The Causes and Solutions for Floor Cracks
Floor cracks are more than just an unsightly problem in your home. They can also indicate much larger, more expensive issues and can get worse over time if left untreated.
Our team at MidAmerica Basement Systems specializes in diagnosing the problem and finding a solution to fix your floor cracks as well as any other underlying problem.
Causes & Repairs for Solutions for Cracked, Sinking Concrete Floors
Concrete slab piers being used underneath a floor to help stabilize the floor permanently.
Notice how the piers can extend deep below the floor, extending until they reach competent supporting soils.
The Problem:
You notice that your floor appears to be sinking or sagging, or you may notice gaps in between the wall and the floor.
Common Signs:
- Cracks in the concrete floor
- Separation or gaps between floor and wall
- Walls pulling away from adjacent walls
- Interior wall cracks, commonly off the corners of interior doors
How to Fix It:
systems underneath the slab to provide support. This ultimately fixes the cracks in your floor and provides permanent stability so you no longer have to worry about sinking concrete slabs.
Our pier experts are ready to help you fix your cracked floors! Call us at 1-800-638-7048 for a free floor slab repair quote today. We serve Peoria, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Waterloo, and many nearby areas in Illinois and Iowa.
Signs Of Slab Settlement
Slab settlement can appear in many different ways. Aside from the obvious cracks in the floor, you may also notice small gaps in between the floor and the wall, as well as the ceiling and the wall. Any gaps in between adjacent walls are also a sign of slab settlement.
What Causes A Concrete Floor Slab To Settle?
The main culprit behind a settling slab is the soil beneath. As homes are built, the virgin soil is disrupted during excavation and loses its durability. This creates small voids in the soil and causes heavy concrete slabs up above to sink and settle into the ground.
Drying/Shrinking Of Soils Under The Slab
Washout Of Soil Underneath The Slab
Poor Compaction Of Foundation Fill Soils
Installing The Supportworks Slab Pier System
We rely on the Supportworks Slab Pier System to provide support for sunken concrete slabs. This system has proven to provide the best stabilization for sunken concrete floors to lift them back into place. During installation, our team takes these six steps:
Before the installation day, a representative from our company will have already inspected your foundation issue. At that time, a foundation repair proposal was put in writing.
Your foundation repair experts will use that proposal to map out the locations where the slab piers will be installed.
At the beginning of each slab pier installation, a small hole is cored through your concrete slab floor. This hole will create an access point for the slab piers that are about to be installed.
To give the slab pier something to lift, a slab bracket is positioned beneath the concrete slab.
The Supportworks Slab Pier System uses a three-piece slab bracket that is assembled underneath your concrete floor, allowing for a much smaller hole to be cored in your concrete slab. Additionally, this larger bracket reaches across more area along your floor, creating a more even distribution of weight.
Steel tubes are hydraulically driven down through the bracket to the competent soils beneath.
These steel tubes are the real strength of the foundation pier system -- and are responsible for transferring the home weight to strong supporting soils.
To prevent corrosion, Supportworks has slab piers available that are designed using galvanized steel. This ensures the quality and long-lasting strength of your slab pier system.
The weight of the concrete slab is transferred through the piers to the load-bearing strata underneath your home.
As the system lifts your concrete slab floor upwards, the sinking movement of your floor will be permanently halted.
Often, it will also be possible to lift the concrete slab back to a level position.
Once the concrete slab has been lifted, a void will be present underneath the floor.
Additionally, if your floor had been sinking because of compacted soil or washout, a gap existed even before the installation.
To address this, we carefully pump grout under the slab to fill in all empty spaces.
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, we take pride in leaving your home looking clean and neat. Once the installation is completed, we repair all cored holes with concrete, making your final installation virtually invisible.
Any debris generated during the installation is cleaned up and removed by us. And once we're done, you can rest easy, knowing that you have a 25-year warranty on manufacturer's defects, as well as a performance warranty from us.
What NOT To Do
There are many options when it comes to home repair, but some methods may be better than others to provide a permanent solution. Here are a few methods our team does not recommend for fixing a sunken slab:
Concrete Slab Replacement:
Concrete slab replacement can be a very expensive and disruptive process. All home furnishings, floor coverings, and interior walls must be removed, then the floor is jackhammered and removed. The new floor is then poured and can take up to two weeks to cure.
Once the floor is cured, all furnishings are put back into place. Aside from the disruption of concrete slab replacement, the initial problem that caused the cracks may still be an issue. The unsupportive soils in the ground beneath could cause the floor to settle again, which means the slab replacement was a big, expensive waste of time!
Releveling Grout On Top Of The Slab:
Releveling grout tends to be an invasive project as well. All floor coverings must be removed so that the floor can be prepped to bond the grout with the slab. A self-leveling grout is poured along the slab surface, where it begins to fill in the low portion of the floor and create a level surface. The grout then takes several days to cure.
Releveling grout comes with downfalls, as it may not bond well to the slab’s surface and cause additional problems. The grout may also add more weight to the slab, which can cause even more settling issues in the future. Additionally, the initial problem of the unsupportive soil has still not been solved, so we do not recommend releveling grout to fix floor cracks.
Looking For Foundation Slab Repair Contractors In IL and IA?
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, we provide proven solutions for concrete slab floor leveling to homeowners throughout Illinois and Iowa. Our service area includes Cedar Rapids, Peoria, Waterloo, Davenport, and nearby areas such as Iowa City, Rock Island, Dubuque, Moline, East Peoria, Clinton. Call 1-800-638-7048 or contact us today for your free, no-obligation quote!