All posts by Kelton Glewwe
New Freezer Floor Coating Stops Concrete Dusting
A new freezer floor coating developed by Roadware, Inc. can stop concrete dusting and restore freezer warehouse floors. Concrete dusting in your warehouse floor is a difficult challenge. Dusting is when the concrete surface deteriorates to powder due to heavy traffic, improper placement of the original concrete, mix design failure or a number of other reasons. Surface dusting can lead to hazardous conditions for personnel, unsanitary conditions and product contamination. If the concrete is solid beneath the surface, these slabs can be made serviceable with specialized coatings. Coating slabs like this is even more challenging in a working freezer where temperatures are typically -20 degrees F (-29C).
Concrete dusting can lead to the complete breakdown of the concrete wearing surface. Pallet jacks and forklifts can grind down the concrete allowing silica dust to become airborne and causing a health hazard.
Disbonded topping slabs and epoxy coatings can also create a hazardous dusting situation.
Here concrete polishing equipment with metal grinding pads are used to remove the dusting surface of the concrete back to a solid surface.
Hand grinders can also be used to remove the dusting surface. Dust collection systems are used to collect hazardous silica dust.
Roadware Freezer Floor Coating is mixed at a ratio of 1:1:1:
One quart A
One quart B
One quart 4030 grit silica or manufactured quartz sand.
Combined on a pail and mix with a paint stick or 10 seconds. Apply immediately.
Coverage rate shown here is approximately 2.5 Meters Sq per mixed liter.
Keep materials at outside the freezer at about 60-70 degrees before mixing. Floor and air temperatures in the freezer for this project were -4 degrees F (-20C).
A single trowel down application is all it takes to provide a new surface to the concrete and good working floor. Product is applied at freezer operating temperatures. Product cures in several hours depending on the temperature and odor is very slight. Stand-up trowels may be used as well.
Full warehouse traffic can resume in 10 hours after application.
Floors treated with Roadweare Freezer Floor Coating are resilient and serviceable once again.
Product: Roadware Freezer Floor Coating
Features:
- Low Viscosity
- Easy Mixing
- Fast Curing in sub zero applications
- Very low odor
- Very low VOC’s that polymerize into the material.
Benefits:
- Freezer floors can be repaired or coated while operating.
- Can be applied in odor sensitive areas.
- Easy trowel down application.
- Warehouse traffic can resume in 12-24 hours depending on temperature.
Uses:
- Coating freezer floors to reduce dusting and improve riding surface.
- Repairing cracks, joints, and spalls in freezers.
Limitations:
- Products cures a translucent natural amber. Dry colored pigments may be added to the final mixing process if needed.
- Surface must be, clean, dry and free of frost.
- Frost and moisture must be removed with a propane torch or electric heated air just before application.
- Excess moisture can cause the product to whiten in high moisture areas and will cause an inconsistent look.
Roadware Freezer Floor Coating is available on a special order basis at this time. Call 800-52-7623 for more information.
Roadware to Present at the ICRI 2020 Virtual Fall Convention
Join me, Kelton at Roadware at @ICRIorg’s Virtual Fall Convention #ICRIFall20. I’ve been selected to present in a product demonstration, Less Invasive Crack Repair for Concrete Floors and Structures on October 13, 2020. 2:40 – 3:10PM CST. See a preview of the presentation on YouTube. Learn more about the virtual convention here.
The Concrete Mender One Page Pitch
Here is the Roadware Concrete Mender One Page Pitch. Things you need to know when considering, recommending, specifying, and using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
Download the PDF here:
COVID19 Operations
Roadware stands ready to supply immediate concrete repair needs for warehouses, cold chain logistics, manufacturing, and supply. Repairs can be made with almost no downtime and under operational conditions. Please call 1-800-522-7623 or 1-651-457-6122 to be connected with our worldwide network of distributors waiting to assist. Or, send email to sales@concretemender.com
We ask that visitors to Roadware Headquarters in South St Paul, MN, or any of our Roadware Distributors, call the location ahead to verify operating hours and local conditions.
Local distributor information can be found here:
Thank you and be safe,
Roadware, Inc.
Automotive Lift Anchoring Floor Repair
Two post automotive hoists and lifts are generally bolted to the floor using compression anchors. When the lift needs to be replaced, the new anchors can not interfere with the old anchor points. If the old anchor points are too close to the new anchor points, the concrete needs to be replaced before the new lift can be installed. This can close a service bay for a month or more.
With Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender, we can remove the old compression anchors, repair the concrete and install new compression anchors without having to replace the concrete.
After removing the old lift, the compression anchors need to be removed. If the original anchor hole was drilled full depth, they can be driven down beneath the floor with a hammer and a punch. If the anchor are not full depth, a core drill is used to remove the anchor.
After drilling, the holes are cleaned and reamed with a reaming bit to roughen up the sidewalls. A shop-vacuum is used to remove all dust and debris. The concrete is than cleaned with alcohol or a similar evaporating cleaner. The holes have to be clean and completely dry before proceeding.
