Concrete Slab & Heaving

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Petrucci914

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Hello,

My house once had a breezeway between it and the garage. Previous owners turned this breezeway into a finished laundry/mud room with a concrete slab underneath that cannot be accessed from the basement. On both sides of the breezeway are patio blocks.

The issue I'm having is during the winter this slab is heaving which is causing 3 of the entry doors to stop latching, as well as dragging along the door frame.

My question is, what can I do to eliminate this or lessen it? I want to take care of this in the Spring. My ideas thus far are to remove the patio block, dig down about a foot and maybe 3-4 feet along the slab. Along the slab I would fill with sand and gravel and then the rest of the area would be about 6 inches of sand and gravel.....I would use one of those powered stampers that you can rent and then lay down travertine pavers.

Would this be good enough? The reading I've done on this issue state that the ground should be prepared underneath the slab but I don't see that as an option any longer.......or is there some trick that professionals can do?

Thanks!
 
I’m having a similar problem in the old house we bought last year and fixed up over the summer. In my case it’s a side porch the last owner closed in somewhat and made it a heated area off the kitchen. I looked at the foundation a little but didn’t know how good it was and with this cold winter my door is moving also. I have adjusted it a couple times to keep it going till spring.

You didn’t mention where you live and that might factor in. Is your slab cracking or just moving around relative to the door framing?

In my case the right thing would be to do stuff like you suggest but I don’t see myself digging down and doing all that unless it got a lot worse than the door sticking. I might look at adjusting the door to get more clearance or something like that and then use a bigger weather strip. I’m not really sure it’s been way too cold to think about it.
 
Welcome to the site.
When a house is built you have a footing and foundation that extends down below frost level with draining at or near the bottom to keep the water out from under the slab. We see this sometimes when people close in garages or make a room out of patio slab.
Water gets under the slab and freezes along the edges where it is exposed to the cold.
This may be the problem if you are in a cold zone. If the slab was just put on dirt fill sometimes you can dig straight down and place foam insulation against the dirt, add poly to keep the water out and drainage to take it away refill with grave. If the fill under the slab is sand and it sluffes out when you dig you will have a bigger problem, then you could try digging a drainage trench some feet away and sloping the trench back up to the slab and add the poly to keep the water out.
 
Lay some styrofoam in the hole to keep the frost line from going so deep or under the slab.
 
nealtw said:
Welcome to the site.
When a house is built you have a footing and foundation that extends down below frost level with draining at or near the bottom to keep the water out from under the slab. We see this sometimes when people close in garages or make a room out of patio slab.
Water gets under the slab and freezes along the edges where it is exposed to the cold.
This may be the problem if you are in a cold zone. If the slab was just put on dirt fill sometimes you can dig straight down and place foam insulation against the dirt, add poly to keep the water out and drainage to take it away refill with grave. If the fill under the slab is sand and it sluffes out when you dig you will have a bigger problem, then you could try digging a drainage trench some feet away and sloping the trench back up to the slab and add the poly to keep the water out.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I'm definitely in a cold zone. We've seen -30F this Winter already without wind chill.

When you say 'Poly' are you referring to Polyurethane? Is that a spray or something I add on top of the gravel/sand/Styrofoam?
 
No just 10mil plastic sheeting. You do understand that to this properly would be to put the foundation in. this is just a cheat to fix the guys cheat.
 
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