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How to Evaluate Cracks in Poured Concrete Slabs & Floors InspectAPedia®  -

• Types of cracks that occur in concrete slabs, shrinkage cracks, settlement cracks, frost heaves
• Causes and problems of floor slab cracking
• How to repair cracked concrete floors

This article describes the types of cracks that occur in poured concrete slabs or floors and explains the risks associated with each, thus assisting in deciding what types of repair may be needed. This website describes how to recognize and diagnose various types of foundation failure or damage, such as foundation cracks, masonry foundation crack patterns, and moving, leaning, bulging, or bowing building foundation walls.

Types of foundation cracks, crack patterns, differences in the meaning of cracks in different foundation materials, site conditions, building history, and other evidence of building movement and damage are described to assist in recognizing foundation defects and to help the inspector separate cosmetic or low-risk conditions from those likely to be important and potentially costly to repair.

Readers should also see How to Diagnose & Evaluate Foundation Cracks since those pages also assist in distinguishing among types of cracking in concrete foundations (vertical supporting walls and footings). © Copyright 2010 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Three Types of Cracks in Concrete Slabs & Floors

• Shrinkage cracks in a slab are unlikely to be of any structural concern but can be a source of water entry or radon entry in buildings and may form a tripping hazard.
  
  
• Settlement cracks in a slab indicate inadequate site preparation, such as failure to compact fill on which a slab was poured.
  
  
• Frost heaves or expansive soil damage can cause substantial damage to basement, crawl space, or garage floor slabs in some conditions.

Each type of basement slab, floor slab, or slab on grade crack is discussed and described with photographs below.

Cracks come to the job along with the concrete, riding in the same truck! At a Journal of Light Construction conference (Boston 1985) a lecturer informed us that "Every concrete truck that comes to your job to pour a slab has at least four cracks in it. It's up to you to either provide control joints, or not. If you leave out control joints the cracks will occur in a messier pattern at natural stress points in the slab."

Three Types of Poured Concrete Slab Floors - Different Implications of Cracks & Movement

Before we describe crack, movement, and damage patterns and diagnosis in concrete slabs, we need to introduce three different types of poured concrete floor slabs. We use the three Carson Dunlop Sketches shown here to comment on the occurrence, causes, and significance of cracks and movement in poured concrete slab construction.

The bad news about typical floating slab construction (where the soil is not compacted) is that anything that causes the soil to settle risks slab cracking and settlement. Flooding, leaks, or simply poor handling of roof and surface runoff can send water under a building where it causes loose soil to settle.

The good news about cracks in floating slab construction is that the damage is to the floor, not to the structure that is supporting the building. Only if you see a floor slab crack that continues up in the foundation wall where the crack meets the wall would the structure be obviously involved.

More good news: if there is significant soil settlement under a floating slab, the slab is likely to break and follow the settling soil downwards; a sudden precipitous collapse of a floating slab is less likely than the next case we describe.

Supported poured concrete floor slab characteristics

Slab on Grade - Monolithic Concrete Slab Construction Characteristics

The articles listed below explain how we recognize and diagnose signs of cracking, damage, movement in these different concrete slab construction methods.

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• Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

SLAB CRACK EVALUATION
  Control Joint Cracks in Concrete
  Freezing & Water Damage
  Frost Heave/Expansive Soil Cracks in Slabs
  Seal Cracks by Polyurethane Foam Injection
  Seal Cracks in Concrete, How To
  Settlement Cracks in Slabs
  Settlement Cracks vs. Frost Heaves
  Settlement Cracks vs. Shrinkage Cracks
  Shrinkage Cracks in Slabs
  Shrinkage Cracks Along Foundation Walls
  Standards for Repair of Cracks in Floors

• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• "Quality Standards for the Professional Remodeling Industry", National Association of Home Builders Remodelers Council, NAHB Research Foundation, 1987. See our books at "Structure" at the InspectAPedia Bookstore
• "Concrete Slab Finishes and the Use of the F-number System", Matthew Stuart, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, online course at www.pdhonline.org/courses/s130/s130.htm
• Sal Alfano - Editor, Journal of Light Construction*
• Thanks to Alan Carson, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for technical critique and some of the foundation inspection photographs cited in these articles
• Terry Carson - ASHI
• Mark Cramer - ASHI
• JD Grewell, ASHI
• Duncan Hannay - ASHI, P.E. *
• Bob Klewitz, M.S.C.E., P.E. - ASHI
• Ken Kruger, P.E., AIA - ASHI
• Aaron Kuertz aaronk@appliedtechnologies.com, with Applied Technologies regarding polyurethane foam sealant as other foundation crack repair product - 05/30/2007
• Bob Peterson, Magnum Piering - 800-771-7437 - FL*
• Arlene Puentes, ASHI, October Home Inspections - (845) 216-7833 - Kingston NY
• Greg Robi, Magnum Piering - 800-822-7437 - National*
• Dave Rathbun, P.E. - Geotech Engineering - 904-622-2424 FL*
• Ed Seaquist, P.E., SIE Assoc. - 301-269-1450 - National
• Dave Wickersheimer, P.E. R.A. - IL*
• *These reviewers have not returned comment 6/95

How to Identify & Evaluate Shrinkage Cracks in Poured Concrete Slabs

Please see the main text version of this article at Shrinkage Cracks in Slabs

We discuss the recognition and significance of concrete shrinkage cracks in detail at Shrinkage Cracks in Slabs. Just below you can read a summary of this topic.

Shrinkage cracks in poured concrete are easily recognizable and can be distinguished from other types of cracks that occur later in the life of a foundation wall or floor slab. The photograph of cracks above were taken of shrinkage cracks in a concrete slab floor in a home built in 2006. The cracks in this case ranged in width (measured across the crack) from "hairline" (less than 1/16") to about 3/32" in the basement floor slab of this particular home. They may appear larger. What is unique about shrinkage cracks in concrete is that they usually appear to be discontinuous, as shown in this photo. The crack will meander along in the concrete, taper to a stop, and then continue beginning in a parallel line to the first crack, meandering again through the concrete. This is characteristic of concrete (or mud) shrinking while giving up its moisture. You can see the shrinkage of even a perfect concrete floor slab with no visible cracks in the field of its surface if the floor was poured inside of an existing foundation. Look for the gap between the edges of the slab and the foundation wall? Look also for the stains or concrete debris on the wall at the slab level? These confirm that at the time the slab was poured it was touching the wall.

Shrinkage Cracks in a Basement or other Slab May Be Severe and May Combine with Settlement

Depending on the mix and pour conditions as well as the site work preparation significant concrete shrinkage cracks can appear in a basement slab. On occasion we may also see vertical dislocation in a floor slab crack, that is, one side has settled or tipped away from the other side of the cracked concrete.

Our photographs above show shrinkage cracking and ensuing minor settlement cracks occurring in the same poured concrete basement floor. We suspected that site drainage defects or possibly nearby site blasting for additional construction contributed to the 1/16" to 1/8" vertical dislocation across some of the cracks in this floor where the cracks were about 3/16" wide.

Slab Cracks may Permit Basement Water Entry or Radon Gas Entry

Happily the building owner at the site where we made the photos above did not report water entry through these openings, though it certainly might be expected as the home ages and its footing drains stop working, particularly if surface runoff and roof runoff are not kept away from the building.

Photos of Concrete Floor Slab Shrinkage Points of Origin

How to Inspect & Evaluate Cracks at Control Joints in Concrete

We discuss the recognition and significance of control joints in poured concrete slabs in detail at Cracks at Control Joints in Concrete. Just below you can read a summary of this topic.

The first photograph shows an expansion joint in a basement floor slab. Notice that we do not see other cracks in this slab. Shrinkage cracks that occur at control joints such as shown in the second, close up photo here, are occurring where they are supposed-to, although the width of this particular crack was surprisingly large. These cracks are not normally a defect in the slab but may be a source of water or radon entry into the building and may need to be sealed. Use a flexible sealant.

