fixing concrete at garage door opening (PIC) (Home Depot, paint, light)

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Hi, all. At the opening to my garage door, I have lots of cracked concrete. Looks like this:



My question is, how do I fix this? When I had pellets delivered, the guy who was driving the pallet truck into the garage noticed the concrete issues and said he thought it would be pretty easy to fix -- pull out the broken pieces (all of them, even the tiny ones), clean the whole area really well, then fill in the holes with concrete mix. Does that sound right? (Sounds great to me as it sounds fairly straightforward ... but I thought he said to use QuikRete or something like that -- and I see that QuikRete is for 2" thick concrete [at least], but I am just repairing, not fixing a uniform hole that is 2" thick or more.)

Please keep in mind that when it comes to mechanical things, fixing things, etc., I have an IQ of about 70. I can be walked through (or talked through!) some things, but I never have an intuitive sense of how things work or can be fixed. So simple instructions are best.

Thanks in advance ... and reps to all who are helpful (or try to be!).

[K'ledgeBldr]

Yes, it's pretty straightforward.

The main thing is the material used to replace. You want polymer modified concrete:
Repairing Concrete- Materials to Use - The Concrete Network

[QIS]

Use concrete patch compound which is adhesive and maybe brush on a liquid adhesive prior to help bond and the rest of the instructions in you post would be fine...you could also try to stick the old pieces back on which may or may not work-can't hurt to try if you want to.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Thanks (and reps!) to both of you for your replies. K'builder, there is a LOT of helpful info at that site -- I like to read about how things work even if I have no intuitive sense (or maybe BECAUSE I have no intuitive sense). And QIS, I just checked my local Home Depot and they have QuikRete patching compound -- I think that's what the pellet delivery guy must have meant.

I will give it a try! Thanks again!!

==========

ETA: just read the description for the patching compound ... it says it's good for patches that are up to 1/4 inch. As you can see from the photo in the OP, my patches are WAY bigger than that. So maybe I SHOULD use the regular QuikRete??? (What do you use if it's between 1/4" -- the patching compound -- and 2" -- which regular QuikRete is for???)

[Ted Bear]

Clean it up REALLY well, and then go with a Polymer product.

However....in your location, that is going to be VERY difficult to resolve longer term and you may find this to be a semi-annual type of task.

The location...right at the edge of your garage door, means you have freezing on one side, and not so much on the other. If your garage is heated, the extremes are even worse.

The salt from your car, and the slurry from the vehicle melting off, also finds its way into those cracks, freezes, attacks, and generally makes that a miserable location for a solid, long lasting surface.

Lastly, that area takes a beating in terms of weight transfer from your driveway onto the more solid surface of the garage. Tough location, to be sure, and the weight wants to crush that concrete, which might already be weakened due to the above.

Persistence is probably your best ingredient to make it look good and stay sealed over a long period of time.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by Ted Bear

Clean it up REALLY well, and then go with a Polymer product.

Thanks, but can you say a bit more? EG above I noted the QuikRete says it's for 2" or more, while the patching compound is for 1/4" or less ... so what exactly do I use for patching depths in between those?

Originally Posted by Ted Bear

However....in your location, that is going to be VERY difficult to resolve longer term and you may find this to be a semi-annual type of task.

The location...right at the edge of your garage door, means you have freezing on one side, and not so much on the other. If your garage is heated, the extremes are even worse.

The salt from your car, and the slurry from the vehicle melting off, also finds its way into those cracks, freezes, attacks, and generally makes that a miserable location for a solid, long lasting surface.

Lastly, that area takes a beating in terms of weight transfer from your driveway onto the more solid surface of the garage. Tough location, to be sure, and the weight wants to crush that concrete, which might already be weakened due to the above.

Persistence is probably your best ingredient to make it look good and stay sealed over a long period of time.

