Concrete slab unlevel...

MT Stringer

I have a spot in our living room where it is obvious the slab is unlevel. While repairs are being made from storm damage from Hurricane Ike, we pulled out all of the carpet. So I was thinking now may be the time to tackle the hump.

What do I need to do to level out the floor? I swear, I think the guys that poured the house slab in 1983 also poured the street!

Mike

Termite

You can buy concrete leveling compound at most home improvement stores. Assuming you're not leaving the concrete exposed, it would work just fine.

skymaster

KC re read his post. MT you said HUMP you mean there is a HIGH spot?
Only ways I can think of; hire a concrete grinding company, or good ole hammer and chisel, or rotary hammer and chisel blades which u can rent
If it is a low spot then KC is SPOT ON (pardon the pun groooooooooaaaaaan)
KC your up!!!!!

MT Stringer

Thanks. Yep, there is a hump. You can stand on it and feel your toes lower than your heel. Not a very professional job, to say the least. I had already thought about the leveling stuff, but I'm afraid some grinding/chipping is in order.

Mike

Termite

Whoops. I need to work on my reading comprehension!

You could use leveler to raise the rest of the floor to the height of the hump! Kidding.

yesitsconcrete

depending on the size, 4' level, laser, & grinder w/diamond turbo cup wheel,,, our orange apron store even rents 1 w/dust shroud for hookup to a wet/dry vac.

skymaster

KC; YEAH Raise the rest of the floor!!!!!!!!!! YOU IZ DA MAN!!!!!!!!!
ROFLMAO

yesitsconcrete

do NOT omit the wet/dry vac or you'll still be cleaning dust when your grandchildren graduate from college,,, IF obama leaves you any $ $ $, that is

amakarevic

quite easy. get a regular grinder and diamond blades and grind it off. if you angle the grinder <45 deg, you will get a sanding effect. depending on the size of the hump, it may be time-consuming but certainly less than breaking that section of the slab. if you go too deep, which is somewhat likely because it may be hard to follow the level line, dump some self-leveling compound, as i believe was mentioned above. let us know how it went.

wildcat

Mt,

If you had a lot of water in the home for and extended amount of time, you'll want to make sure you don't have any spalling occurring with the slab. If you don't have spalling issues then just grind that hump down.

yesitsconcrete

spalling's indicates slabs're moving against each other in a continuing pattern,,, if there's expansive soils under the flooring which expand/contract, that could cause it,,, usually temps're fairly constant in 1's bsmt so thermal cause is probably negligible.

yes, wtr could & probably would cause expansive soils to move,,, however, i don't know how 'lot of water in your home for and extended amount of time' is defined,,, then again, i ain't an engineer so maybe i should defer,,, but i doubt is

ps - spalling's a result, not a cause.

wildcat

Spalling can be caused by overexposure to moisture. Concrete is porous and if water sets on a slab long enough it will get to the reinforcment and the reinforcement in the slab will begin to corrode and expand, causing spalling (concrete popos lose). How much exposure is too much? It all depends, its a case by case basis. Its going to depend on the type and size of reinforcment used and is location with in the slab. It will also depend on the quality of the materials used to make the concrete, if you used even a little bit on non-pottable water it can have an effect.

The reason I mentioned spalling is because if he is going to fix the hump, he might as well take care of any suspected spalling now.

yesitsconcrete

didn't mean to pee in anyone's wheaties just my experiences.

true - steel expansion's usually causes spalling & as does salt intrusion on those mats of steel (eg, bdge decks-carparks)

its also true you'd expect to find crks in this instance either as a result of improper jnt pattern, humps as originally posted, or steel corrosion,,, agree, if anything's going to be done, now's the time to do it all - conc rarely heals even if we take up four COLLECTIONS OR hold prayer mtgs.

MT Stringer

Thanks for the replies. The unlevel portion of he slab has been with us a long time so it wasn't a result of the storm damage. We replaced our carpet about 10 years ago. I saw (and felt) it then but didn't do anything about it. It more of a nuisance than anything else.

Mike

yesitsconcrete

repairing spalls is not as important as resolving the spalling's CAUSE imn-s-hfo just a thought - ck for post-tensioning cables in the conc w/magnetometer prior to repairing it, mikey.