Settlement Cracks in poured Concrete Slabs

We discuss the recognition and significance of settlement cracks in poured concrete slabs in detail at Settlement Cracks in Slabs. Just below you can read a summary of this topic.

Settlement cracks in a conventional concrete floor slab which has been poured inside a separate foundation wall (and often resting at its edges on the building's foundation wall footings) are usually not connected to the foundation wall and are not supporting any structure [except possibly Lally columns, discussed next]. These cracks may not be a structural concern, but there are cases where a serious hazard can be present, such as garage floor cracking when the floor was poured over soft, loose, inadequately-compacted fill and where the floor slab was not pinned to the garage foundation walls. Soil settlement under a garage floor, perhaps aggravated by groundwater which can increase soil settlement, can lead to first hollowing-out of space below the floor and second, sudden collapse of the floor structure. We have used a heavy chain, dragging it across the garage floor and listening to changes in the sound it produces, to find areas of significant soil voids below the floor. The pitch of the chain noise drops significantly when passing over a void below the concrete.]

Settlement cracks in a concrete floor around a supporting Lally column might be indicative of a serious problem such as building settlement if the columns are settling. Independent footings may have been provided supporting Lally columns in the building interior and those may be settling independently of the floor slab which may have been poured around and even over them (See photo above). But beware, where slab thickness and local building codes allow, supporting columns may bear directly on a poured floor slab without their own (deeper) pier or footing. In that case floor slab cracking and settling can cause column movement and may be a structural concern.

Settlement cracks in a monolithic slab or floating slab floor may be more serious, depending on their extent since in this case the edges and other portions of the slab are, unlike the cases above) expected to support the upper portions of the building structure.

A monolithic concrete slab is one which includes the building footing as part of the slab, created in a single continuous pour of concrete.

A floating concrete slab is one which is poured at a (generally) uniform thickness on the ground without a separate footing. [Beware, in areas of wet soils, expansive clays, freezing climates, or unstable soils, floating slabs may be exposed to extra stresses and may tip or crack. Proper site work and drainage are important as is proper engineering design of such structures.

Frost Heaves or Expansive Soil Cracks in Poured Concrete Slabs

We discuss the recognition and significance of frost heaving damage and cracks in poured concrete slabs in detail at Frost Heave/Expansive Soil Cracks in Slabs. Just below you can read a summary of this topic.

Frost heaves or expansive soils damage to building floor slabs can range from minor to extensive in buildings depending on soil and weather conditions, site preparation, and slab construction details, as we elaborate here. The photograph above shows a rather straight crack across a garage slab near the garage entry door. What is happening here and why is this particular crack straight if it's a frost or soil heave crack? In freezing climates building foundations include a footing which extends below the frost line. This is true for both the occupied space as well as garages. When a concrete slab is poured either abutting the top of such a foundation, or poured extending over the edges of such a foundation, there is risk of cracking across the concrete at the interior edge of the buried footing.

The combination of water under a garage floor (watch out for driveways and sites that slope towards the garage or home) and freezing can cause the portion of the slab which rests directly on the soil to move up and down during freeze/thaw cycles. Since a garage is often colder near the garage entry door than in other areas, there is extra risk of these cracks occurring there, but they can occur anywhere. When there is freezing and heaving of a slab, particularly one which omitted reinforcing steel, or did not extend the steel over the footing, these garage floor slab cracks may appear during freeze/thaw cycles.

Similar floor slab damage might occur in areas of expansive clay soils if the proper moisture level is not maintained.

Basement floor heave patterns - frozen floor drains: Basement floors can be frost heaved in other patterns in buildings which are unheated or which lose heat. We have found basement floor slabs broken and heaved above buried drain lines which ran below the basement floor of a home which remained unheated during freezing weather.

A clogged drain sitting full of liquid combined with prolonged freezing weather was the culprit in most of these cases. The heaved concrete was raised following exactly the path of the frozen (and burst) buried, clogged drain line. This problem can be epidemic in older homes which were constructed using a downspout drain line extending below the basement slab.

