How do we repair the concrete deck in our HOA parking garage?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 28, 2026

How an HOA board repairs a parking garage concrete deck: engineer condition survey, chloride testing, spall and rebar repair, traffic coating, phasing and bids.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Hire a structural engineer to survey the deck before you call a concrete contractor. The engineer sounds the slab for hollow spots, tests for corrosion, and draws repair details with estimated quantities. You bid those details with unit prices, phase the work so owners can still park, and finish with a waterproof traffic coating so the same steel does not rust again. Do not treat falling concrete as cosmetic. A spall from a garage ceiling can hit a car or a person, and rust inside a slab means the steel holding it up is losing section. Rules vary by state, by city and by your governing documents. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Why garage decks break down

Almost every garage deck problem traces back to salt and water. In Texas and Colorado, cars carry road salt in on their tires and drop it as slush. On the Florida coast, salt air does the same job more slowly. A Federal Highway Administration report on bridge decks describes the process: chloride works through the pores of the concrete until enough of it reaches the steel to start corrosion. Rust takes up more room than the steel it came from, so it pushes the concrete apart. The slab delaminates first, which you cannot see, and later spalls, which you can. The signs a board member can spot on a walk: rust stains bleeding from cracks, chunks of concrete on the floor or on car hoods, white crust dripping from ceiling cracks, exposed rebar, standing water that does not reach a drain, and failed sealant at expansion joints. Take photos with a date and a location. The engineer will want them, and so will your insurer if a piece ever lands on a car. Serious failures do happen. In June 2026 federal investigators at NIST reported that the 2021 partial collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside began when two slab-column connections failed in the garage under the pool deck. They traced it mainly to deviations in the original design and construction, and said long-term corrosion reduced the building's margin against failure.

What the engineer's condition survey should include

Ask for a written scope before you sign. A useful survey has four parts. First, a sounding survey of every deck and ceiling area. ASTM D4580 describes the chain drag method: a technician drags a chain or taps with a hammer and marks every spot that sounds hollow. Those marks become the repair map. Second, corrosion testing. ASTM C876 measures corrosion potential of the rebar, and the standard itself says to read those numbers alongside chloride content and the delamination survey, not alone. The engineer should take powder or core samples at several depths for chloride testing in a lab. Third, a few test openings where the engineer chips back to the steel and measures how much has been lost. Fourth, a report with a condition map, repair details, estimated quantities by type and a priority order. Ask the engineer to design the repairs under ACI 562, the American Concrete Institute code for repairing existing concrete structures, which is written to work with the International Existing Building Code many cities use. Ask whether any area needs shoring now.

Who pays, and the Florida inspection rules

In most condominiums the garage structure is a common element. Texas Property Code 82.107(a) and Colorado Revised Statutes 38-33.3-307(1) make the association responsible for maintaining, repairing and replacing common elements unless the declaration says otherwise. Florida 718.113(1) puts common element maintenance on the association too. Assigned or deeded spaces may be limited common elements, and some declarations charge those owners for coatings or striping. Read the maintenance chart before you send a bill to anyone. Florida adds deadlines. Under Florida Statutes 553.899, a condominium building three habitable stories or more needs a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year it turns 30, then every 10 years. The local enforcement agency may require it at 25 years based on conditions such as closeness to salt water. A licensed architect or engineer does phase one, a visual exam. If phase one finds substantial structural deterioration, phase two follows with testing, and 553.899(11) requires repairs to start within 365 days of the phase two report. The statute speaks of buildings and does not mention garages. If your garage is part of a covered building, expect the inspector to look at it. For a freestanding garage, ask the building official whether it is covered. Florida's structural integrity reserve study under 718.112(2)(g) applies to the same buildings and must cover the structure and the waterproofing. Make sure the garage deck, its coating and its joint sealants each appear as a reserve line. In Texas and Colorado, ask your building department whether a local inspection ordinance applies. Our guide on what a milestone inspection is explains the Florida process from the owner's side.