All of that makes sense -- EXCEPT that I didn't have the same problem at my old house (a few miles away -- same weather! ), and so far (3 years living here) I have never parked in the garage, not once. Here it's clear all the damage was done before I moved in (I should have asked the seller to fix it, but it didn't seem critical). EVENTUALLY (after I use up all the tons of wood pellets in the garage) I would like to be able to park in the garage (what an idea! ), and I understand that you are saying that I will likely have to do patches basically forever. Again, that makes sense, except this is New England -- why doesn't EVERYONE'S garage opening look like this?

[thecoalman]

Karen, is that slab on the picture about 2 feet wide and outside of the garage ? If so it would be more involved but you'll have a more permanent repair if you remove it and pour a new slab. The one that has the edges cracked is presumably a big slab, it would have to be cut back a few inches with a masonry saw to give you a nice even edge. That can be rented or you can score it with masonry wheel on a grinder and knock it off. Mixing that amount of concrete by hand is a little bit of work but certainly isn't worth the cost of renting a mixer or having it delivered. Try and have two people helping. Concrete is not that difficult to do until the slabs get really big/complicated. I can give more details if you want them and there is plenty of tutorials online


Any patch you do here probably isn't going to last becsue of where it's at and new cement does not adhere to old very well no matter where it's at. If you do only patch it as already mentioned there is a product they make to prepare the existing surface, you just paint it on. That creates a chemical bond between the new and the old.

I noted the QuikRete says it's for 2" or more, while the patching compound is for 1/4" or less

Quickcrete makes a few products. Concrete is typically a mixture of portland, sand and gravel mixed with a ratio of 1:2:3. e.g. 1 Portland, 2 sand and 3 gravel. That is what their concrete mixture is going to be or close to it. When you pour it you have to do what they call floating it. Basically you agitate it and that causes the gravel to gravitate to the bottom, helps drive the air out and the cement/sand to float to the top. That's why it's only good for 2", you'll end up with gravel on the top and it will be impossible to work with.

I don't know what product to suggest for patch like this but you certainly don't want a regular concrete mixture with gravel.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

Again, that makes sense, except this is New England -- why doesn't EVERYONE'S garage opening look like this?

There is variety reasons it might of cracked there. For example when they floated it there might have been a lot rock and not much cement/sand.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Coalman, thanks for chiming in! The cracked concrete is actually on the INSIDE of the garage -- JUST inside, by about 1.5-2 inches. Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning -- they may clarify the issue ...



I took the photo in the OP from the outside, with the garage door open. I took this one ^^^ from the INSIDE of the garage -- you can see the handle for opening the door manually from the inside. You can also see light coming in -- no weatherstripping on the bottom of the door (or very little), so the gap lets insects, mice, etc. come into the garage. I bought a product to fix that (weatherstripping for the bottom of the door), but I figured it would make more sense to fix the whole area at the same time. Hence, this thread.

BTW, here's a photo a little to the left of the one above -- you can see that the area further to the left isn't (yet) cracked into pieces.




Obviously I would like to fix this before it gets any worse, although frankly it's been like this I am sure for many many many years -- it hasn't gotten worse in the 3 years I've lived here, but of course I know it could. (Oh, it's a 3-car garage, and I have the same problem in the other 2 bays.)

Do those photos help clarify the situation? Any other questions, please ask -- and thanks again to all!

[thecoalman]

I figured it was inside Karen, what I'm asking about is the piece outside. If it's not that big you can remove that. For the inside piece cut it back 2 or 3 inches to remove the damaged section all the way across the width of the garage door. You would removing a piece something like 8 foot by 3 or 4 inches.

That way you can put a whole new slab in. This is more involved but it's permanent fix. You could just try cutting out the damaged section inside the garage however with only a few inches of new concrete that is liable to crack especially where it's at. That's why you would want to remove the outside piece, so you can new slab that is decent sized.

The only problem here is this is not a flat pour like a sidewalk which are really easy to do. You need to extend it out straight to where the garage door hits to replace the cracked section and then it needs to slope down where the outside piece is. It may be difficult for you since you have no experience with concrete.