What Causes Cracks In Basement Floor
Within a year after construction hairline cracks about the width of a sewing thread commonly appear on the inside of basement walls most often near windows and doors or in the corners of the.
What causes cracks in basement floor. Small cracks in the basement floor commonly result from shrinkage as the concrete dries which pulls the concrete apart. During the colder seasons of the year another source of cracks in your basement floor is frost heave. Another common cause of cracks in basement floors is when the concrete slab begins to settle. Cracks can occur due to settlement of the building concrete shrinkage and curing stress and vibrations caused by trains and trucks traveling nearby and bad construction methods.
During the colder. Rising groundwater causes hydrostatic pressure and that causes soil to push on your basement walls and floor. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are particularly weak under compression and susceptible to cracks from dropped items such as kitchenware. Common causes generally speaking there are three main reasons that your basement floors may become cracked.
To confirm that a heavy impact cracked the tile you should inspect the crack s shape. These types of cracks can show up as long as a year after the basement floor is poured depending on how quickly the slab dries and how humid the basement is. Cracks isolated to one tile often result from impact damage. This can make cracks form in basement concrete particularly in wet seasons and is often why there s water in your basement after rain.
The two primary parts of concrete are cement and water. Frost heaves or expansive soil damage photo above can cause substantial damage to basement crawl space or garage floor slabs in some conditions. When soil freezes and thaws it causes an expansion than a shift underneath your foundation. Like settling this movement causes your concrete to also shift and that leads to cracks.
Below you will find a brief explanation of issue of these issues. These include settlement shrinkage and in the colder months of the year frost heave. Types of cracks in concrete in most cases nonstructural cracks are divided into two categories. They typically show up two to 12 months after the.
Concrete cracks due to inclusions photo above of shale and iron sulfide mineral pyrrhotite cracking. After it s poured it cures to become solid.