Rick252

I just had a 30X50 concrete floor poured in my garage. Do I need to have stress cuts put in it? The finisher says no, but others say yes. It's a 6" thick pour and they used concrete with fiberglass mixed in.

laster

Is the garage heated? If it is then you should not need to make relief cuts as long as the prep below it was good enough. OTOH, it couldn't hurt.

GLH

Put cuts in unless you like cracks. 30x50 will crack eventually hurry before it cures to much also. 1"-2" deep max

Rick252

Thanks for the replies. I'll get it done ASAP

Jassman

No matter what you do, IT WILL EVENTUALLY CRACK. It depends on the material thats underneath, the prep work and or compaction, and if there is wire or fiber in the concrete and most important if it is 3000 psi or higher, so you see, alot of varibles. I would personally put saw cuts in, this way if it does crack, you will give it a area in which the cracks will follow. Good luck.

Budman

Definitely put the cuts in - the more the better. I had a 4 1/2" 30X40 pad of 3500 psi fiber-mesh poured last year, over compacted dense grade. They actually poured the pad in two sections, so that the back half could have a strip drain and the front half could fall away towards the garage door. Worked out nice. They also used cuts to divide each section into four pieces. They also made angle cuts at each corner of the garage. I looked at it the other night and did notice a small crack, but it followed one of the cuts like it is supposed to. The floor of the garage attached to my house has no cuts in it, and it has developed multiple jagged cracks over the years.

Mr Gadgets

That's one heck of a garage!! I have another question for the concrete pros.
Is the fiber as good as putting wire mesh in? And is there a product that I can put on the concrete to give a nice bright cleanable floor that wont leave tire marks?
I was told you can put a stain in the concrete and polish it??
What do you guys recommend for a nice shop floor, need light and easy clean. what about heat in the floor?? or is there a way to insulate under the concrete??

Thanks.. I am looking at adding on to my barn to build an always wanted shop!!

cuda

As Jassman says, they all will crack. From my experience, it seems just cutting lines with a demo saw doesn't do a damn thing but make the owner feel better. Every since they've quit actuall using felt expansion joint, we see a lot more cracks.

Here's one I had to go look at last week. It is at a McDonald's we did about three or four years ago. This slab was fibermesh and had expansion joints cut in it every ten feet.

Rick252

I had 4000lb fiber poured over a very hard compacted with a dozer and roller, the floor has sat for a year or more before the concrete was added. . The sub floor was about 6-8" thick gravel that you couldn't dig through with a shovel

cuda

The best thing I've seen for an easy cleaning slab (without spending enough to buy an HP 500) is an epoxy kit I think they sell at Lowes. It rolls on, then you broadcast color chips onto it. A guy that works for me used it, and it's holding up well.

As far as insulating a floor, when we do a new McDonald's, they dig it deeper, then put in a styrofoam type insulation and a moisture barrier over it, then pour the mud on it.