Bad looking cement
by
Jan
+7
I moved into my brand new home 4 months ago. Before moving in the cement on my sidewalk and patio was not smooth. Now the garage floor and patio have cracks. What can I do about this. I have a warranty on the house. What could be done?
10 answers
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You can re-coat the surface of the cement quite easily using a cement patch. I've used it on my older home's sidewalk with great results. That said, if the cement is that new you might want to explore why it is cracking so quickly and if it poses any larger risks.
Lavende
on Feb 24, 2015
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If it's under warranty, anything you do to it will void the warranty. Call the builder immediately!
Hope Williams
on Feb 24, 2015
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If its under warranty make them fix it, since you have only been in the house 4 months and it was not purchased as is, then contractor is responsible.
Irene Pollard
on Feb 24, 2015
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You foundation is cracking as well and thats not a good thing if the garage is garage floor is cracking. This is a builder issue. The pad site when was improperly graded with bad material or the concrete is sub-grade. Call the Builder Now! If no response start getting a consumer action group involved! This is a major deal!
Denise
on Feb 24, 2015
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Need to get that taken care of as soon as possible. As others have stated, if you do anything (DYI), you will void your warranty. Take pictures! Lots of pictures and contact the seller or whomever the warranty is through. If this is a new build, it could be that the ground is settling. Your area could be affected by the on-going drought. Even older established homes are showing cracks in foundation walls, surfaces, etc. I'd do some sleuthing; check with other people living your area. Are they experiencing the same problem? Here's what happened to my brother years ago in California: he bought a new house...new build, on the side of a large hill; there were other homes on either side of him. A short time later, maybe 2-3 years, the house started to settle dramatically after some heavy rains. Comes to find out, his house was built on a landfill! The backyard was reduced by nearly 75% because of mud slide; huge cracks in living room; doors were not 'plumb'. He spent thousands for a retaining wall and driveway repair, etc. He sued the builder, the city and the city housing inspector. They dragged their feet for years. My brother out of frustration after many, many years gave up, got the house to code and sold it. Just sayin'. Snoop around, ask neighbors, etc. Don't be too quick to 'settle' or be written off. Get everything in writing. Get an extended warranty and keep it current for a few years if you are able.
Kimberly Saxton Scruggs
on Feb 24, 2015
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I would talk to an independent cement contractor and give the details of the problem with, age of the house, size (length, width, depth) and location of the cracks and if they are growing or not. Every house in America with a slab foundation, such as your garage, has hairline cracks in the cement floors, that's just the nature of the material due to contraction and expansion from heating and cooling. If the floors and walkways are uneven however, that shouldn't happen but at this point, don't panic about the foundation, the footings areuch thicker around the perimeter of the house and garage and that is most likely not part of the problem. As mentioned, talk directly with a cement contractor and give him the information needed to help figure out the situation.
Terry Sparks
on Feb 24, 2015
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We have hairline cracks in our garage floor, which is normal. Our patio developed a rather large crack in it within a month of being poured. We took it up with the builder, who basically said it was our fault because we didn't landscape around it and water sat on the patio. It was January and there aren't any landscaping supplies around at that time. Since our attempts are rectifying the situation with the builder didn't work out, we escalated the problem to the next level, which for us was the home improvement commission. Long story short, the patio ended up being torn out and repoured. The company that poured the new one said the original cracked because there was no expansion joint between the house and the patio and there also should have been one around the middle of the pad because it was 20' long. Start with the builder.
Kathy
on Feb 24, 2015
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I agree w/ everyone. Your builder needs to redo this. Make it right!!! I am sure he would not settle for it if it was his home!!! This is a big investment.
Diana R
on Feb 24, 2015
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I would check with the warranty first. If it's not covered then you can buy cement patch. It might not match in color but if that bothers you you can actually stain the whole area which would hide the patch plus it would be pretty instead of old drab concrete color
Linda Fraser
on Feb 25, 2015
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I have a good friend whose husband is a building contractor. She says he always tells her that there are three things sure in life: taxes, death, and cement will crack! We had a new driveway poured by our son in law who has quite a bit of experience in cement work and it has cracked in several places. We are in the process of building a new house and the driveway and side walk have both cracked and we haven't even moved in yet! Not sure there is really anything that can be done...the earth moves!
Elizabeth Wright
on Feb 25, 2015
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