Repairing Cracks in Polished ConcreteUse Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear to repair and match polished concrete floors.
Category Archives: MatchCrete
New bulk packaging for Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.
Two-gallon Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ bulk kits will now come in high-performance plastic jugs. The plastic jugs are made from the same material as our plastic cartridges. The new jugs will be boxed and sold as two-gallon kits. The four-gallon kit will be phased out. The new jugs allow for easier pouring and will accommodate a wide variety of spouts and spigots.
Products affected:
@font-face {
font-family: “Cambria”;
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }
Products affected:
Item 80020 Two-Gallon Kit Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
Item 70020 Two-Gallon Kit Roadware MatchCrete™ Concrete Mender
DISCONTINUED: Items 80040, 70040
Ten gallon bulk kits will remain in steel tight-head cans.
 |
|||
| Item 80020 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender two gallon kit in high-performance plastic packaging. |
 |
||
| Roadware 80020 two-gallon kits are shipped in custom designed 4-G shipper cartons to insure problem free delivery. |
For several years, contractors in the field have been asking for a bulk container that is easier to pour from. The new plastic containers use a standard size and thread and will accept a wide range of spigots and pour spouts.
 |
| Screw-on spigots and spouts are available for precise measuring and pouring. |
 |
| The new containers and easier to pour for more precise measuring. |
World of Concrete 2011 is January 17-21 in Las Vegas
Roadware will be exhibiting in the World of Concrete 2011. This will be our 11th year at the show. Our booth will be in the South Hall S11847 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
For free exhibits only registration, use source code A20 when filling out the online registration form. This code is courtesy of the American Society of Concrete Contractors.
Click here to register for the World of Concrete.
 |
| DIY Network filming a segment in the Roadware booth at the World of Concrete 2009. |
Polishing un-polishable Concrete
Polishing and honing concrete to smooth shiny surface is a great way to give an old warehouse floor new life. Sometimes, warehouse floors are too damaged and worn to make polishing practical. Floors that are full of cracks and spalls will require a large amount of grinding and polishing to achieve an acceptable surface. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ may be used to restore the concrete surface and reduce the time and expense of heavy grinding. The Microdweling™ action of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ can penetrate the surface of the cracks and spalls, fill in all the low spots, and make the floor ready for polishing.
Click on photos for a larger image.
 |
| Pitted, spalled and cracked surfaces may be unpractical to polish. |
The first step is a light surface grinding to open up the cracks and remove any loose materials.
 |
| An initial grinding with metal resin pads reveals cracks and spalls. |
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and fine silica sand mixed in bulk is troweled into the surface over the entire area and allowed to set.
 |
||
| Workers trowel Concrete Mender into place. |
In about 10 – 30 minutes, the surface is polished using standard techniques. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ will not gum-up polishing pads or smear into the surrounding concrete.
 |
| Surface polish using standard techniques. |
After grinding, all pitting, cracks and spalls are filled and a smooth surface is quickly restored.
 |
| Concrete Mender repairs hold up perfectly during the polishing process. |
After polishing, hardening and sealing, a beautiful polished floor is revealed.
 |
| Concrete Mender restored floor after polishing, hardening, and sealing. |
Click here to learn more about polishing with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
Special thank you to International Roadware Distributor Join K&C in Seoul, Korea for submitting this project.
Concrete repair under decorative coatings.
The advances in decorative concrete coating and finishes for patios, sidewalks, driveways and pool decks are amazing. All of these systems have one common element. They are all affected by the condition of the concrete underneath. We recommend and use Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white to repair cracks, spalls and surface defects prior to decorative concrete treatments and coatings. Off-white Mender is just like the Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ except it cures to a neutral off-white color that has less chance of affecting the color of the decorative coatings applied over the repairs. Take a look at the project below.
Here is a church with a spalled and rough looking entrance.
Prior repair materials were removed revealing worn, but sound concret
Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white and sand mixed in bulk is applied and troweled smooth. The material appears brown due to the brown colored manufactured sand added to the mix.
Cracks are cleaned and repaired with cartridge applied Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white and sand.
After about 15 – 30 minutes, the repairs are ground smooth and flat. The concrete is now ready to accept most types of decorative concrete treatments.
Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white is compatible with most high-build overlay or coating systems. It is also recommended by several top coating system manufacturers.
Making Cracks Disappear
One question we get asked all the time is if we can make a crack disappear. For the most part the answer has always been no. We can make a good repair and finish it as close as we can to the original color and surface texture. That was before Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear came along. The photos below were sent in by a concrete polishing contractor. By using MatchCrete™ clear and sand that matches the surrounding concrete, the polished repair blends in very nicely with the concrete slab. When the floor is in service, you will have to look very carefully to find the repairs. Try some Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear on your next polishing job. With a little technique and experimentation, you can get results like this.
Did the crack disappear? If you don’t notice it anymore, what’s the difference?
Roadware compared to look-alikes.
Recently a customer sent me several cut sheets from other manufactures of look-alike concrete repair products and asked me to compare them with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. Here is how it played out.
Dear Dave,
We here at Roadware are familiar with the knock-off and look-alike products you submitted for our review. These products fall into the category of a low viscosity polyurea. Basically, what they have done is modify a standard polyurea joint filler and added a solvent to make it appear as a high-penetration Concrete Mender™-like product. They are all missing the key property and process that makes Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ unique and superior in overall performance. This process is called Microdoweling™.
Roadware’s Microdoweling™ process uses a proprietary formula of polyurethanes and additives to achieve a measured surface tension of 0.026 N/m. (1/3 of water) Surface tension is a measurement of a liquids ability to break free of its own molecular friction and flow into something else. Microdoweling™ is why Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ can penetrate easily into a concrete surface under adverse conditions, as is the case in distressed, broken and cracked concrete.
Other advantages for Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ are:
- The lowest viscosity for easier mixing and blending.
- Easy, one-step polishing and grinding. This material will not melt, smear, or gum up diamond polishing pads. An excellent parging compound.
- Experienced and advanced packaging. Roadware cartridge packaging is reliable and works well in the field.
- End-user color blending. New MatchCrete™ Concrete Mender can easily be manipulated into many colors by modifying the sand or adding pigments.
- A modulus of elasticity that is slightly less then the concrete so repairs will move with the concrete and not against it.
- Needle tip application. A complete system of needle-tip cartridge mixers for pin-point application and hairline crack repair.
It’s all in the data. Roadware backs up the Microdoweling™ process with independent testing data and publishes it on our website, www.roadware.us.
Thank you for continued support and please call us any time if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Kelton Glewwe
Vice President of Operations
Emergency Concrete Repair at Wal-Mart Garden Center
Recently Dave Wilson, of Roadware Distributor Fowler Supply received this email on behalf of a East Tennessee Construction Services.
From: Retail Facilities Maintenance Call Center
Subject: concrete repair
Possible safety hazard in garden center patio. Please dispatch concrete repair specialist to evaluate and remedy the situation as soon as possible. Customer safety is a top priority.
Store Manager
Store #XXX
Georgia
Emergency repairs are common for Roadware contractors. When safety is on the line and a store needs something repaired quickly and permanently, Roadware Concrete Repair Products are the clear choice due to minimal down time and minimal intrusion to facility operations.
When Dave Wilson arrived on site, this is the trip hazard condition he found.
Plan of Action:
- Repair bottom portion of spalled joint with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.
- Repair top portion of spalled joint using new Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear (MCC) colored with Davis Colors pigment to match the surrounding concrete. MCC is used because it will not change color when exposed to UV sunlight as is the case in a garden center.
- Finish to grade.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and silica sand is added to the bottom of the repair. This provides a tough Microdoweling™ repair and seals off and moisture in the substrate.
Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear and a mixture of silica sand blended with about one teaspoon of powdered Davis Color is added to the repair.
The Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear and sand mixture is troweled in place and allowed to cure for about 45 minutes.
After curing, the surface is ground smooth and the control joint is re-sawn with a diamond blade.
Traffic is restored immediately. Danny, the associate who requested the work order was, “Amazed.”
When the job has to be done quickly and correctly. Roadware Concrete Repair products are always at the ready.
Special thanks to Dave Wilson at PatchMyConcrete.com for sending this in!