Cracked footing?

[austin]

How do go about repairing this at the entrance to the unheated basement garage at the side of the house? The garage floor is seriously cracked, also, due to water getting under the slab and freeze/thaw.This is the only side of the house where the basement opens at ground level. The other 3 sides are back filled with sand.

[HayZee518]

I'm surprised the concrete contractor didn't put in an expansion strip somewhere in the pour or used re-bar in the slab. your cracking longitudinally explains that. now for the repair. use a soupy mix of hydraulic cement and pour it into the crack. hydraulic cement will expand when it cures. after it has cured use regular mortar mix with a cement bonding agent and build a "cap" over the sill.

[austin]

Can you use cement bonding agent with hydraulic cement? If not, what happens if you do?

[HayZee518]

I've never used a bonding agent with hydraulic cement so I have no idea what'll happen. The instructions say to use water.

[johnmwentz]

Well it you could also use polyurethane based concrete repair formulations. They are polymer coated to provide extra strength.

[Trim Plus]

My opinion, if you don't first fix the issue of water getting under the slab and footer, it won't matter what you do to repair the concrete it will still heave and crack again.

Leo
trimplus(dot)biz

[Robbie245]

If the footer there doesn't go down below frost level, it will have to be dug down and re-poured. This could be a realnightmare. If frost was the reason, it might be best to just keep the garage heated to reduce frost exposure.