Concrete has been used for many years and has been used successfully in many construction projects. However when it comes to garage flooring, concrete begins to crack. Most garage floors were created with spancrete which is a precast concrete panel. A typical spancrete panel is about twenty-four feet long, three feet wide, and six inches thick. The panels are normally laid over a basement and about four inches of concrete is poured onto the panel. The cracking occurs when the concrete dries on the spancrete and begins to settle.
By the time you notice cracks in concrete, typically, you’ll also see cracks in drywall. You want to be sure to spackle the drywall and if necessary, replace the drywall itself. You can also add extra security by placing a board backing. Some walls depending on the area of the house have designs on the outside of the house that aren’t affected, but are connected to the inside wall. In this case, a six foot board needs to be placed around the peripheral of the decided area creating a formliner. Fix them together with nails at their ends. This will prevent the formliner itself from getting cracked and the inner wall stable.
We installed one house with a patterned formliner that was such the case. The installation of the system was relatively easy, as the overall dimensions of the unit very closely matched my previous set-up. Fortunately, the addition of one concrete form liners paver provided the exact height that I needed to bring the unit to the proper elevation for the inlet fitting, and the outlet fitting location was positioned correctly for the easy connection to the filter side pipe.
Concrete can crack under extremely dry conditions. During hot summers a way to prevent this is to water down the concrete. It needs to be wet to cure. Of course, the mix below the surface where the water may not soak down to needs to be wet enough to cure also. The strength of the concrete is determined by the growth of the crystals. If they don’t grow enough then the concrete isn’t going to have the necessary strength that you were looking for. If you are relying on utility structures to withstand the variety of climate changes and weather, you are relying on the strength of those crystals to maintain the integrity of the structure through anything Mother Nature throws at it.
Contractors are learning that residential concrete forms no longer need to be plywood. ICFs make it possible for contractors to move beyond the traditional methods of building. Contractors can now make a homeowner not only feel warm because of the distinction of a home, but actually be warmer because of the insulated value of the ICF wall.