Head Office: 1200 Butte Street
Pilot Butte, S0G 3Z0
Pilot Butte, S0G 3Z0
Telephone: 306 552 5438
Floor Cracks
Your concrete slab floor is showing signs of sinking, sagging, or settling. Your floor may be cracking, or the walls may be separating from the floor below or ceiling above.
● Cracks in the concrete floor● Floors dropping and separating from the walls, forming a gap between the floor and wall● Interior walls separating from the ceiling, forming a gap between the wall and ceiling● Walls pulling away from adjacent walls● Interior wall cracks, commonly off the corners of interior doors
Signs Of Slab Settlement
When a floor slab settles, the damage can manifest itself in many ways. Along with cracks in the concrete, the floors can separate from the walls as they sink downwards. Alternatively, the interior wall may be pulled down with the floor, instead of separating from the ceiling. Walls can also pull away from other walls, and interior wall cracks can form -- commonly off the corners of interior doors.
What Causes A Concrete Floor Slab To Settle?
What NOT To Do
As with most home repairs, some work all of the time, some work some of the time, and some don't work at all. Here are two "fixes" that we do NOT recommend:
Concrete Slab Replacement:
To perform a job like this, all home furnishings, all floor coverings, and interior walls within the building must be removed. Once this is done, a crew jackhammers the existing floor into small pieces and removes them by hand. Next, a new floor is poured to replace the one removed. The homeowner should allow at least two weeks for the slab to cure sufficiently. After the curing is complete, the interior partition walls may now be rebuilt, floor coverings may be reinstalled, and home furnishings may be returned.
While this situation is disruptive and expensive, the real problem here is that the issue that caused the problem in the first place has not been addressed. Without addressing the soil problems that originally lead to the cracks in your concrete floor, your new floor may "break" over time too!
Releveling Grout On Top Of The Slab:
To begin this process, all floor coverings that were placed on the slab must be removed. The floor is then prepared so that grout will be able to bond with the slab surface. A self-levelling grout is poured along the slab surface, where it begins to fill in the low portion of the floor and create a level surface. After the grout is allowed to cure for several days, the floor coverings can be replaced. However, if the floor wasn't prepared properly, the grout may not bond well to the concrete surface of the original floor slab. Over time, this may lead to large chunks of the new floor-breaking off. Additionally, the grout will add weight to the slab, potentially making the situation worse by causing further settlement. And, just like with the last option, the real problem of soil settlement is not addressed!