Customer

Maestro

April 26, 2007

Should I mud jack my garage floor?

I have a 3 car garage attached to my bungalow (L shape). The concrete floor in the garage sinks in toward the house (3rd garage bay closest to house). It drops/slopes about 6-10 inches. You can see this from old markings on the wall. The garage is built on piles. (I have the architect's blueprints).The home was built in 1987 (Winnipeg). There is no leaking or water issues that I am aware of. The concrete is also about an inch away from the foundation walls. I'm thinking about mud jacking as an option? Do I have other bigger issues here possibly?The exterior walls are brick and vinyl siding. There appears to be no structural cracks etc from any shifting? Brick is sound, windows are all good.

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Expert

Maestro

expert EXPERT April 26, 2007

It is very common for garage floor slabs to settle, particularly around the perimeter. Most garage structures, that are attached to the house have full and proper footings and foundations, to prevent the garage from heaving in the frost, which would play havoc where the garage meets the house. While you have said that the garage is built on piles, I would suspect that the wall adjacent to the house has a conventional foundation and footing, unless the entire house is built on piles.



As a result, the middle of the garage is usually on excavated, while the portions adjacent to the foundation walls have been excavated. This causes uneven settling of the floor slab. Mud jacking is certainly an option.


The only red flag for me is the 1 inch space between the slab and the wall. Portions of Winnipeg are notorious for having expansive clay soils, which change in dimension based on their moisture content.This could (but not absolutely) suggest that the bottom of the far wall of the garage is moving away from the house. This is conceivable if the pileshave experienced some lateral movement. If this has occurred, the distance from the house wall to the far wall of the garage should be greater at the bottom than it is at the top. (The top is heldin place by rafters and ceiling joists, or trusses.) If this was the case, the far wall of the garage should be out of plumb, and the garage door openings should be out of square. If they are not -- and you have suggested no noticeable movement -- then you are probably fine.

 

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