cement question (house not boat)

I have a 7 year old house with cement garage floor that the contractor ground away at on an angle under the door in his mistake thinking he could prevent water coming in under the door.

No there is a 1 inch gap on one side and the floor appears to have setteled at an angle.

I need to build up the floor at the threshold and level it off so the door seals.

Typical 2 car garage and car traffic every day.

What is the best product or mix to do this with?

Will it work at freezing temps or do I need to wait till springtime?

Capt Walt

WickedGoodOutdoors@Maine.rr.com

[CatBuilder]

I think it's Floor Leveler, a portland cement based, self leveling agent found at every Home Depot or Lowes. The stuff is 50 degrees and up, if I recall. Spring time project.

[TeddyDiver]

Float concrete (might have another name there) can be used too. It's basicly concrete with higher cement and water content. With it it's possible to use "anti freeze agents" in lower temps (close to freezing). Remember to primer whatever you use..

[mreoe4sure]

All concrete product will not work, because you are going from 0 to 1 inch thick the thinner part will crack and crumble. It does not matter is you use concrete bonder ( looks like white glue) It will be too thin and will not hold up. The self leveling type of concrete talked about is use under another floor system, like tile etc. Not as a floor. Do you know why the floor has settled , poor compaction of the substrait ? Are you sure it has settled and not one of the cables is not tighter than the other and holding one side of the door higher. There is no quick fix, the contractor tried one. You have two options fix the floor or do something to the door. You can fix the floor by having some jack up the slab( They drill holes in the slab and pump a slurry under it to raise it, there are companies in your area) or you saw cut the concrete about a foot wide the length of the door, and replace the concrete level , and fade it both ways to the old concrete so people do not trip, or you can make it a feature strip by using brick or pavers etc. Or you do a wedge on the bottom of the door, Treated wood ripped from 0 to 1 inch added to the bottom of the door, covered with a custom flashing, painted to match the door and reinstall the bottom sealing gasket. Steve

[alan white]

Any normal concrete that's four inches thick (maybe 3" minimum in one corner) and reinforced with wire mesh or rebar can be poured over the old concrete. Jack the garage up first and you'll still have the ceiling height you had before.
That is IF the ground has settled enough to trust it. The builder may not have compacted the gravel base underneath so time and gravity are doing it now. You may be better off waiting for nature to do its job, which might take up to ten (yes, ten) years.
You could also break it up with a jack hammer followed by proper compacting, of course.
If I were you, and you know the ground is settling, I'd just wait it out and measure the progress of the settling accurately over time. That will give you a good indication of how fast or slow the ground is settling so you know when it's about done settling.

Alan. I think your not understanding the problem


I dont need to jack up the garage.

Just the cement floor area that is under the overhead door on just one side needs to come up about an inch and taper in to keep water & critters from comming under the door.
Ill have to go take a picture so that I may more clearly be comprehended.




Vattt? You fellas give me Negitave Reputation Points for me just being Truthful & honest? Oy Vey!

[dazarooney]

Originally Posted by alan white

Any normal concrete that's four inches thick (maybe 3" minimum in one corner) and reinforced with wire mesh or rebar can be poured over the old concrete. Jack the garage up first and you'll still have the ceiling height you had before.
That is IF the ground has settled enough to trust it. The builder may not have compacted the gravel base underneath so time and gravity are doing it now. You may be better off waiting for nature to do its job, which might take up to ten (yes, ten) years.
You could also break it up with a jack hammer followed by proper compacting, of course.
If I were you, and you know the ground is settling, I'd just wait it out and measure the progress of the settling accurately over time. That will give you a good indication of how fast or slow the ground is settling so you know when it's about done settling.

Yeah, couldn't agree more.

_____________________________________________________

wire mesh

[SamSam]

You might make the door fit the floor. Take the seal off the door, put a tapered wedge on it and then re-attach the seal.

[PAR]

The proper way to do this is to pump concrete under the pad and lift it up to where it belongs folks. It's not a cheap thing to do, but it's the right thing to do. If a pad has sunk some, it will likely continue to sink, so any "stop gap" measure will just force you to have to make the same "repair" again. This is putting a band-aid on a band-aid. The logical solution is to address the problem, which in this case is a void of sufficient enough size, to permit the pad to settle unevenly. Fix the problem by filling the void and literally jacking the pad up on additional concrete.

[thedutchtouch]

IMHO, the only good way to fix it is to bust up the floor, fix the underlying problem that caused the settling, and pour a new one. anything else... who knows if/when the problem will repeat.

not the answer you wanted i know. a temporary fix would be to use self leveling concrete, and cover that with a good quality epoxy floor covering. just make sure you rough up the existing floor and clean it/acid etch very well to get ALL of the grease/dirt etc off.

