Hairline cracks
Very fine cracks, often within the first year of a pour. Usually a shrinkage story, occasionally the first sign of something else.
Often reasonable to monitor
Concrete Problems
Concrete problems, read properly
Start with what you can actually see. Each page here describes a condition, names what it can be associated with, and — the part most pages skip — says plainly what looking at it cannot settle.
Almost every concrete decision starts with an observation: a crack, a step between two slabs, a patch of surface coming away. The difficulty is that the same observation can have several explanations, and most of what separates them is not visible from above.
So these pages are built around a discipline rather than a diagnosis. They describe what the condition looks like, list candidate explanations in hedged language, tell you which observations you can safely make yourself, and set out the evidence worth collecting before anyone quotes. ConcreteOwner has not seen your property and will not pretend to have.
Where a condition genuinely warrants an engineer rather than a repair quote — horizontal foundation cracking, stair-step cracking, a leaning retaining wall — the page says so and does not route you into a commercial funnel instead.
Conditions covered
Wide cracks
Cracks you can drop a coin into. Width matters less than whether the two sides have moved relative to each other.
Usually worth planning a repair
Diagonal cracks
Cracks running at an angle, often from a corner. Direction is a clue about where stress went, not a diagnosis.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Horizontal foundation cracks
A crack running horizontally across a foundation wall. The one condition on this site we tell owners to escalate rather than shop.
Worth arranging an evaluation promptly
Vertical foundation cracks
Up-and-down cracks in a foundation wall. Frequently shrinkage, sometimes settlement, often a water question first.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Stair-step cracking
Cracking that steps diagonally through block or brick courses. A pattern worth taking seriously and worth documenting carefully.
Worth arranging an evaluation promptly
Cracks that keep growing
The observation that outranks width, direction and location: a crack that is measurably changing.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Surface crazing
A fine network of shallow cracks like cracked glaze. Almost always cosmetic, and almost always about the surface only.
Often reasonable to monitor
Driveway settlement
A driveway that has dropped, usually near the garage, the apron, or a utility trench. Often a support problem rather than a concrete problem.
Usually worth planning a repair
Sidewalk settlement
Settled or displaced walkway panels. Often the cheapest concrete problem to fix and the one with the clearest liability angle.
Usually worth planning a repair
Patio settlement
A settled patio, most consequentially when it has started draining towards the house instead of away from it.
Usually worth planning a repair
Garage-floor settlement
A dropped garage slab. The one place where a settled floor is routinely confused with a foundation problem.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Concrete heaving
Concrete that has been pushed up rather than dropped. The opposite mechanism to settlement, and it needs the opposite response.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Frost heave
Seasonal upward movement associated with freezing ground. Often reverses, which is the clue that identifies it.
Often reasonable to monitor
Tree-root damage
Roots lifting, cracking or displacing concrete. A concrete problem with an arboriculture decision inside it.
Usually worth planning a repair
Curling slabs
Slab edges lifting relative to the middle. A moisture-gradient effect, most visible at joints, most consequential indoors.
Often reasonable to monitor
Delamination
A thin top layer separating from the concrete beneath, often sounding hollow before it breaks away.
Usually worth planning a repair
Popouts
Small conical craters where a particle near the surface expanded and pushed the concrete off above it.
Often reasonable to monitor
Pitting
Small pockmarks and depressions across the surface. Often salt, sometimes finishing, occasionally the start of something broader.
Usually worth planning a repair
Crumbling concrete
Concrete coming apart in your hand. The one surface description that genuinely warrants a closer look.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Exposed aggregate from wear
Stone showing through where the surface paste has gone. Different from a deliberate exposed-aggregate finish.
Often reasonable to monitor
Dusting
A powdery surface that keeps producing dust however often it is swept. A weak surface layer rather than dirt.
Usually worth planning a repair
Salt damage
De-icing salt accelerating surface loss and, over time, reaching reinforcement.
Usually worth planning a repair
Freeze-thaw damage
Cumulative damage from water freezing inside concrete. The mechanism behind several other conditions here.
Usually worth planning a repair
Standing water
Water that ponds instead of draining. A durability problem, a safety problem, and usually a fall problem.
Usually worth planning a repair
Water through cracks
Cracks acting as a water path. Two problems at once, and the water half is often the cheaper one to fix.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Wet basement concrete
Damp walls or floors below grade. Often condensation rather than leakage, and the two need opposite responses.
Professional evaluation is worth arranging
Efflorescence
White mineral deposit left where water has evaporated out of concrete. Evidence of a water path, not damage in itself.
Often reasonable to monitor
Also on ConcreteOwner
- The concrete problems overview — the broader picture of how these conditions relate
- Cracked concrete — the general treatment of cracking
- Sunken concrete — settlement across every surface type
- Spalling concrete — surface loss that goes deeper than scaling
- The crack severity assessment — a structured read of what your crack is doing
Not sure which way to go?
Both decision tools are free, need no contact details, and take a couple of minutes. If you would rather talk to somebody local, you can ask us to look at matching you.