Older son comes up this AM asking what that loud crack was last night. There was a thunderstorm, so I said probably thunder. He said it didn’t sound like it at all… I park in the driveway as my wife has too much crap in the garage, so I get the kids ready and walk to the bus stop. Go to work. I get a call from the Mrs to come home during lunch and look at the garage. We have a huge crack in the floor that appeared overnight. I did some looking around and am stunned. We have the concrete apron that’s slowly been pulling away a bit from the garage over the years, but it usually fills up with grass clippings, dirt and such, so I didn’t think much of it… Check this out…
Crack in the floor of the garage… This crack is a good 12 feet away from the apron and runs the entire width of the garage…
Apron that’s pulled away a bit over the 13 years we’ve lived here.
Hmmm. looks like a small hole, I should look closer… start of another crack in the lower left.
what the f…There’s a hole at least a foot deep, no idea how far it reaches side to side, front to back…
Then I remember noticing a little sink hole forming on our property line where the fire hydrant and
water main is… This is maybe 30 feet away. Not sure if they are related as this is maybe 4 ft lower than the garage floor.
After hearing that story of a family dying the other week when their house got swallowed up by a sink hole, I’m starting to freak a bit.
We’ve always have had water issues in that our sump pump is constantly running when ever there is rain or melting snow. I wonder
just how stable things are under and around the house…either that or we’ve got one mother of a gopher. I’ll be calling insurance to
see what they say…
Anyone have thoughts/suggestions?
My bet is the meter is in the home - and the utility owns everything right up to the meter. So, if that is the case this is the liability of the municipality if it is in fact erosion from a leak in their system. But, where did it go? Unless he lives on a creek or in an area with a very high water table there would almost certainly be a wet spot or at least a spot with “greener grass”.
I did see one time a story about a home that was built over an old old tank of some sort and the tank caved in…
As for mud jacking - first the OP needs to find out where did the earth go to and why.
Chip is correct. You must first determine the source of the soil shift. I’d start at that little mud pit by the hydrant and “rod” all around to trace the flow.
Meter is inside in the basement. There’s what looks to be a shutoff access in the middle of the driveway that the city would need some tool to access? The green spot in the backyard is from where the sump pump kicks out whenever it runs. We have a neighbor who built a cabinet over his sump basket because it’s always been empty. There’s a neighbor across the street who’s sump pump also runs quite a bit. Would be interesting to throw a video cable down the hole to see how screwed we are, but with the garage floor giving like that, thus running towards the house, I’m sickened of what we might find…
So I’m thinking call in contractors for bids, see what their assessment is and go from there? Not contact insurance at all at this time?
That depends, if it is water AND you have a flood rider you are set. But, why put a claim into your policy to then subrogate it to the municipality if they will cover it directly (presuming it is a failure of their system)?
I would find out why first…then, if it was an insurance thing on your policy I would submit the bill to them.
I am not at all an agent or an adjuster but I think that in my new policy there is a statement about “settling” of the home (not sure how much a 100 year old house is going to shift…)
Ha! I discovered the same thing with my home last year. Huge 12" void under the apron right outside my garage. Lucky for you, you discovered it and haven’t tried fixing it yet. I washed 1000lbs of bagged sand down a crack before I gave up. In my case, my driveway is pretty sloped and was literally sliding down the hill. I’m guessing the fill under your concrete has settled, this is a common occurrence. Was your home built during the boom in the early 2000’s? If so, the contractor probably poorly compacted poor fill before pouring your driveway.
I had mine mudjacked, and I’m happy with it. You’ll probably pay $300-$400 for the call out and two sections of concrete to be raised, and another $100 for each additional section. You’ll be left with several 2" holes in each section of concrete that will be backfilled, so you’ll have little, fresh concrete circles. You can actually see the concrete being raised, its pretty cool. They won’t be able to close the crack, but they will be able to make each side of it even. The contractor can recommend a crack filler also.
Talked to a contractor, see if this seems plausible…
Jim,
In looking at the pictures I do not see anything to be greatly alarmed with.
The void/hole in the gap between you apron and you garage floor is just the core holes in the foundation block that goes down below the frost line (4’) and runs all the way across the front of your garage. The cracks are normal for Minnesota. My recommendation would be to caulk the seam between the floor and the apron with a good quality polyurethane caulking (self leveling works and looks the best). This will prevent water seepage in to the foundation block and prevent future deterioration of the block.
If any of your concrete is un-level we can fix that or if you need any replacements we can do that also.
I called to see if I’m supposed to fill in this cavity with something and he said no. The apron and the garage floor are supported by the foundation block. Over the years, the apron slips and reveals the cavities. Said he gets 20 calls a week in the spring for just this. His recommendation is to just go to Menards/Home Depot and find some ‘backing rod’. Fill in the gap with that, and then put in the self leveling caulk to seal it. I guess it makes sense in that the open cavity of the cinder blocks would be about that same depth of what I measured.
That answers much (the block and the deep foundation). Yes, you do want to drive in backing rod (foam) before you caulk (search the interweb for info and learning). Wouldn’t worry about the cracks, yet…unless…
You haven’t resolved the source of all the water…this is my biggest issue.