Use duct tape to mask off the holes to be filled with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
Gather the materials needed to repair the holes. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is designed to repair cracks, spalls and holes in concrete. Not just simply fill them. The Microdoweling™ penetration of Concrete Mender into the concrete is a structural repair and can bring the concrete back to original design parameters.
Items needed:
- 80020 Two-gallon kit of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
- 4030 grit or similar dry manufactured sand or quartz. Enough to fill the holes.
- Mixing and measuring pails. One quart paint mixing pails work well.
- Gloves, safety glasses and PPG as needed.
We made a short video to demonstrate the basic technique of filling a core drilled hole in concrete. Concrete Mender doubles in volume when adding sand. All we need to do is fill the hole halfway with Concrete Mender and then add sand to bring it up to the top. Note: In the field it may be impractical to get the bottom of the hole completely dry or clean especially if the hole is full depth into the base material. Simply repair the bottom 1/4 of the hole with Concrete Mender and sand first and allow it to cure before repairing the rest of the hole up to the top.
Measure out equal parts of Side A and Side B Concrete Mender and combine them into your mixing bucket. Mix with a stick by hand for about 15 seconds.
Pour equal parts A and b into a mixing container and mix for about 15 seconds with a mixing stick.
Fill the holes half-way with mixed Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
Add sand into the hole bringing the Concrete Mender level up to the surface. Make sure all the sand is completely saturated.
Level the surface with a trowel or stick and allow to cure for about 10 minutes at 70 degrees F (21C).
Remove the tape after the Concrete Mender cures and turns grey in about 10-15 minutes.
A finishing rubbing brick is used to quickly bring the repairs flush with the floor.
Holes to anchor the new lift are marked and drilled into the concrete. Time to test the repairs and make sure the repairs will hold the anchors for the new lift.
New compression anchors are installed and torqued to the specified level.
For the repair to be successful, the compression anchor must hold 3000 lbs or 1360 kg for 12 hours without cracking or splitting of the surrounding concrete.
Several anchor were tested. All passed and the lift was installed the next day and placed into service. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is designed to bring most concrete slabs back to original design strength. Repairing anchor holes prior to new automotive lift installation with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is now the specified choice for two of the largest auto service companies in the United States.
Roadware Products used in thie repair:
Click here to find a Roadware Distributor near you.
Roadware Easy Injection Video
Roadware 2018 Small Business of the Year – River Heights Chamber of Commerce
Roadware Incorporated Honored as 2018 Small Business of the Year
Inver Grove Heights/South Saint Paul – The River Heights Chamber of Commerce held it’s 29th Annual Small Business of the Year Award Luncheon & Trade Show on Thursday, April 12, 2018 at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Community leaders learned about local businesses at the trade show, learned about The Art of Ship Building (how to build effective and long-lasting ships: friendships, relationships, partnerships, sponsorships) from keynote speaker, Bob Schlichte, of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, celebrated the small business award finalists and heard first-hand who was awarded the 2018 Small Business of the Year!
In the Chamber’s 115th year of business, the board of directors asked how we can continue to build ships in the community and embarked upon a rebranding effort. Many of you weighed in on what makes our Chamber unique and successful and we heard you loud and clear. The Chamber bridges relationships between every business in the community with our future workforce, our important nonprofits who fill a much-needed gap and with our elected officials and public servants that plan for responsible growth. With all the outstanding businesses in the community, the Recognition Committee decided to recognize all of the small business finalists for their accomplishments along with this year’s recipient. The four finalists, The Coop, Edward Jones, Steve Doody’s Office, Mississippi Pub and Roadware Incorporated were nominated by their peers – what an outstanding accomplishment! Following a video that highlighted of each of the nominees, the River Heights Chamber announced Roadware Incorporated as the recipient of the 2018 Small Business of the Year Award! The Small Business of the Year Award acknowledges an organization that encompasses a commitment to the community through its involvement and assistance to community organizations, to its employees, suppliers and customer relationships, in addition to a commitment to excellence in service, business ethics and operations. Brenda Dietrich, Chair of the Board, commented, “I am honored to serve the community with all of these talented businesses – our finalists and winner are all very well deserving!”
Roadware Incorporated is a family-owned business located in Bridgepoint in South St. Paul. They specialize in making and manufacturing polyurethanes for concrete repair for industrial and commercial purposes around the world. The Glewwe family started Roadware in 1994 in their garage, and now it’s an international business! Roadware enjoys taking an active role in groups they have a personal interest in throughout the community and the River Heights Chamber has been one constant since the beginning. Kelton Glewwe, VP of Marketing, stated in his acceptance speech, “when asked why we belong to the Chamber, I think it is all about the relationships we have… it’s about building the Chamber family we have, and it’s been really important to me. I’ve gotten so much out of the Chamber – The Chamber is a belief in commerce and business, and we all have a passion for business, so it’s really great to be a part of.” To learn more about the River Heights Chamber’s 2018 Small Business of the Year recipient, Roadware, Incorporated, please watch their video on the River Heights Chamber of Commerce’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/riverheightschamber.
See the entire post here.
See the acceptance speech from Roadware VP, Kelton Glewwe.
Bridge crack repair in the Philippines.
