A significant downside to using concrete relates to occasional cracks and chips that can affect the quality of your outdoor space. Specialists suggest that a primary reason why your concrete could be cracking is structural issues.
Shrinkage, rough handling, and uneven surfaces are the leading causes of cracking. Concrete shrinks as it dries, and water evaporation can cause your slab to reduce by 50mm every ft.
Excessive use of water while making the concrete reduces the strength of the material and leaves it vulnerable to cracks. Always buy concrete from a recognized dealer to avoid low-quality products that can cause you problems in the future. Concrete blocks have a long lifespan years , making them a desirable choice for your patio. Using concrete also limits the growth of weeds and other unwanted vegetation that can affect the aesthetics of your outdoor space.
Cracks in concrete remain a cause of concern. Concrete cracks occasionally happen on freshly poured material as it shrinks. The fractures will slowly fade and become nearly nonexistent with time. However, the gaps may not entirely close up, so your patio may suffer from problems as they expand.
You can opt for several strategies when dealing with such incidents. One of the better suggestions involves laying tiles over your cracked concrete blocks. Cracks in concrete can be hazardous for unsuspecting people who may occasionally trip over the uneven surface.
Always make sure that your concrete surface is clean before attempting to fix the affected area. Cleaning a concrete surface is quick, straightforward work that requires little specialized knowledge. Besides, it helps to rid the surface of debris that could affect the quality of your work. Make a level platform on the surface plane by chipping the loosened sections off with a hammer and chisel about 1 inch.
Remember to wear protective attire — gloves, a dustcoat, eye goggles, and a nose mask to reduce the risk of injury as you work. You can readily repair damaged concrete surfaces at your home without the need for expert intervention. Wider gaps can cost significantly more to repair thoroughly.
The practice involves strategically digging holes around the affected surface and pumping the slurry mixture down the gaps at high pressure. Such cases might require specialized attention adding to the overall repair cost. Small and medium cracks are easy to fix. Epoxy and latex are popular materials in making concrete patching products. If your tiles are placed over a plywood subfloor, your cracks might be related to the joists.
Placing tile over plywood is challenging because wood has natural give and flex, while tile is rigid. When adhering these two materials to one another, the wooden beams running under the subfloor, the joists, become crucial.
These beams hold up the subfloor, the tile, the mortar and any furniture and people above. When the joists are too far apart, the wooden subfloor can bow. The tile, attached with mortar, is forced to bend along with it, which creates a crack. While ceramic can tolerate temperature changes, tiles are porous materials. The more porous the tile, the more moisture it can hold, and the more it will be affected by rapid changes in temperature and moisture levels.
Just as glass cracks under extreme temperature changes, so can terracotta, ceramic and porcelain. Tile floors with properly spaced expansion joints give each tile plenty of space to expand and contract. An unqualified contractor could also be to blame.
Not waiting 28 days for concrete to cure before installing tile can cause cracking from excess moisture. Not bonding the tiles properly can also damage them. Adding too much adhesive at the corners could create fractures in the ceramic as the adhesive dries. Using a non-waterproof adhesive for bathrooms or near swimming pools will cause tiles to break or crumble over time.
Contact 50 Floor to learn more about our extensive experience installing tile floors in homes like yours. If you have just installed a new tile floor, proper floor care and maintenance is the best way to prevent cracking. Regularly cleaning and removing mold from the tile and grout can prevent fractures and stop the tiles from coming loose.
Sealing the grout after installation can prevent it from absorbing moisture, which will mitigate expansion and contraction. If the grout becomes cracked, have it fixed promptly. If you spot a loose tile or an isolated crack, have the affected tiles replaced. Quickly restoring your floor after damage prevents fractures from spreading. Before you install a tile floor, take these precautions to ensure a long-lasting installation:. It also helps lend strength to the slab.
Also, concrete poured in the middle of the summer is going to have more cracks than concrete poured when it is colder. Well, lets think about it. What does the hot Sun usually do to water? It evaporates it quickly. So during the Summer, your concrete dries out faster, producing more cracks. So if concrete is poured in the cooler months, assuming its placed on a good base, it will have fewer and smaller cracks.
There are other ways of avoiding cracks or keeping them to a minimum, but they start getting very pricy. The cheapest of these pricy options is to fill the whole slab with steal mesh. This will still allow cracks to occur, because the concrete is shrinking around all this mesh, and the mesh might not be shrinking with it.
The idea though, is that the mesh will keep the concrete from settling or from separating too badly. The next option, is to use a post-tensioned slab system. The only problem, is that your slab has to be twice as thick and cost 20 times what it normally would. Generally, you only see post-tension slabs on things like tennis courts or large commercial styled projects where any visible crack really is a problem.
They accomplish this by running thick steel cables through the concrete, then tightening and securing them to the outside of the concrete. Generally, cracks in your floor are nothing to worry yourself over.
The only time that you might be concerned is if the cracks start changing vertically, suggesting that there is some settling happening. Ceramic or porcelain tile can struggle over cracks too. Since the concrete will always move just a hair from hot to cold seasons, those cracks might cause havoc for tile, causing joints or even the tiles themselves to crack. Caulking cracks in your floor does very little good.
0コメント