Checking Concrete Patio Slabs - Cracks
I really can't tell you how many times I've ran into
problems with concrete patio slabs that are higher than the interior
floor of the home. It doesn't have to be much higher, even if it's the
same height, you could still have problems if the patio slab doesn't
slope safely away from the home.
I lived in a house, that we were renting after our home burned down in a
fire. This house had just been remodeled and the owner had bought the
home to flip it and make some quick money as real estate prices had ran
out of control in that area.
I could tell that the owner of the home, didn't have much construction
experience and he must've hired some of the cheapest contractors and of
course sometimes when you hire the cheaper contractors, you're getting
inexperienced contractors and labor also.
I could tell that the concrete slab that ran the entire length of the
back of the house was a little bit higher than the interior concrete
floor slab. It's not hard to figure out. Simply go to a window that is
located near the concrete patio area that you're worried about and
measure up from the bottom of the window sill to the interior flooring
and then go outside and measure the distance from the bottom of the
window sill, to the top of the concrete patio floor slab.
If the measurement on the outside of the house is smaller than the
measurement on the inside of the house, that means that the concrete
patio is higher than the interior flooring. If the measurement is
larger, you probably won't have any water damage, the next time that it
rains.
If the concrete slab is higher, the next time that it rains, there's a
good chance that water could drain from the higher exterior concrete
patio slab into the home. If you live in a home with a problem like
this, you are probably going to need to remove the concrete slab and
lower it.