Make Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender part of your bridge preventative maintenance program. Repair cracks as they develop when they are small. Don’t let small cracks turn into big problems. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is extremely tough and will withstand even the harshest punishment. Use all year long… may be applied at temperatures as low as -20° F with excellent results.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is great repairing surface cracks in a bridge deck. The flow-and-go application along with the 10 minute cure time allow repair crews to get on and off the bridge quickly. Traffic can be returned to the bridge in just 10 minutes after application. In the Philippines, crews often work at night when traffic is low and working conditions are cooler.
Crews work in teams. One person shoots the Concrete Mender from 600ml cartridges, one person applies filler sand, and one person trowels the repair smooth.
Workers repairing cracks in the Bantum Bridge in the Philippines using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
What are the reasons DOT’s Roadware?
1) “Safety for the driving public.” Roadware repairs are ready for traffic in 10 minutes. Lane closure time is dramatically reduced.
2) “Safety for my crew.” The interstate is a dangerous work environment, the quicker repairs are made, the less exposure to the hazards of working on a heavily traveled interstate.
3) “Saves a lot of money.” Quick cure times, easy mixing, straight forward application, and good long term performance makes Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender a good value. After a few days of training, the crew was able to repair a bridge in half a day. One district in Wisconsin saved about $1500 per bridge over conventional repair methods. No overnight lane closures are needed and crews are more productive with less equipment requirements.
Full Depth Crack Injection with Concrete Mender.
For many years, engineers have looked for ways to fully inject repair polymers into cracked concrete structures. The general consensus is to seal off the crack with a sacrificial epoxy and install injection ports every few inches. Then thick epoxy is injected under high pressure into the crack with expensive resin injection pumps. The process is time-consuming, the epoxy is brittle, the equipment is expensive and the skill level is highly specialized. This makes epoxy injection slow, expensive and not really effective in the field.
At Roadware, we look for ways to make concrete repair fast, effective and easy.
Fast is better. When injecting Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender into concrete, the fast gel and cure time allows you to make a full depth repair from the bottom of the crack up to the top. If the crack you are injecting has a large hidden void, Concrete Mender repairs will start to gel and plug up the void in several minutes. Injection epoxy that takes several hours to cure will sink to the bottom of your crack and pool in the base before it has a chance to cure.
Effective. Concrete Mender is a Structural Polyurethane**. It is about as hard as typical concrete with much greater tensile and bonding strength. It is super thin at 8cps with a surface tension 1/3 of water. It can to penetrate concrete cracks and surfaces. Concrete Mender does not need to be forced into cracks with high pressure pumps and extraordinary methods. Concrete Mender can easily flow into cracks and fissures with just simple manual tools and a specially designed application mixer. You can repair more cracks in less time with less waste then ever before. Repairs are structural in nature and will move with the concrete, not against it like very hard epoxies.
Easy Application. For a repair to be effective in the field, it has to be simple enough for crews to apply efficiently. Installation productivity saves money.
- To start, simply drill a 3/8″ diameter hole about one inch deep into the crack at several points along the crack. Clean the crack and holes with a vacuum.* (Click here to learn how to work safely around silica dust).
- Tape off the top of the crack and around the holes you just drilled with clear duct tape or Gorilla Clear Repair Tape. These tapes have a good adhesive that will stick to the surrounding concrete. Do not use packing tape or other tapes without testing them first.
- Assemble a cartridge of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender using out specially designed Soft-tip static mixer. Purge the cartridge of air as directed and insert nozzle into the first hole you drilled earlier.
- Gently squeeze the handle of the gun and slowly inject Concrete Mender into the crack. Work product into several holes at a time, moving the cartridge back and forth among them. Allow time for the Concrete Mender to start gelling in the bottom of the crack. As the crack starts to fill completely, you will see Concrete Mender flow under the clear tape from one drilled hole to the other. You may see air bubbling up from one hole as you inject Concrete Mender into adjacent holes.
- Once the crack is filled to refusal, move on to the next few drilled holes until the whole crack is filled.
- After 10 minutes at 70 degrees or 23 C, pull the tape. You can use a razor scraper, grinder or polishing device to remove and excess material and blend in the repair.
Using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and Soft-tip injection mixers, you can structurally repair concrete cracks and delaminations with simple tools and methods. This unique system saves time and money and allow for a high production rate for installers. The drill hole/inject method is much less invasive than traditional cut and fill methods and creates a lot less silica dust on the jobsite. The Microdoweling properties of Concrete Mender and Soft-tip Injection promises to be a winning combination for tough concrete repair challenges.
*“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.
** Structural Polyurethane: A polyurethane based material that restores structural integrity and aggregate interlock to distressed concrete by using low surface tension and low viscosity to penetrate concrete surfaces and cross-linking polymer chains to bond directly to the concrete-aggregate matrix. This bonding action utilizes capillary forces to self-inject polymer chains into the surrounding concrete. This material should have a modulus of elasticity less than the surrounding concrete and should not become brittle over time. This material may be combined with manufactured sand to form a PCC compatible polymer concrete that can structurally repair concrete cracks and spalls.