I am building my own home. My basement floor developed several cracks within 1-2 hours of being poured. Temperature was in the 60’s and zip strips were utilized in the floor. The contractor claims shrinkage cracks are normal. I agree with that statement however there are numerous cracks in all sections of the basement. I was planning on finishing the basement but have decided to wait and monitor the floor for a year or so. The photos show the common size of the cracks, however there are even more not shown in the photos.
Would you accept this as normal from a contractor? I am not sure if this is worth pursuing in court or not. I also included a photo of the floor about 3 days after the pour. It now appears more uniform in color.
Cracks in newly poured concrete are normal, since concrete does shrink as it cures. It would have been nice if the contractor put relief cuts in the slab, but that would have to have been in the contract in order for him to have to do it.
Normal, shrinkage-related cracks are not worthy of a lawsuit.
Thanks. I requested zip strips to help control the cracks in a straight line. However they did not work as the cracks are sporadic/ in all sections of the basement.
I didn’t see the zip strips, but if you can post a scaled drawing of the basement floor showing the zip strips and the cracks. If zip strips were placed you should see the joint.