Tag Archives: concrete repair

The Control Joint Problem

There is a big problem with control joints or contraction joints. They are the saw cut joints we cut into concrete slabs to control cracking as the concrete cures. The problem is the floor owner typically wants the floor poured, joints cut, joints filled, and building occupied in 60 days or less. Concrete cures hard in typically 28 days, but it continues to shrink and crack for a about a year.  The contraction joint that was 1/4″ when it was cut, can almost double in width in that first year leaving the 1/4″ of joint filler a bit short, cracked and generally a mess. The sidewalls of the joint are left unprotected and the joint spalling begins. You can replace all that gummy polyurea or brittle epoxy with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and leave your control joint problem behind.


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See more about Control Joints here:

Concrete Polishing and Staining Conference Free Registration

Roadware is exhibiting at the CP&S show in Milwaukee on October 20-22, 2016 in booth #119. NOW #219

The International Concrete Polishing & Staining Conference and Expo is the only event of its kind specifically designed for concrete polishing professionals. This show offers 20+ conference sessions, an Exhibit Hall featuring polishing equipment and products, slab demonstrations and more.

To take advantage of our exclusive VIP offer for free access to the CP&S Exhibit Hall, simply enter promo code RINC when registering online. We look forward to seeing you at the show! P.S. Be sure to check out the CP&S Conference, offering more than 20 technical and business management sessions geared specifically for concrete polishing professionals!

On Wednesday, October 19 … CP&S is offering Brad Humphrey’s All-Day Leadership Boot Camp for contractor owners and employee leaders in ANY construction business. With more than 35 years in the industry, Brad is a veteran construction contractor and coach who is in high demand throughout the industry. Don’t miss this intensive, all-day coaching session to help you take your company to the next level!

Crack Repair Under VCT or Laminate Flooring

Use Concrete Mender™ to repair  cracks, joints and curling slabs under VCT or tile floors. The permanent performance and 10 minute cure turns this 2 day job into a one day (or one night) job. Keep business running with minimal down time.

Repairing control or contraction joints under VCT.
Repairing contraction joints under VCT.

For spalled or failed control joints that are reflecting through the tile and the slabs are not curled, clean out the joints with a dust collecting diamond grinder.

Control or contraction joints repaired with 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ under VCT.
Control or contraction joints repaired with 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ under VCT.

Repair the control joints with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™, grind the surface flush and replace the tile.

 

For curled and buckled slabs, a major retailer specifies this heavy duty solution. This is the ultimate fix it once and fix it forever repair.

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Step 1: Remove VCT, Ceramic, or vinyl floor coverings.

 

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Step 2: Saw cut parallel lines to the crack at a depth of no less than 1.5 inches. Ideally 30% of the slab depth.

 

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Step 3: Chip out the concrete between the saw cuts. Clean the surface well with a wire brush and vacuum.

 

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Step 4: Add Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and Sand to the finished grade. Also use Concrete Mender to repair the underlaying crack. See Concrete Mender™ Bulk Application Instructions.

 

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Step 5: Replace the floor treatment and open to store traffic.

 

 

Stamped Concrete Patio Pop-out Repair

Repairing seasonal pop-outs in stamped and colored concrete is easy with MatchCrete™ Clear. Just add some powered pigment or grout to the clear MatchCrete™ aliphatic polyurethane and you can match most any color. Come back after 24 hours and give the repairs a light sanding to blend them in. See the short video below.

Repairing pop-outs in stamped decorative concrete with MatchCrete™ Clear and added dry pigments.
Repairing pop-outs in stamped decorative concrete with MatchCrete™ Clear and added dry pigments.

UPDATED: Less INvasive Concrete Repair | Reducing Silica Dust

UPDATED FOR 2020 – Less Invasive Concrete Repair

Reducing worker exposure to silica dust is an OSHA and job site priority.

“Workers may be exposed to dangerous levels of silica dust when cutting, drilling, grinding, or otherwise disturbing materials that contain silica. These materials and tasks are common on construction jobs. Breathing that dust can lead to serious, often fatal illnesses.” The Center for Construction Research and Training. Click here to learn how to work safely with silica.

Core sample of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ repair shown under UV light.
Core sample of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ repair shown under UV light.

With Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™, you can make excellent crack and spall repairs with much less cutting and grinding.  Standard preparation for most concrete repair products calls for invasive actions from square cutting and removal to deep cutting, grinding and sandblasting. Aggressive preparation is necessary for standard repair material like epoxy and polyureas. They are too thick to penetrate and bond to compromised concrete surfaces. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has an extremely low viscosity of less than 8cps when applied with a surface tension one third of water. Concrete Mender™ can penetrate and bond concrete surfaces where other materials will fail.

Less grinding and cutting means less dust to mitigate.
Less grinding and cutting means less dust to mitigate.

Many concrete crack repairs can be made with Concrete Mender™ with just a light scoring with variable speed diamond grinder. This reduces dust production by nearly 70% over conventional methods.

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Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ needle tip application.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ needle tip application.

In some situations, cracks can be repaired directly with only a shop vacuum used to remove dirt and dust. Roadware’s needle tip application mixers are great for getting Concrete Mender™ into small cracks in fissures.

The Roadware Easy Injection System for crack and delamination repair.

Roadware Easy Injection can make low dust repairs 24 inches deep or more without cutting, ports, or pumps.

1006-STR Roadware Easy Injection static mixer for Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender 600ml Cartridge.
Concrete Mender crack injection into 24 inches of concrete.
Concrete Mender crack injection into 24 inches of concrete. Notice the material penetrating full depth.
Amazon Warehouse full depth crack repair without cutting.
Weatherstrip is used to hold Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender in place while it soaks deep into cracks.

Amazon Warehouse:  Full depth crack repair without sawing.

Full depth crack repair in warehouse floors usually involves cutting open the cracks with dry diamond saws. This is a slow process and creates a lot of hazardous silica dust that needs to be mitigated. Repair contractors at an Amazon Warehouse project are using an innovative way to repair cracks in the floor without the traditional cut and fill methods.

A wire wheel can be used for preparing cracks and spalls. We recommend using a variable speed grinder with a twisted wire wheel. This generates less dust than diamond blades and still does a good job preparing the crack for a Concrete Mender repair.

A wire wheel in a variable speed grinder generates less dust than a diamond cutting blade.
A wire wheel in a variable speed grinder generates less dust than a diamond cutting blade.

After the crack or spall is repaired, grinding and buffing to make the repair flush can be made using wet methods in just 10 minutes after application when using Concrete Mender™.  Other low dust methods include razor scrapping and dustless grinding equipment.

Wet and damp grinding and polishing reduces dust generation.
Wet and damp grinding and polishing reduces dust generation.
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Razor scrapping is a low-dust method of finishing Concrete Mender™ repairs.

Whenever cutting or grinding concrete, have a plan to keep harmful dust away from workers and bystanders. Using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ with these minimal invasive techniques can help keep dust exposure to a minimum.

Broken Step Repair with Concrete Mender™

Vertical concrete repair with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is simple if you use a few basic techniques. The following is a repair to a spalled out concrete step. As with any concrete repair, the first step is to remove any loose concrete with a chisel and clean the repair area with a wire brush and a shop vacuum. Remove all dust, dirt and loose materials. Any moisture on the concrete surfaces should be allowed to dry. On occasion, I will use a heat gun to dry the concrete.

Click here for Concrete Mender Bulk Application Instructions.

Run cursor over photo to see description, Click on photo for gallery slide show.

 

 

Download the Roadware Product Estimator on the App Store

Download the Roadware estimator app for iOS applications.

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Roadware Product Estimator. Download Roadware Product Estimator and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Source: Roadware Product Estimator on the App Store

Warehouse Floor Repairs in the Dominican Republic.

Franklin Gutierrez in the Dominican Republic is using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™  to repair multiple spalls in a warehouse floor that were causing damaged forklifts and damaged backs.

“We did 87 repairs for this client, it is a tin can production plant, they work 24/7 so there was no time to close areas for repairs , also lots of equipment very sensible to dust in the air. The major problem was that those small holes were damaging the wheels of the forklifts, damaging the back of the operators and creating possible dangerous situations for the forklift operators, because they manage very heavy loads and even a small hole could make it unstable.
We did all in two days and the client is very very happy, the problems were solved and there was no interruption for them.
This is a big plant that produces for the local market and export, its called Troquedom.” 

Loose materials are removed from the spall.

 

Bulk Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ mixed with sand is troweled into the spall. See instructions here.

 

 

Heavy forklift traffic can be restored in about 10 – 20 minutes depending on the temperature.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ with Microdoweling™ performance creates structural concrete repairs that will hold up under the toughest warehouse floor applications. Even if the warehouse is for frozen food and -20F or colder.