a slab that was hit with a hammer and had chips missing like that. It was in a can and you mix with water, it adhered much better than expected.

For a finish, that etching stain they sell works great and gives different color shades in which ever color you chose. You just spray it on with a pump up sprayer like you would spray weed killer or bug spray. coat the whole thing. Since your inside you may have to mop it later instead of hosing, Mop with a little water and baking soda to stop the etching. A few day later after it's good and dry use a paint roller and paint on the clear which dries in a couple hours. After a couple of coats your done and you have a finish tough enough to use on a driveway and look good for many years.

We have a few floors done like that here and they look good and nothing else ever has to be done with it. It is really easy and permanent and cheaper than almost any floor covering.

Not mine but it looks like this as far as different shades, the cement determines the different shades of whatever color you pick.

[ Edited by: dtel 2014-04-09 21:48 ]

[ Edited by: dtel 2014-04-09 21:49 ]

I'm loving the paper floor idea. I can see that being used in lots of places. I wonder if you could do a bit of a grey wash on the paper first to get a greyer slate look to it?

I worked in a store one time with stained concrete and it was the easiest floor I ever had to clean. We mopped it daily and it looked great for years.

• Dale

On 2014-04-09 21:14, howlinowl wrote:
Dunno anything about fixing the cracks, but I'm considering doing something like this to my garage floor when the time comes to build my bar.

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/home-3/flooring

howlinowl

P.S......actually, now that I think about it, maybe a bartop would be cool, too.

OMG I love it!!!!

On 2014-04-10 07:41, littlegiles wrote:
I'm loving the paper floor idea. I can see that being used in lots of places. I wonder if you could do a bit of a grey wash on the paper first to get a greyer slate look to it?

I worked in a store one time with stained concrete and it was the easiest floor I ever had to clean. We mopped it daily and it looked great for years.

• Dale

I'm loving the idea of painting the floor too

On 2014-04-09 19:06, Pele Paul wrote:
I was going to put it in the backyard

You could put plastic grass in some areas of the backyard and drought tolerant landscaping in the others. Throw in some citrus trees, palm trees and a water feature and it'll look like paradise or a Palm Springs golf course. Citrus trees take a lot of water so if you don't want to go that route I think Palo Verde trees are really pretty. Red Bird of Paradise is something that is drought tolerant, but looks tropical.
My parents live in the Phoenix area and the fake grass out there gets very hot in the summertime, but it's 115 there daily.

Have fun and congratulations!