Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 02, 2024 8:43 am Hi All I inspected a house which is 3 years old and found it had quite a lot of cracks in the garage slab already. Some of the cracks seem like the concrete is chipping a little, I understand I need to get a proper building inspection however just seeing what others think here... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Garage slab cracks 3Sep 02, 2024 1:49 pm thanks for the feedback, how can you tell the difference between ground movement and shrinkage/expansion cracks? I inspected the rest of the property, no cracks in walls etc, the rest of the house is perfect except the garage slab Re: Garage slab cracks 4Sep 02, 2024 3:02 pm Ground movement cracks can run in any direction, and mostly would be in slab centre. However contraction and expansion cracks follow a straight line pattern where slab needs to crack. We normally place control joints in floating slabs at 3.0m spacing in each direction. So if you don’t place a joint in the slab, the slab will make one in the form of a crack. Floating slabs are supposed to float (move up and down), so cracks in them are not that important as habitable slabs that have tiles and plastered walls and ceilings above. Floating slabs are also supposed to be separate from the rest of the building/footings, so it’s not necessarily you get wall cracks if you have floating slab cracks. Re: Garage slab cracks 5Sep 02, 2024 3:14 pm thanks again! from the photos and property being 3 years old, whats the usual progression of the cracks I have in the photo? There are no trees anywhere close to the property, do such cracks get much worse? Assuming the cause is no control joints and its a floating slab. The CSIRO BTF18 explains differnt types of cracks and what "normal" is Google this and the top result is actually the latest version. You normally have to buy this from… 9 19561 If the cracks are in a reinforced slab you can use a tiling mat but from what I can see you would be better with a reinforced screed bed on a plastic slip sheet. This slab… 2 6102 The mesh is often stuck on wall first then rendered over, which means it does nothing Not to specifications Get a scope of works in writing before start, needs to be… 10 21659 |