nathan_h
06-15-07, 05:36 PM
As you can see from my dedicated theater thread, where I'm converting my detached garage into a theater space, the concrete slab(s) in the garage have seen better days.
Main theater thread is here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=782601)
They are cracked and uneven, largely because of a tree root from next door, but also because it was pieced together over the years, decades ago, without modern niceties like rebar, etc.
Our first though was: cut it out and re-do it right. But our second thought was: Just take care of the root, and then "patch things together" -- through a combination of grinding down and building up, to get a decent floor. It will be covered with carpet, or wood+carpet. But as the numbers for a patch job started adding up considerably, I decided to call our a concrete contractor and talk:
So I got the concrete guy out for a quote. $3k to cut out the floor, pour a new one with rebar, and shore up some of the old concrete that would be left under the walls (since the only way to really remove that stuff would be to raise the whole building -- which means getting more gear out there and more access to the building from the neighbor's properties, etc). And deal with the offending root, while the access is there.
He really thought it was a bad idea to cut open just the worst parts and fix those -- the cost would not be a lot less, and the integrity of the new floor would be substantially compromised. I cannot say for sure that he isn't just trying to upsell the job, but it does make sense that doing it right, once one is going to get a crew and rent gear, etc., makes a lot of sense.
Main theater thread is here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=782601)
They are cracked and uneven, largely because of a tree root from next door, but also because it was pieced together over the years, decades ago, without modern niceties like rebar, etc.
Our first though was: cut it out and re-do it right. But our second thought was: Just take care of the root, and then "patch things together" -- through a combination of grinding down and building up, to get a decent floor. It will be covered with carpet, or wood+carpet. But as the numbers for a patch job started adding up considerably, I decided to call our a concrete contractor and talk:
So I got the concrete guy out for a quote. $3k to cut out the floor, pour a new one with rebar, and shore up some of the old concrete that would be left under the walls (since the only way to really remove that stuff would be to raise the whole building -- which means getting more gear out there and more access to the building from the neighbor's properties, etc). And deal with the offending root, while the access is there.
He really thought it was a bad idea to cut open just the worst parts and fix those -- the cost would not be a lot less, and the integrity of the new floor would be substantially compromised. I cannot say for sure that he isn't just trying to upsell the job, but it does make sense that doing it right, once one is going to get a crew and rent gear, etc., makes a lot of sense.