Reply To: Old home on an old concrete slab

[Lance]

Sorry for the delay in my reply. July is vacation month this year. Pretty soon we’ll be heading out again, and won’t return again until August.

Today I grabbed a nice straight 2×4 and went around the floor. Unfortunately I can’t find any area longer than 2 feet where the 2×4 doesn’t have a gap. This home is 45 years old, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this. The only place the 2×4 sits nicely along the floor is on the slab in the new addition. I don’t need to make a decision which way to go (regarding leveling the floor) until I come back from this upcoming vacation… so I think I’ll pray about it until I return.

Regardless which way I go on the leveling, I definitely plan to begin working on the cracks first. You mentioned using membrane and cloth, but I’m not sure how to go about this. One video I watched on YouTube suggested:

1. cleaning up the crack with a crack chaser blade on my angle grinder
2. make sure the crack is super clean with no loose debris
3. fill the bottom of the crack with something compressible
4. patch over the top

Does that sound about right to you? Do you have any videos already made on treating cracks in a concrete slab, or have any suggestions on a video I can reference where the person is actually doing things properly?

I’ve added some photos of the planks I purchased. I wasn’t sure if you wanted an up close view of the ends… or if you wanted a photo of the whole plank. I went with the former, so let me know if you need to see something else.

When I’m finally able to install the planks, I think I’ll go east to west (according to my drawing). The hallway is so short compared to the length of the great room that flows into the kitchen. I’m working with 8″ wide planks, so it won’t be too bad going horizontal all the way down the 15′ hallway. That will make it easier for me to flow the planks into the bedrooms & closets off the hallway. Furthermore, that would make my planks run perpendicular over most of the cracks in my floor, instead of parallel with them… in case the foundation shifts some more in the future.

Thank you for your help! God bless you

[Lance]

Sorry for the delay in my reply. July is vacation month this year. Pretty soon we’ll be heading out again, and won’t return again until August.

Today I grabbed a nice straight 2×4 and went around the floor. Unfortunately I can’t find any area longer than 2 feet where the 2×4 doesn’t have a gap. This home is 45 years old, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this. The only place the 2×4 sits nicely along the floor is on the slab in the new addition. I don’t need to make a decision which way to go (regarding leveling the floor) until I come back from this upcoming vacation… so I think I’ll pray about it until I return.

Regardless which way I go on the leveling, I definitely plan to begin working on the cracks first. You mentioned using membrane and cloth, but I’m not sure how to go about this. One video I watched on YouTube suggested:

1. cleaning up the crack with a crack chaser blade on my angle grinder
2. make sure the crack is super clean with no loose debris
3. fill the bottom of the crack with something compressible
4. patch over the top

Does that sound about right to you? Do you have any videos already made on treating cracks in a concrete slab, or have any suggestions on a video I can reference where the person is actually doing things properly?

I’ve added some photos of the planks I purchased. I wasn’t sure if you wanted an up close view of the ends… or if you wanted a photo of the whole plank. I went with the former, so let me know if you need to see something else.

When I’m finally able to install the planks, I think I’ll go east to west (according to my drawing). The hallway is so short compared to the length of the great room that flows into the kitchen. I’m working with 8″ wide planks, so it won’t be too bad going horizontal all the way down the 15′ hallway. That will make it easier for me to flow the planks into the bedrooms & closets off the hallway. Furthermore, that would make my planks run perpendicular over most of the cracks in my floor, instead of parallel with them… in case the foundation shifts some more in the future.

Thank you for your help! God bless you