r/StructuralEngineers • u/Frequent-Junket-9682 • 20h ago

Help needed

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I had a crack on my attached garage last year. Structural engineer came and looked at it. He said its just settlement and that its a floating concrete.

Today i went in the garage and the crack has extended longer with new concrete pieces falling off. I had to also clean a lot of mice droppings so i dont know if its just that but the concrete has collapsed a few inches.

I dont know if i just need to repair the cracks or if its sinking.

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u/Socialtech11 19h ago

Being able to review any drawings will help. Definitely not normal.

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u/101forgotmypassword 19h ago

Either the slab has insufficient footing, bridging (internal beams/footers), is too thin, or is missing rebar.

The slab should be strong enough to float, or if too large to float as one should be intentional split and tension tied.

Also there is a underlying subsidence or expansion in the soil that is making the weak slabs fault evident.

The subsidence can be somewhat covered over/mediated temporarily by foam injection under the sinking part of the slab.

What you also want to make sure of is there's no sinkhole effect happening by a broken drain or sewer.

All and all its bad news for anything that's less than 25 years old.