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Finish the Edges With a Grinder

The large cut-off saw will only get so close to the garage bucks. An old grinder that you don’t mind using on concrete works well to finish off the last several inches.

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Tie the Concrete Apron to the Garage Slab With Rebar

Here’s where Glenn’s process gets a little, well, “controversial”. He ties the apron to the garage slab with rebar to prevent it from separating, which could create a large and uneven gap. It’s a given that a bunch of you masons out there are going to insist that you should never join exterior concrete to an interior slab. But before you get your rubber slush boots in a bunch, listen to this:

Glenn agrees that the exterior slab will move a little. So to make sure that the rebar creates a hinge point rather than busting apart the existing slab, he installs 3/8-in. rebar instead of 1/2-in. Thicker rebar is less likely to bend, which makes it more likely to bust apart the slab. He also installs the rebar more than halfway down from the top of the slab and that the rebar is drilled as deep into the slab as his bit will go. And he never ties aprons or pads to an interior slab if they cannot rest on the foundation or if the slab is less than 3-in. thick. Install the rebar 4-6-ft. apart and at least 6-in. away from any expansion joints cut into the apron.

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Install the Foam Expansion Joint

In this application, an expansion joint is not going to prevent cracking in the traditional sense. Instead, it creates a gap between the apron and the garage slab so if the outside of the apron does move up a bit, the top edges of slap and apron don’t crack from being forced into one another.

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