A Cracked-up Garage Floor and What Not To Do

The other day at the home show, I had a nice couple come up and ask about their garage floor.

It was in pretty rough shape—the garage floor was cracked all over, broken up, and clearly not done right the first time. Water had gotten underneath, frozen, and done its damage. No rebar, no proper prep. Just a mess.

They asked if they could just do a self-leveler overtop to make it look good again. I talked it through with them and ended up pointing them to some folks who could do that kind of coating work—but I told them I wouldn’t recommend it.

Here’s why: when a floor’s already cracked and shifted like that, any new coating is just a temporary Band-Aid.

All that movement will still be there underneath, and within a couple years, that self-leveler will start cracking and breaking up just like the old floor. If you’re dealing with a floor that bad, the best move is to rip it out and do it right. Proper subgrade prep, rebar, compaction—the whole works.

Yeah, it costs more upfront than just putting a coating on top, but you’ll have a solid floor that lasts decades instead of a quick fix that fails again.

Do it once. Do it right.