Heather John’s Garage Transformation: The Big Break Up
What you’re looking at is beautiful chaos that is our garage floor. Today the demolition derby arrived armed with sledgehammers to tear up the concrete foundation in our garage, which, after nine decades of earthquakes and such, was ready to give up the good fight. Next up? At the end of the week we’re pouring a new concrete slab, which will double as the floor in my office conversion. According to our contractor, concrete will crack no matter what. And the best way to minimize catastrophic cracking is to cut grooves in the concrete to encourage the slab to crack in these control joints. Aesthetically I was resisting the idea—I had envisioned one smooth, seamless slab—until I stumbled upon these shots of Pierre Frey’s apartment in New York. How chic is this floor?
I just had some concrete work done in my home, and the contractor said: “There is one sure way to avoid concrete cracking, and it’s the only way.”
“Do tell me,” I responded eagerly, gullible girl that I am.
“Don’t pour it,” he said, happy to have found another sucker for his true joke.