Concrete Crack & Floor Repair in Des Plaines, IL

Concrete crack and floor repair is part of almost every job we do in Des Plaines, and sometimes it is the whole job. About 43% of the city's homes were built in the 1950s and 1960s, according to 2019 to 2023 Census survey figures summarized by Point2Homes. Concrete that old has moved, shrunk, frozen and thawed for decades. Most of the damage is surface-level and fixable. Some of it signals a bigger problem that a patch should not hide.

Common damage on local slabs

• Shrinkage cracks: thin cracks, often running from the door toward the back wall, that formed as the concrete cured.
• Salt scaling and pitting: a rough, flaking band inside the garage door from years of salty meltwater.
• Spalled control joints: the edges of saw cuts or tooled joints chipped away by tires and freeze-thaw.
• Low spots and birdbaths: shallow dips where water collects and sits.
• Old utility trenches: patched channels where plumbing was replaced, often with a seam at each edge.
• Settled sections: slabs that have dropped at a corner or along a crack.

When a crack is more than cosmetic

A thin crack that has not changed in years is usually just shrinkage. A crack that is getting wider, has one side higher than the other or lines up with cracks in the foundation wall may point to movement or settlement. HomeAdvisor notes that when cracks indicate a structural problem, foundation repair can run $2,150 to $7,730 or more. We do not do structural work. If we see signs of active movement, we tell you and suggest having it looked at before you spend money on a floor.

How we repair

Repair starts with grinding. A grinder opens the concrete so repair material can bond, and it removes weak, salt-damaged surface. Cracks are cut open slightly with a crack chaser so the filler has room to grip, then cleaned and filled with a rigid repair material. Spalls and pits get a patching mortar. Each repair is ground flush, so it does not leave a ridge under a coating or catch a shovel. Joints can be filled for a smooth look or left open so the slab keeps a place to move.

Repair as part of a coating

When a floor is getting epoxy, repair comes before the first coat. That is the point where it does the most good. Under a resin floor, an unfilled crack shows as a line, and a pit becomes a soft spot where the coating can chip. HomeAdvisor and Bob Vila both list crack and chip patching at about $25 to $250 for labor and materials. We list repairs as their own line on your quote so you can see what is being fixed.

Repair without a coating

Not everyone wants a coated floor. Some homeowners just want a trip hazard gone, a joint fixed before it gets worse or a basement patch smoothed out before new flooring goes down. We do those jobs too. Repaired bare concrete can also be sealed with a penetrating sealer to slow salt and water absorption.

Resurfacing badly worn floors

When most of a garage floor is scaled or pitted, patching spot by spot stops making sense. A thin resurfacing layer can restore a smooth surface across the whole slab. HomeAdvisor lists resurfacing at about $1,000 to $5,000 depending on the space, with some contractors charging a $500 to $1,000 minimum. A resurfaced slab can then be coated.

What repairs cannot do

Repairs do not stop water from coming through a basement wall or a floor crack under pressure. They do not fix a slab that is still settling. They also cannot make a heavily heaved floor flat. For those problems, waterproofing, mudjacking or replacement may be the right answer, and we will say so.