Repairing basement floor cracks

[John r]

My basement floor is a 7-year-old cement slab with many small cracks running across it. None of them seem to be leaking, but I want to patch them for appearance and to reduce chance for future water problems. Quikcrete makes a ton of products that all sound alike, so I’m trying to figure what material I should use to patch them. Any ideas??

[mark]

How wide are your cracks, if 1/16″ or less and not leaking I’d just leave them alone, your cure may end up worse than the disease. I’m assuming you have a sump, your system should handle, and no leaks should develop. Whenever you have big slabs of concrete such as a basement floor, to have some small cracks develop 1/16″ or less is not abnormal.

[Moderator, Steve]

there is a latex based concrete patch product that I have had very good luck with because it gives alittle before it cracks again. Reg, cement will not give one bit.

trowel this out and heavily squash the stuff down in the crack and keep on pushing it in.

Let it dry and your there.

I would venture to say that cracks will be the norm if you have them now.

Consider laying indoor or outdoor carpeting down to hide them. Do not use any ceramic tile, vinyl tile will work also.

[Scott Costley]

I moved into a brand new house in July, the house was finished in June. I have just noticed that I have new cracks on my basement floor, although I have no water coming through. I live in the northeast and the ground around me is rocky and I have water drained from the house fairly well. What would cause this?? How do I fix it so it doesn’t happen again? The house is just 6 months old. Would the builder be somewhat responsible?

[George]

I have a new home built a year ago. I noticed that there are various cracks on my basement wall and floor. What concerns me most is the diagonal cracks at both of the basement windows. Also the cracks on the floor is “Y” shaped and about 1/16” in width. I noticed the two sides are not level. It’s toward the end of one-year warranty period. The builder came in yesterday and said he didn’t think there was problem or there would be a problem, so no repair was necessary. I am not so sure. I think if I don’t say a thing now, they are off the hook. Because there are so many cracks I am afraid it’s going to affect the resale value, not mention the potential of high repair expense.

Does any one has any suggestion? What’s builder’s responsibility here?

[Rebekah]

What can I use to raise the floor for a corner of the house? How do I stop this from happening again?

[Jackie Nelson]

In a small area around a shower it seems the conrete is deterorating. It has a build up like fine cobwebs protruding and it is like dust when sweep up. It even pushed up some of the paint on the floor. I want to stop this from continuing. Hope you can help.

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