Common Problems with Concrete Garage Floors

Concrete is an excellent material to use for your garage floor because it is hard, durable, and long lasting. However, over time, there are some issues you might experience with the floors. By understanding a little more about the potential problems, you can try to prevent them.

Issues with the Concrete Joints

When installing concrete floors, joints are added in between the slabs to allow for expanding of the concrete material. It gives it some wiggle room so that, if expanding does occur, large cracks don't form. While it is good to have these joints, after a while, you can choose to either seal or fill the joints. By this point, the expanding would have already occurred, so there is a far smaller risk of cracking. The reason you want to seal the joints is because they can fill with debris that is hard to clean out. You want to use an elastomeric sealing material if you decide to seal the joints.

Discolouration of the Concrete

You should also be aware of discolouration, which may occur over time. Discolouration can also occur when you pour the concrete, and you will notice the different color when the concrete begins to dry. This is often caused by not using the same materials and mix of concrete during the entire installation process. Preventing discolouration is another reason you should use a professional instead of trying to install the concrete yourself. Discolouration also comes from excess amounts of water or moisture or from hard troweling of the concrete.

Cracks in the Concrete

This is definitely one of the most common complaints among people that have concrete floors installed. Concrete cracks can happen anywhere, whether on your garage floors or your concrete patio. In the garage, they can be from a few different sources. While concrete is a hard surface and can handle heavy objects, constantly placing heavy objects or equipment down on the concrete over a long period of time could lead to small cracks. If these cracks aren't filled and repaired quickly, they will expand and lead to bigger cracks. Some other causes of cracks you should know about include too much water in the mix when installing the concrete, expansion and trying to dry the concrete too quickly.  

If you notice any of these problems, speak to a concrete professional. They will inspect the issue and let you know what can be done to repair it.