Garage Floor Crack Repair in Brampton
Garage floors take a beating: the weight of a car, road salt, snowmelt dripping off the car all winter, and frost under an unheated slab. Cracks are common, and most of them are cosmetic. Garage slabs are part of our basement floor crack repair work.
Garage floor cracksPage 10
How do you fix a crack in a garage floor? Clean the crack, then fill it with a flexible concrete crack sealant or an epoxy filler, depending on whether it's still moving. Wider cracks are routed out first so the filler has something to grip. If part of the slab has sunk or lifted, sealing won't fix it; that section needs levelling or replacing.
Below: why garage floors crack, which cracks are cosmetic, how they're repaired, and how to keep the slab in shape.
Why do garage floors crack?
- Shrinkage. Like any concrete slab, a garage floor shrinks as it cures. Fine cracks are normal.
- Frost. An unheated garage slab can heave when the ground under it freezes, and crack when it settles back.
- Settling. If the fill under the slab wasn't compacted well, the slab sinks in places.
- Salt and water. Road salt and snowmelt dripping from the car eat at the surface and work into small cracks, making them wider every winter.
Which garage floor cracks are a problem?
- Thin cracks that aren't growing: cosmetic. Seal them to keep water and salt out.
- Cracks that widen every winter: seal them with a flexible filler that can move.
- One side higher than the other: the slab has moved. Sealing alone won't level it.
- A gap where the slab meets the foundation wall: water can run down there toward the basement. Seal it.
How is a garage floor crack repaired?
- Clean it out. Dirt, salt residue and loose concrete come out of the crack.
- Rout it if needed. Wider or ragged cracks are cut into a clean channel.
- Fill it. A flexible sealant for cracks that still move, or an epoxy filler for stable ones.
- Level the surface. The repair is finished flush so it doesn't catch tires or shovels.
How do you keep a garage floor from cracking more?
- Rinse road salt off the floor during the winter.
- Seal the concrete surface every few years.
- Keep downspouts and driveway runoff from pooling at the garage door.
- Seal small cracks early, before water and salt widen them.
What does it cost?
Sealing cracks in a garage floor is a small job compared with replacing a slab. Our price: from $300, plus HST, with a 1-year warranty on our workmanship.