[Waddie]

Walt,

As I understand it, you're not interested in repairing the entire garage floor, just fix the uneven gap UNDER the door, right?

Cutting a strip that goes from 1" tapering to 0" over about 16' could be very tricky, and frustrating if using treated pine.

If you must go this route, be aware that treated lumber is prone to warp especially this thin. The treatment doesn't go all the way thru the board so you will probably be using an untreated piece anyway. There are several types of treatment, make sure you get a board rated for in ground at least. I still advise against this approach. If you think to cut the strip bigger, say 2" tapering to 1", the top of your door may not close unless you raise the track on both sides. Not good either.

There is no product I know of that will serve to raise this corner 1" tapering to 0" over 16', especially if vehicles are running over it regularly. It will crumble out over time.

I would buy a piece of aluminum channel (3 sides) big enough to go over the bottom of the door. I don't know if you can get 16' lengths in your area but two 8 ' lengths would work. Before you install it, transfer the rubber gasket that is now on the door bottom to the new aluminum (since the house is 7 yrs old, why not get new rubber?). When you mount the new door piece be sure to THRU bolt it every 8 inches or so or the constant slamming of the door will loosen it (if you just use screws). I think you get the idea. Don't forget to make it hang one inch lower on one side.

This install should last longer than you will and you could adjust it over the years if you do get some more settling or somebody gets wild with a grinder again !!
Opinions will vary.

Hope this helps,

Waddie

[alan white]

Originally Posted by WickedGood

Alan. I think your not understanding the problem


I dont need to jack up the garage.

Just the cement floor area that is under the overhead door on just one side needs to come up about an inch and taper in to keep water & critters from comming under the door.
Ill have to go take a picture so that I may more clearly be comprehended.




Vattt? You fellas give me Negitave Reputation Points for me just being Truthful & honest? Oy Vey!

Okay. I understand. You are saying that your garage floor is actually mostly level but a gap exists under a part of the door at one end. Since the offending area is probably not a hazard to foot traffic, the idea of adding to the door at the bottom makes sense. Of course, there are a lot of different types of door construction. Some are aluminum wrapped over foam. Some are wood with panels. Some are steel. For each type there is an ideal material you could add to the door's underside. That would be the cheapest solution. If it were wood, and it was me, I'd first screw on a piece of pressure treated wood--- untapered. I'd then lower the door and scribe the cut. Then
I'd remove the screws, take the piece off, and saw along the scribe line and re-attach the piece with some construction adhesive, wipe with thinner. Then prime and paint, redo rubber, and done. Aluminum and steel could be done the same way, but with fasteners appropriate to the door construction, i.e., either sheet metal screws or epoxy-coated wood screws (used for framing on pressure-treated decks). Because some doors have wood internal edging even if metal.

[watchkeeper]

Originally Posted by WickedGood

I have a 7 year old house with cement garage floor that the contractor ground away at on an angle under the door in his mistake thinking he could prevent water coming in under the door.

No there is a 1 inch gap on one side and the floor appears to have setteled at an angle.

I need to build up the floor at the threshold and level it off so the door seals.

Typical 2 car garage and car traffic every day.

What is the best product or mix to do this with?

Will it work at freezing temps or do I need to wait till springtime?

Capt Walt

WickedGoodOutdoors@Maine.rr.com

A commercial grade decorative floor coating was developed in Australia about 10 years back that was trowelled over any oil free concrete to simulate slate or just about any design.
Originally developed for smooth/level commercial and industrial floors, this stuff (water mix 2 pk) can go on 2.0m - 50m thick and it stays - no crumbling or flaking. I first used it to level concrete under a 900cwt power hammer (hot forge hammer) then with mixed tinting to simulate natural stone in my home entrance foyer. Then 8yr ago I used it to cover crumbling concrete in my 4 car carport used to park cars and light trucks - its still there.

I'll send for product name after NY and post it, it is sold overseas.

I like the idea of making the door crooked to meet the floor.

Will try making a tapered wedge from some type of plastic wood composit material like a Ultra-Low Maintenance Composite Decking with antimicrobial protection that resists mold & mildew that cause stains & discoloration on wood and other decking.



Ill take project photos as it happens

[alan white]

Originally Posted by WickedGood

I like the idea of making the door crooked to meet the floor.

Will try making a tapered wedge from some type of plastic wood composit material like a Ultra-Low Maintenance Composite Decking with antimicrobial protection that resists mold & mildew that cause stains & discoloration on wood and other decking.



Ill take project photos as it happens

Sure. But you can't make paint stick to that plastic decking, I don't think.