This house is 12 years old, slab on grade construction, where these cracks meet the slab is 3/8 to 1/2 inch higher than at the rooms perimeter. No signs of cracking on the walls, no door jambs racked or any other signs of movement.
Also about 15 feet away in a bedroom it looks like the slab was cut out and filled during the original construction( on the left side of the third pic where it is covered with paint) and then cut out again. A toilet and sink are directly on the other side of this wall
I’m not feeling good about the whole thing should this be called out for further evaluation?
I don’t know the answer to your question but was just wondering if you have much expansive soil their? I would also be worried about the slab heaving though.
It is possible that the shrinkage cracks were there since the slab was poured, and now that the floor covering was removed for some time, air gets into the cracks and you may get slab curl.
The doors were painted setting on the floor and now the bottoms have not been shellacked or painted which may cause problems with the doors down the road.
Refer it out to a General Contractor that specializes in concrete slabs for that area.
Thanks Marcel I found some good reading material on slab curling. That appears to be what is happening.
I knew about the doors but didn’t bring up about the bottoms not being painted. I also work as a finish carpenter and that is just the way they do it here. Even doors that I trim off the bottom normally don’t get painted and most of those are MDF. Construction here is just “blow n go” and let the next guy worry about it.
Continuous, symmetrical, radial cracking.
My first thought is soil heaving, which in this case might be caused by expansive soil exposed to moisture by a leaking pipe.
It could be that because they are under a more concentrated load, the exterior foundation has settled while the floor has not.
What I’ve read says slab curl is caused by uneven drying rates during original placement.
I would recommend evaluation by a structural engineer.
Radial cracking is the result of stresses. If there is curling as the result of cracks it the concrete that means the cracks were there first. Radial cracks are not typical of slab curl. Look at Larry’s PDF.
Radial cracking is the result of stresses. If there is curling as the result of cracks in the concrete that means the cracks were there first. Radial cracks are not typical of slab curl. Look at Larry’s PDF.
Radial cracking is the result of stresses not related to curling. Shrinkage cracks are usually not continuous. Curling does not create stress that centers in the middle of the slab and creates radial cracking. If there is curling as the result of cracks in the concrete that means the cracks were there first. Look at Larry’s PDF. They talk about saw cuts and control joints, not cracking. Curling happens not long after initial installation. This is a structural soil movement issue.
If you want to learn to diagnose cracks, get a book called Field Guide to Crack Patterns in Buildings, by Harry S. Audell, Special Publication Number 16, Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists.
Don’t look on Amazon, it’s over $100 there. Contact the association directly.