Basement and garage floor random heave and crack patterns: Cracked and heaved concrete or settled concrete can occur in more random patterns in any concrete floor where there has been frost heaving, soil contraction/expansion, or simple soil settlement, as shown in this photograph.

Garage or basement floor sloped or semi-uniform settlement may also produce a tipped floor even if the concrete is not cracked, or the floor may settle uniformly. This condition occurs if the concrete was reinforced by steel or fiber cement, but was poured inside of a separate concrete or masonry block foundation. We see this condition more often in garages in which the slab was reinforced but poured on poorly-compacted soil. The problem may be worst if in addition to poor compaction, water runs under the slab, causing additional or more rapid soil settlement.

My first construction job (for pay) was to rake level the backfill soil that the contractor had dumped inside of the newly-completed garage foundation in a series of homes. No compaction of any kind was performed. When a lot of fill, several feet or more in depth, was required to bring the slab to the desired height, there was a good chance that the slab would settle or tip in the future.

Garage slabs which were poured inside of the foundation walls but which were pinned to the foundation sides (typically using re-bar set into holes punched into the masonry block foundation), the slab was resistant to settlement or movement even if there was modest soil settlement below.

In a garage where the slab has settled you can often spot the original level of the slab and thus can measure the amount of settlement. Look for a concrete line above the level of the top of the slab and found along the masonry block or poured concrete foundation wall. we have seen this line ranging from a fraction of an inch to six to eight inches above the current level of the slab!

Standards for the Acceptance or Repair of Cracks in Concrete Floors in New Construction

Settlement cracks may form a tripping hazard even if they are not traced to a structural concern. While there are few construction acceptance standards for floor slab cracking, one, "Quality Standards for the Professional Remodeling Industry" NAHB, , recommends that cracks in basement floors which exceed 3/16" in width or 1/8" in vertical displacement should be repaired. The same standard provides that cracks in slab-on-grade floors shall not exceed 1/16" in width or in vertical displacement. The same standard provides that cracks occurring in control joints in concrete slabs are normal and acceptable. [We suggest that this last criteria should apply to crack width but not to vertical displacement.]

