need fill the gap?

see attached screenshot, there is gap between the concrete(garage door) and the pebble driveway. do I need to worry about it and fill the gap? and how?

Thanks.

 

I'd caulk it. Doesn't look all that wide from your pic so I don't think you're going to need a backer.

 

I'd be tempted to get rid of the tripping hazard (the raised lip of concrete) before anything else. It looks to be at least a 1-1/2" bump.

 

Looks like the slab is poured on top of the asphalt. If you park the car in the garage you would like it better if there were not such a sharp offset. Can you get some asphalt patch and make that transition more gradual?

 

due to the size limitation of the attachment, I had to size down the image. I look another picture directly above from the crack and uploaded here.

the gap is not that wide but still very noticeable. also there are some empty space under the gap...

could you recommend what to do and what materials to buy?

thanks!

 

yes you guys are right that there is sharp offset and very bumpy when the car get into the garage. if that can be fixed, then my first issue will automatically goes away.

now one side is concrete and the driveway is pebble, do I just use asphalt or there is some other options to do this?

thanks.

 

When you say pebble do you mean loose pebble gravel? Or is it asphalt with pebbles showing? Or is it exposed aggregate concrete with pebbles embedded in the concrete but showing?

If is loose gravel you can move it out, dig a little trench so you have adequate thickness and form and pour a sloping approach. If it is exposed aggregate concrete you can cut it back a little to get sufficient thickness and form and pour a new approach.

If it is asphalt you can add more asphalt to get a sloping approach.

 

tightcoat, sorry I don't know what exactly called, the whole driveway's top are embedded with pebble(as showing here).

I don't think it is asphalt, there is no dark color at all. the pebble driveway showing a bit of dark since I put on some kind of coating every couple years.

 

It looks like exposed aggregate concrete. To be sure of your fix you could saw that part back a foot or 18" or 2' depending how much slope you want and form and pour a new section even at both the top and bottom.
There is a chance that at one time the two surfaces were even. Is there any kind of settling or erosion problem that could have cause the lower section to drop?

 

Make sure to use a bond-breaker at the interface of your existing and new concrete "wedge." Your garage's concrete is supported by footings below the frost line, while the driveway (and whatever you place on top of it) will heave as the ground freezes in winter. I'd suggest a 1/2" thick, full-length piece of joint filler; the asphalt-impregnated (black) stuff lasts longer than the lighter-weight gray material.

Also, the close-up photo shows that the exposed garage concrete threshold surface is starting to exhibit some localized scaling. You might want to seal that with a good penetrating sealer to slow down the rate of deterioration.

 

it might be caused by settling, but it has been like this since I bought the house a couple years ago(the house is 25 year old).

yes the concrete surface need some sealer, i might go with epoxy.

thanks guys for your advise!

 

I would never use an epoxy to seal a concrete surface, mainly because differential expansion and contraction rates it MAY have, especially if a thick layer of it cooks in the sunlight. It will also be very slippery when wet, and could eventually flake off in pieces, creating more of a problem than if you hadn't done anything.

A far better product would be something like Kure-N-Seal, a liquid you spray or brush on in a thin coat. It will soak into the upper portions of the concrete matrix (aggregates and paste) without turning hard and brittle. Drag a hammer or a chain over the entire concrete surface first, and (lightly, meaning don't go too deep) chip off any hollow or loose pieces of mortar and/or aggregate you may find. The white aggregate particles in your photo are probably chert, commonly found in Great Lakes area aggregate sources. Sealing the entire surface should minimize the chance of them continuing to degrade and pop off.

 

BridgeMan, I looked over online for Kure-N-Seal and found many positive reviews about it. I am in Illinois and seems that this product is not available due to VOC restriction? (see here Sonneborn Kure-N-Seal 30, Concrete Sealant (5G)). Is this a safe product for garage surface? what will be the brief sealing whole process? (such as do I need to fill those decay spots?). any other resources I can study?

thanks

 

If it's safe for food prep areas, I would think it would work in a garage. Go with the water-based Kure 1315 if you can't find/use the more potent stuff in Illinois, although I suspect it won't be as effective in doing what you want it to. Didn't realize so many states were getting picky as to what's safe to use--pretty soon most toothpastes will be on the forbidden list. Not sure what you mean by "brief sealing whole process."

Maybe you could sneak across the border to buy some of the real thing, in Wisconsin or Indiana.

 

what I meant is the steps need to be done for apply the sealer. there are a few places inside the garage that had localized scaling as you noticed from the close-up photo above, do I supposed to fill or patch them first? or I just need to wash it clean using some kind of detergents(possibly power wash a little bit), let it dry and them use roller to apply Kure-N-Seal?

for first time use, how many coats need to be applied? how many gallons need for a normal-sized two car garage? what else need to be considered?

thanks for the patient for my novice questions!

 

Not having seen pictures of what the inside of the garage floor looks like, I can't clearly tell you what steps to take. In general, you need to remove any/all loose or delaminated material before applying any sealer. If that involves going down deeply (more than 1/8" or so) over large areas, then just using a sealer might not be the best plan of attack. Going with an entire dedicated floor treatment, using an epoxy binder and quartz or silica sand aggregate, can result in an acceptable finished surface. You would do well to consult with a concrete repair specialty company to perform this work for you, as it is quite labor intensive and requires considerable skill and product knowledge to be done correctly, especially over a large area.

Whatever product(s) you use, either in the area of your initial pictures or the entire garage floor (should you choose to do it all yourself), I can only suggest that you carefully follow the manufacturer's product installation instructions, religiously. Taking short cuts or doing anything carelessly will result in wasted time and money, as you won't be happy with the finished product.

 

thanks for the advise BridgeMan