just found cracks in floor, Concrete slab...please help !

just found cracks in floor, Concrete slab...

im very nerves about it... i was just home to show my flooring guy my new home, built in '62 ( i just got the keys for a few days ago) so we ripped up some of the carpet to find some cracks in the concrete foundation floor...two of the cracks were about 3-5ft long and very thin... a how worried should i be about this ? it's a hillside home and there is some sloping going on in the floor...

the sellers of the house game me a Geo tech report from last year saying the house is sound and that slab is in good shape...

how worried should i be about this ? can anyone please recommend a concrete person that could help me...

thanks,
Lino

I'm fairly certain this is totally normal and expected.

Concrete cracks. That's why sidewalks have those expansion joints running crosswise every so many feet. Depending on what you want to use for flooring, you may have to treat the crack. If you want a glue down flooring, you will have to patch and level the slab. If you are going to tile, then you will want an isolation membrane under the tile to keep the cracks from showing through on the tile. If you are installing a floating floor or carpet, you don't have to do much.

All concrete shrinks. When the slab is intended to remain exposed, indoors or outdoors, it should be scored every 4 feet. The scoring tends to eliminate random cracks, as the cracks will occur in the scored lines.

In this case, you could cover the concrete slab with anything. The cracks can be patched and topped with a great, glossy epoxy finish as well.

I wouldn't worry about the existing cracks unless the gaps are wide and shifting. That would indicate possible slippage or unstability worth a closer examination by a structural engineer.

Good luck with your project!

After i bought my house built in '63 i removed the carpet as well. There are several cracks. In fact, I am looking at one that goes almost the length of my office! My foundation is fine. It is normal. Mine are the long, but very thin ones as well. It would be ones with a wide gap that I would worry about.

When I got my concrete stained the guy told me that some people have actually requested that he make more cracks for them bc they like the look!

i hope you guys are right...

i wished that the cracks that were in the slab were small, there's a group of cracks were it's uneven and stuff. i dont have a good feeling about this...i have a civil engineer coming out Monday to look at for $700 ouch !

anyway, one of the cracks spider web's off into a another crack that must be about 1 inch wide, big sucker !

i cant believe i took the sellers word for it...they gave me a report done by a Civil Engineer a year ago and it states that the home was in good shape, blah, blah, blah...

what really pisses me off is the sellers never disclosed any cracks in the slab. i know they new the cracks were there because the carpet that's on the floor is not old.

i couldnt sleep last night...im an idiot for not getting my own Geo tech !

LinoD.

First house, huh? Calm down. It will be fine. I can feel cracks in the slab under the carpet in my house and this house has been standing for 41 years. I'm not worried. It's really, really normal for concrete slabs to crack. They absolutely all do it.

Yup, cracks happen... no bigE... it's an easy diy fix. then put down a chic epoxy floor!

http://deckcoatings.com/GAL_Repair.html

Chad
www.GarageFloorSealing.com

thanks for the comforting words all...

i'll let you know how it goes Monday.

thanks again !
LinoD.