FOUNDATION DIAGNOSIS Chapter Index

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

FOUNDATION CRACKS & DAMAGE GUIDE - how to inspect and diagnose foundation problems, in-depth diagnosis, and evaluation of all types of structural and non-structural cracks in residential foundations [Brick, Concrete, Masonry Block, Stone]
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED FOUNDATIONS - examples of earthquake-damaged building foundations
FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTION TYPES - identify different foundation types, construction materials, effects of sequence of construction
FOUNDATION INSPECTION METHODS - what to look for when inspecting any building foundation
FAILURES by FOUNDATION TYPE & MATERIAL- unique failure characteristics of each foundation material
  Block Foundation & Wall Defects
  Brick Foundation & Wall Defects
  Brick Thermal Expansion Cracking
  Concrete Poured Foundation Wall & Slab Defects
  Concrete Pre-cast Foundation Defects
  Stone Foundation Defects
  Wood Foundation Defects
FAILURES by FOUNDATION MOVEMENT TYPE -recognize & diagnose types of foundation damage by the nature of foundation movement
  BULGED vs. LEANING FOUNDATIONS - distinction of foundation bulging from foundation leaning has important implications for stability
  COMBINATIONS OF FOUNDATION MOVEMENT - the real world of foundation cracks and movement: often more than one force is at work
    Bulge & step cracks
    Earthquake Damage to Foundations
    Flood Damage to Foundations
    Foundation Movement During Collapse
    Other Foundation Step cracks
  HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT IN FOUNDATIONS - detection, causes, effects, evaluation of horizontal or lateral foundation movement; hillsides
    Bulging, Leaning & Sliding Wall
    Horizontal Foundation Creep
    Horizontal Movement & step cracks in brick
    Impact Damage to Foundations
    Thermal Expansion Cracking in Brick
  VERTICAL MOVEMENT IN FOUNDATIONS - detection, causes, effects, evaluation of vertical foundation movement, differential settlement
    Diagonal Cracks in Concrete Foundations
    Diagonal Step Cracking in Masonry
    Differential vs. Uniform Settlement Cracks
    Leaning or Tipping Buildings
    Uniform Width vs. Tapered Foundation Cracks
    Vertical Cracks
FLOOD DAMAGE TO FOUNDATIONS - examples of flood damaged foundations, flood damage case analysis: were these cracks due to flooding?
FOUNDATION DEFECTS OF OMISSION - recognize things that were left out, like footings, reinforcement, soil compaction, during foundation construction
FOUNDATION CRACK EVALUATION- recognize & diagnose types of foundation cracks, movement, damage, by the size, shape, location, pattern of cracks
  DIAGONAL FOUNDATION CRACKS - causes and significance of diagonal foundation cracks, varies by foundation type & material
  HORIZONTAL FOUNDATION CRACKS - causes and significance of horizontal foundation cracks, varies by foundation type & material
  SHRINKAGE vs EXPANSION vs SETTLEMENT - which foundation materials shrink, which expand, & their characteristic crack patterns
  Sinkholes & Building Damage - sinkhole recognition, significance, cause, underlying geology, areas where sinkholes are worst
  VERTICAL FOUNDATION CRACKS - - causes and significance of vertical foundation cracks, varies by foundation type & material
FOUNDATION BULGE or LEAN MEASUREMENTS - procedure for documenting the amount of lean or bulge in a foundation or other building wall
FOUNDATION DAMAGE SEVERITY - rules of thumb for deciding how much foundation movement requires further action
FOUNDATION DAMAGE REPORTS - how to report foundation inspection results and damage
FOUNDATION INSPECTION STANDARDS - definition of scope of what a foundation inspector
FOUNDATION MOVEMENT ACTIVE vs. STATIC - determine if foundation movement was a one-time event or an ongoing problem
FOUNDATION REPAIR METHODS - catalog of methods used to repair damaged foundations and masonry building walls
  Bulged foundation Repairs
  Crack Repair Methods
  Horizontal Movement Repairs
  Shrinkage Crack Repairs
  Vertical Movement Repairs
SITE FACTORS AFFECTING FOUNDATIONS - drainage, rock, soil compaction, slope or grading, bedrock, sloping bedrock, proximity to roads
SLAB CRACK EVALUATION - recognize and diagnose different types of slab or concrete floor cracks and movement
  Control Joint Cracks in Concrete - what are control joints, why they are needed, what happens when they're omitted; are they structural?
  Freezing & Water Damage - recognize frost and water damage to concrete slabs, distinguish from other crack types
  Frost Heave/Expansive Soil Cracks in Slabs - distinguish between frost damage and expansive clay soil damage to slabs
  Seal Cracks by Polyurethane Foam Injection - stop basement or crawl space leakage
  Seal Cracks in Concrete, How To - products and methods used to seal or repair cracks in poured concrete walls, foundations, floors, & slabs.
  Settlement Cracks in Slabs - recognize slab settlement, assess risk, assess potential impact on structure
  Settlement Cracks vs. Frost Heaves - how to tell the difference between frost heaves and foundation settlement; does it matter?
  Settlement Cracks vs. Shrinkage Cracks - critical identification of shrinkage cracks (non-structural) compared with foundation movement
  Shrinkage Cracks in Slabs - causes, prevention, assessment of concrete slab shrinkage cracks
  Shrinkage Cracks Along Foundation Walls - why do we see a gap between a poured concrete slab and its abutting foundation wall?
  Standards for Repair of Cracks in Floors - when does a floor or slab crack need to be repaired? why?
WATER ENTRY in BUILDINGS
  SUMP PUMPS GUIDE - how a sump pump can avoid foundation damage and reduce building water entry
ADDITIONAL READING

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