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We may never know... and you're right it may not really matter.
But... I still think it looks like a cut because of the chipping at the edge and the fact that it's not perfectly straight like it's following a form, but both sides match.
Yeah. I think you are right. My tile guy said it was a control joint. I've never seen a control joint that wide before. Tile guy said it won't be a problem.
It did follow a form, they formed with wood poured the concrete, then stripped the forms and poured the the opposite side against the recently placed concrete. I know it was saw cut due to the slightly rounded top edge, width of the joint and primarily because there’s a slight curve in joint. A concrete saw would not be able to cut to a slight radius.
Good point! It's an odd looking groove. House is 20 years old. We are 3rd owners. 2nd owner wouldn't know. Probably only the builder would know. I've got the original blueprints. I don't know if the builders name was on any of those documents. I'll look then over once I get done with this floor tearout. I'm struggling with this glued down wood flooring in the living room. There should be a federal law against gluing that stuff now. Gotta get this done by September 30th. Builder wouldn't remember it anyway I suppose. Long time ago and they sub all that stuff out anyway.
Thanks for responding. Sounds like you know your concrete work.
I sent my tile guy a picture of it. He said it was a control joint but couldn't explain why its 7/16" wide. He said it wont be a problem though. As I was tearing out the adjacent living room flooring I saw that a similar groove had been cut. This groove connect to the bedroom groove and took a 90 degree turn and followed along the living room wall.
I've torn out carpet and tile before on a slab home but didn't see anything like this. It's really pretty wide.ooka like they did it with a hoe!
The concrete doesn't change shape.
Have you set a level across it to see if the level high-centers at the joint? Or if the joint is a low point?
Regardless, as long as your contractor deals with it properly, your flooring should be fine.
There may be a bit of disagreement as to what constitutes dealing with it properly.
If it were me, I would start here: https://www.concrete.org/contactus.aspx and ask questions regarding how to deal with it properly. They can probably point you to online technical notes on the best way to handle it.
There may be a bit of disagreement as to what constitutes dealing with it properly.
If it were me, I would start here: https://www.concrete.org/contactus.aspx and ask questions regarding how to deal with it properly. They can probably point you to online technical notes on the best way to handle it.
Then, install the anti-fracture membrane and follow the rest of the normal tile installation procedure.
Really unnecessary, it’s not an active expansion joint in the true sense. The joint should be filled with and sand and cement mix to the top of the slab and then follow the instructions according to the manufacturers recommendation for the specific crack isolation membrane being used. This was a typical detail (thousands of feet ) that I’ve dealt with while supervising commercial construction projects.
There may be a bit of disagreement as to what constitutes dealing with it properly.
If it were me, I would start here: https://www.concrete.org/contactus.aspx and ask questions regarding how to deal with it properly. They can probably point you to online technical notes on the best way to handle it.
Then, install the anti-fracture membrane and follow the rest of the normal tile installation procedure.
I'm hiring a good tile company so I'm sure they will deal with it properly. I'm hearing the old flooring out to save myself $5,000. I was just curious about why that cut was so wide. Never have seen an expansion joint that wide. My tile guy says don't worry about it.
In the first pic I see it's as wide as a nail head. Wonder why they left some nails there and didn't clean that up. Just brainstorming.
I don't know. The original flooring in that room was carpet. The stuff I took out was tongue and groove wood. Perhaps the nail got in there when they took out the carpet tack down strips.
My house in Florida has the same type cuts. I don't recall the width of the cuts, but I'm pretty certain that they are there to control the location of the stress cracks. The concrete will crack in those cuts rather than in a random zig zag pattern across the floor.
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I still think it looks like a cut because of the chipping at the edge and the fact that it's not perfectly straight like it's following a form, but both sides match.
