Rebuild on garage floor after fire

Q. Can I rebuild my garage on my existing concrete pad? There was a major fire that completely destroyed the structure. How can I tell if the floor is ok?

A. Most of the time the heat from the fire will weaken the surface of the concrete floor and cause pop outs and/or surface scaling.

If you don't have any of this happening to your concrete floor, try tapping the surface with a hammer, if it seems solid, not brittle, then you are probably all right.

I would hire a concrete testing company to test the concrete to be sure. They can core drill some small holes and test them for strength.

Better to know now then have to replace it after your new garage is built.

One more way to share everything-about-concrete.com

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

Click on the HTML link code below.
Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Hi, I am Mike Day, owner of Day’s Concrete Floors, Inc. in Maine. I've been working with concrete for 40 years now, and this website is where I can share with you all the knowledge, wisdom and expertise I've gained from installing all kinds of stamped concrete, concrete floors, concrete overlays, concrete slabs and also repairing & fixing cracked or spalled concrete.

There’s a lot to cover, so if you have any questions, contact me!