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I was standing beside a significant crack in a newly poured concrete slab on a metal deck, and I must have looked deep in thought. “Whatcha doin’?” It was a finisher with the concrete subcontractor. “Trying to figure out why this cracked so soon,” I said. “It was only placed yesterday.” He gave me a look, shrugged, and said, “Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and concrete’s gotta crack,” then walked away. I thought about how I might work that into my report but decided instead to point out hot, dry winds and delays in the saw-cutting of expansion joints, among other things. What he told me, however, had a great deal of truth in it.


Cracks in concrete are so common that they’re practically inevitable. The good news is, not all of them are bad. The bad news is, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. So much has been written in research papers, reports, blogs, and articles about the causes and prevention of cracks in concrete that I can honestly say I don’t have anything useful to add to that side of the discussion. What I can do to help is pass along some information on how best to measure and monitor cracks and select the best equipment for the job.


When cracks are conspicuous, all the stakeholders in the project are immediately concerned about the potential of serious structural problems and the cosmetic impact on the structure. So, there is often an urgency to find answers and start corrective actions. What this blog post will do is offer some solutions for suitable methods and equipment to investigate cracks in concrete.
The first steps of an investigation should always focus on the basics, documenting location, and dimensions. Determining the length is straightforward using simple measuring tapes or other large-scale distance measuring tools.