Research and Learn about Decorative Concrete
Building with Concrete: What is Concrete Made of; Concrete Mix Designs; Decorative Mix Design; Hot Weather Concreting; Cold Weather Concreting; Concrete Admixtures; Ordering Concrete; Subgrades & Subbases; Building Concrete Slabs; Preventing Concrete Cracks; Concrete Joints; Green Building With Concrete; Polyaspartic Coatings; Surface Preparation; Curing Concrete; Concrete Demolition; Vapor Barriers
Concrete Applications: Concrete Overlays; Concrete Footings; Poured Retaining Walls; Snow Melt Systems; Concrete Floors: Owner's Manual; Making Concrete Slip Resistant; Rock Salt Finish
Maintaining Concrete: Cleaning Concrete; Fixing Concrete
Marketing Concrete: Tips for Concrete Showrooms; Marketing Ideas - ConcreteSherpa; Podcasts - Growing Your Business

Part 2. Behavior of Concrete Floors

This section describes some of the common floor characteristics that owners notice. It might also include a disclaimer such as: "Even though we constructed this floor using generally accepted standards, and took precautions to minimize future problems, all concrete floors may eventually exhibit some random cracking and variations in flatness that are usually related to changes in moisture content."

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

2.1 Shrinkage of concrete floors on grade.: Explain that all concrete shrinks as it dries. Drying and shrinkage occur over a long period of time, with thick slabs shrinking more slowly than thin slabs.
2.2 Curling.: In slabs on grade, the top portion of the slab shrinks more than the bottom. Thus edges or corners of the slab at joints or crack tend to curl upward. Explain that curling is a natural phenomenon that causes concrete surfaces at joints to be slightly higher than the rest of the floor, especially where joints intersect.
2.3 Differential settlement.: Explain that floors may settle due to consolidation of the subgrade soil or the subbase. Differential settlement can cause cracking, faulting (differences in floor elevation at a crack or joint) or unlevel floors.
2.4 Cracking.: Explain that both shrinkage and curling induce tensile stresses in the slab. Concrete is weak in tension so when the stress exceeds the tensile strength of concrete, the concrete cracks. To minimize such cracking, joints are incorporated in the floor to create planes of weakness where the cracks will occur. Nevertheless, some cracking should be expected, otherwise no reinforcement would be needed. Reinforcing steel is incorporated in slabs on grade to minimize crack widths and vertical displacement at cracks.