LESLIE: Alright. Don in Wisconsin, tell us about these cracks in the floor.
DON: Well, we built just a couple of years ago – or had someone build for us – and you know, a month or so after we got … we moved in and everything, I just … I just noticed several – I don’t know; three, maybe four – long cracks in the basement floor. We don’t have any kind of water problem and I don’t expect we ever will. We live on the side of … side of a hill kind of. I’m just curious as to whether I should be concerned about, you know, little cracks like that.
LESLIE: Well, are they fairly wide or are they narrow? Tell us about the crack itself?
DON: Well, they’re narrow but they travel a long way. There’s probably three of them. When they poured the basement, they cut some joints in them so that it could crack but it’s (inaudible).
TOM: (laughing) The engineered crack system failed. (laughing) And it cracked wherever it wanted to anyway.
Yeah. You know, not much to worry about with those (inaudible) …
LESLIE: Especially since it’s such a new home. It seems like it’s just settling in.
TOM: Well, what’s happened is the concrete has shrunk. As it’s cured, it’s shrinking and that’s what’s probably doing these cracks. Most important thing is to remember that this concrete basement floor is not load-bearing. It’s not holding up anything; it’s just giving you a surface to work from. So, not a whole lot to worry about.
LESLIE: It’s making it so it’s not a root cellar.
TOM: Yeah, (inaudible).
DON: Yeah, right.
TOM: Yes …
DON: But do you think I should … should I try to, you know, fill the crack or …?
TOM: You could. You could caulk them. If you want to … if you want to paint the floor, use a paintable caulk and caulk them first. And then … and then paint the floor and you’d be done. It’s really not much to worry about whatsoever.
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