Choosing the repair

The engineer's details will sort damage into a few types, and each gets its own price. A partial-depth repair removes the concrete around the top layer of steel, cleans or replaces the steel, and fills the hole with repair mortar. A full-depth repair cuts through the slab and needs shoring below. Cracks get routed and sealed. Expansion joints get new sealant or a new joint system. Then protect the finished deck. A traffic coating is a waterproof membrane with grit in the top layer that cars can drive on. It keeps salt water out of the slab. Ask for the manufacturer's recoat interval and put it in the reserve study, because the wear coat in drive aisles and turns fails first. Fix ponding before coating by adding drains or grinding high spots, since coating over a puddle only keeps it longer. Chipping concrete makes silica dust. OSHA's construction silica standard, 29 CFR 1926.1153, sets an exposure limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter over an 8-hour day and requires a written exposure control plan. Its Table 1 calls for water or dust collection on jackhammers and chipping tools and respirators for indoor or enclosed work. Treat a garage as enclosed, and ask each bidder how it will control dust and keep it out of stairwells and lobbies.

Phasing the work so owners can park

Most garage projects run in zones: one bay, one level or one half of a ramp at a time. Settle the zones before bidding, since they drive the schedule and the price. Coatings need cure time before cars can drive on them, so every zone has a stretch when nobody can park there. Plan where those cars go: a surface lot, the street, a nearby church or school lot under a short written agreement, or doubled-up guest spaces. Give owners at least three weeks' notice per zone, and warn them that the association will tow cars left behind. Check your parking and towing policy and your state's towing notice rules before you promise that. Keep one drive lane and all exits open at all times, and have the contractor post the fire department access plan. Sample notice: 'Repairs to the garage deck on Level [number], spaces [numbers], will run from [date] to [date]. Please move your car out by 7 a.m. on [date]. You may park at [location] until the zone reopens. Cars left in the work zone will be towed at the owner's expense. The contractor will seal the stairwell doors, but expect noise and dust between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.'

Bids, a timeline and a motion to copy

Bid the engineer's details, not a contractor's walk-through. Ask each bidder for unit prices per square foot of partial-depth, full-depth and overhead repair, per linear foot of crack and joint repair, per square foot of traffic coating, plus shoring, mobilization and permit costs, the schedule by zone, and warranties for the repairs and the coating. Pay for measured quantities. Hidden damage is normal on these jobs, and unit prices keep the change orders honest. Keep the engineer on through construction to mark repair areas, check the steel before each pour and sign off each zone. Florida 718.3026 requires competitive bids for condominium contracts over 5 percent of the total annual budget including reserves. Texas chapter 209 bid rules do not apply to condominiums, and Colorado leaves bidding to your documents and board policy. If reserves will not cover the job, our guide on getting a bank loan for an HOA project covers the lender package and the owner vote. A workable order: month 1, hire the engineer; months 2 and 3, survey and report; month 4, repair details and bid package; month 5, bids, financing and contract; month 6 onward, work by zone, usually outside the coldest months in Colorado because coatings and mortars need warm enough temperatures to cure. Sample motion: 'Motion to approve the contract with [contractor] for garage deck repairs per the [engineer] repair documents dated [date], at the bid unit prices with an estimated total of $[amount] and a contingency of $[amount], paid from the reserve fund, and to authorize [director] to sign.'

Mistakes boards make

Patching spalls with a bag of mortar from the hardware store, which traps salt next to the steel and makes the edges fail faster. Hiring a coating contractor to coat over delaminated concrete. Skipping chloride testing, then repairing only what shows and missing the steel that will fail next. Leaving the engineer out of construction to save a fee. Letting the coating wear through in the drive aisles because nobody put a recoat line in the reserve study. And in Florida, missing the 365-day start date after a phase two report. When the job is done, keep the survey, repair drawings, quantity records, coating product data and warranties in the permanent records.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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