Every time my car dries from the snow, a puddle develops near my workbench. There’s also a high spot that catches my tool box wheel on the opposite side of my garage. Do I use a leveler on the floor or grind down the high spot? What will correct the issue?
These are some things to know if you have a high or low spot or both in your garage. It can be hard to tell with concrete if you have an issue. Especially if there are older spots and blemishes that make the concrete appear to be more uneven then it really is.
Determine what your problem is
You can lay a long straight edge on the ground to see if it gaps under it or rocks on one end. Test all sides of the garage floor to get a better understanding of what your dealing with. A professional can also test for elevation if it covers a wide area.
Also check if you have a sloped floor. Many garages are built with a slight slope towards the door or floor drain. Your floor can have a slope and still be level enough. Grind or level your floor to be perfectly level and you may run into more puddles. Make sure you understand how to
What is the problem you’re trying to fix? Is it a high spot that you’re worried about tripping over. Do you have water collecting in a low spot? Maybe you want to coat your garage floor and don’t want the blemish to show through. Whatever your concern will determine if you need to grind or fill.
Why You Should Grind
Say you have a high spot between two sections of concrete. The rest of the floor is even and slopes towards the drain or door. You can simply grind the high spot and be happy with your result.
You may also not want to add height to your floor at the doorway. Grinding can be beneficial if you only have a few high spots on your garage floor.
Inspect the high spot you plan to grind. If it’s a bump that was formed when the concrete was finished you can safely remove it. If it’s caused by a crack that has expanded you may have movement occurring in your slab. You can remove that step but it won’t stop your concrete from moving.
Why You Should Fill
Maybe you have a low spot on your floor and water is collecting there. Everything else in the garage is fine, you can just fill that one spot. You don’t want to grind down the entire garage to match one low spot.
Just because you’re filling a low spot doesn’t mean you can throw any leveler or concrete patching product on it. Make sure the concrete is prepped for whatever you plan on using to fill your spot. Also make sure the product you use will stand up on a garage floor.
There are some products that you will want to use under another layer of flooring and others that can stay exposed. Here is an example of a product you can use to fill a low spot and restore shape to an area that may see foot traffic and rubber tires.
Make sure your slope remains when filling a low spot. You don’t want to level the dip and cause more puddling where the low spot used to be.
Maybe You Need To Do Both
If you have a high spot on one side of a patch and a low spot on the other. You could grind the high spot to give you a smoother transition. But still have the issue with the low spot. Or you could fill the low spot and add more product than you wanted to.
You may need to do a little bit of both. Grinding and filling can work hand in hand if your floor requires it.
Remember what you’re trying to achieve when repairing your garage floor. If you want to put an epoxy or polyaspartic on your floor, you’ll want to repair the areas that bug you. Coating can help smooth the appearance of your concrete but won’t hide a major low or high spot.
Make Sure Your Floor Can Support the Product
If your concrete is crumbling or continues to settle, you need to look into that first. There are steps to take to repair broken concrete. If you continue to notice your cracks spreading or the distance between high and low spots increasing, look into that first.
When working on a solid concrete slab. Grind if you have a small high spot that you don’t want to add height to. Fill if your floor is even except for one low spot. Use both techniques if your floor calls for it.
If you’re unsure what’s causing your garage floor to be uneven, reach out to Custom Concrete Prep & Polish. We can evaluate your slab and recommend the best option to level the problem areas.
