Poorly Compacted Backfill Soilīuilding a property requires the excavation of a much larger area than most people are aware of.
WHO GARAGE FLOOR SLAB CRACK REPAIR CRACKED
This can cause foundation settlement and, by extension, lead to cracked and sinking floor slabs inside a home. Of course, a more immediate issue for homeowners is how soil washout and erosion can cause voids to open under a property. If left to grow unchecked, then washout and erosion can lead to land becoming fallow.
Both processes are most likely to affect soil that is already unhealthy and will make it less healthy over time. As such, it can wash away soil from below the surface. Soil washout, by contrast, can be caused by underground water sources and flooding. Erosion is caused by high winds and, as such, tends to be limited to the topsoil. These processes are, at their core, processes of soil removal caused by extreme weather or powerful force exerted either by wind or running water. If you have loose or weak soil, your property may be more vulnerable to damage because of soil washout and erosion. When this happens, sections of a foundation may break away and sink as a part of a process known as settlement. This can lead to large voids opening and removing support from sections of your foundation. By contrast, dehydration causes expansive soil to shrink and crack. As such, this issue can cause cracking either through excessive pressure or by allowing the property to start sinking.
This causes it to exert pressure, of course, but it also leads to the texture becoming soft and marshy. This is what most often causes severe damage to a property and its foundation, due to the sudden application of pressure or removal of support. If extreme weather leads to severe saturation or dehydration, or a heavy spring thaw is followed by a snap freeze, then the soil can shift dramatically. If a property has good moisture management and drainage capabilities, then the changes in volume should be slight, but this is not always the case. Made up of soils that contain mostly absorbent and water-reactive soils like clay, these kinds of soil swell and shrink depending on how saturated they are. There are many different issues that cracked floor slabs can feasibly be a warning sign for, but these are the most common: Expansive SoilĮxpansive soils are quite common in and around Knoxville, TN this is a real problem considering how damaging and destructive they can be. At its most basic level, this is an issue that is caused by damage to the property’s foundation. It takes a significant amount of pressure to cause concrete to crack in this way. Problem Signs: What Concrete Floor Slabs Can SignifyĪbove and beyond all else, cracked floor slabs are problem signs that indicate that there are deeper issues at work in your home. There are dangers associated with failing to fix them. As such, you should not consider cracked floor slabs a benign issue. In fact, even cracks can present a tripping hazard if they are large enough.
These issues, in turn, cause tripping and falling hazards for you and anyone in your home. Structural problems are notorious for developing and spreading in unexpected and worrisome ways.įinally, any damage to your flooring or the foundation beneath it poses a significant risk of causing sinking and unevenness. Secondly, if the underlying issues that are causing your floor to crack are structural in nature, then they will only get worse over time, even if the cracks are stable. As such, you should worry about cracked floor slabs because they could be just the beginning there is no telling what could be going on beneath the surface and out of sight. Primarily, spreading cracks are a sign of damage and instability no matter what surface you find them in. Why Worry About Cracked Floor Slabs?Ī few cracks in your concrete floor slabs may not seem like a huge issue, but there are several reasons as to why you should be concerned about cracked floor slabs around your home. Notice how the piers can extend deep below the floor, extending until they reach competent supporting soils. Concrete slab piers being used underneath a floor to help stabilize the floor permanently.
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