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).
Dusting concrete floors in a freezer can lead to unsafe and unsanitary conditions as well as contamination of product.
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.
Freezer warehouse floor with failed topping slab and dusting concrete.
Disbonded topping slabs and epoxy coatings can also create a hazardous dusting situation.
Freezer floor being prepared for coating with Roadware Freezer Coating by grinding the surface flat with metal grinding pads.
Here concrete polishing equipment with metal grinding pads are used to remove the dusting surface of the concrete back to a solid surface.
Freezer floor being prepared for coating with Roadware Freezer Coating by grinding the surface flat with metal grinding pads.
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 easily mixed in a pail using a ratio of 1 part ISO, 1 part POLY and 1 part manufactured sand.
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).
Craftsman trowel down a thin sealer coat of Roadware Freezer Floor Coating on to a prepared concrete floor at below freezing temperatures.
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.
See craftsmen with Concrete Dr in Seoul, Korea apply Roadware Freezer Floor Coating at -4 degrees F (-20C) . A propane torch is used to remove flash frost just before application.
Freezer warehouse floor coated with Roadware Freezer Floor Coating.
Full warehouse traffic can resume in 10 hours after application.
Freezer floor coated with the Roadware Concrete Mender Freezer Coating System. This resilient coating can be applied at freezer operational temperatures and cures within hours.
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 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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At Roadware, we see lots of two-component polymer concrete repair products that claim to be just like Concrete Mender™. One even calls it self, “Quick Mender.” They are all basically polyurea based products that are too thick to effectively penetrate concrete surfaces and are so reactive, they become too sticky and gooey to trowel in just a minute or two after mixing. When you dig a little deeper, you will see a very distinct difference in genuine Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.
What is Concrete Mender? ProprietaryPolyurethane Blend
Formulation: Classified
Manufacturing: South Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Origin: NATO program for rapid bomb damage repair on runways.
Function: To penetrate deep into concrete cracks, joints, and spalls creating a structural repair in 10 minutes.
Military Use: Classified
Civilian Use: Repair cracks, joints and spalls in commercial, industrial and civil applications.
Service Life: Indefinite
Cure Time: 10 Minutes at 70°F (21°C)
Distribution: Worldwide Distributor Network
Surface Tension:
Surface Tension is a measurement of the ability of a liquid to overcome its own internal friction and penetrate into a material like concrete. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has a surface tension One third of water. It will penetrate concrete cracks and fissures quicker and deeper than water. This low surface tension lets Concrete Mender™ penetrate normal bond lines and allows structural bonding with the aggregate in the concrete. See the electron microscope slide below.
Low surface tension has another little hidden benefit. It allows Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to be combined with more than two parts sand and still be workable and trowel-able. Try that with a polyurea and you will have a gooey mess on your hands.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender can be bucket mixed and applied like or mortar.
Roadware Microdoweling™ Technology:
Slab to slab micro-doweling action, provided by Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender, links concrete slabs together, locks them in place and allows for full-traffic, dynamic-load transfer, in 10 minutes. This micro-doweling action is more compatible with concrete and less re-active in harsh environments than even Poly-coated re-bar. Millions of micro-dowels penetrate, then bridge and bond, side by side, broken and jointed slabs. Hairline cracks, trench wide cracks, irregular cracks, cured control joints and variable depth spalls are candidates for this amazing technology.
Scanning electron microscope image of the interface between Concrete Mender™ and concrete.
In 10 minutes, at 70°F (21°C) , this micro-doweled bond has the same compressive and shear strength as poured and fully cured concrete. This makes bond-line failures a thing of the past. Parallel re-cracking, often experienced when epoxies cure out, are eliminated with Roadware’s micro-doweling technology.
Structural Polyurethane
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is 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.
Advantages– Due to the very low surface tension of the material and low viscosity, complete saturation bonding of cracks can be easily achieved. Minimal prep to remove loose debris is all that is normally required. This can be considered a structural repair if the material is allowed to gravity flow to the full depth of the crack. Manufactured sand or quartz may be introduced into the repair as necessary to prevent under slab ponding and martial waste. For repair greater than 0.125 inches, specified sand may be added at a ratio of two parts sand to one part mixed polyurethane as the crack is filled to extend the material and add strength. The sand also brings the thermal coefficient of expansion of the repair material closer in-line with surrounding concrete. Polyurethanes of this nature may be applied in a wide range to substreight temperatures making them useful in frozen and cold storage warehouse applications or cold weather application below -20F (-23C). Repairs are typically ready to accept traffic in approximately 10 minutes at 72F (22C).
Toughness:
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ mixed with sand gets about as hard as concrete, yet it’s modulus of elasticity is slightly less than concrete so it will move with the slab, not work against it.
Common uses for 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
Spalled control joints and cracks.
Spalls and holes.
Delamination Repair
Uneven slabs and thresholds.
Crack Injection using gravity:
Typical crack injection repair techniques involve epoxy, ports, pumps, and pressure to force thick epoxies into a crack. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ with its low surface tension can do same job in less time, less mess, and better performance.
Easy Floor Crack Injection using cartridges:
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender can be injected into a wide range cracks and delaminations using a simple cartridge and special Soft-tip injection mixers. Successful full-depth repairs have been made in 24″ of concrete.
Slowly injecting Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender into 24″ of concrete using 600ml cartridge and soft-tip injection mixers.
The core sample shows full depth repair down 24 inches.
Hairline cracks repaired using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and Easy Injection application.
Vertical Crack injection
For fast and easy vertical crack injection on walls and structures, we recommend the Gebbie Tech System
THE GEBBIE TECH SYSTEM TRANSFORMS VERTICAL CONCRETE WALL REPAIR
Comprehensive testing by Opus International Consultants – repairs have consistently achieved results higher than the manufactured panel.
Full training in the system – a step by step training video and instructional booklet is included within each kit.
Save time and money! Conventional repair methods with epoxy have longer repair times, additional downtime and are more expensive.
Use a hand gun – no need for expensive pumps! The Gebbie Tech System uses the cost effective Roadware 10-Minute Concrete Mender™ hand gun to repair walls.
Complete penetration. Due to the composition of the Roadware 10-Minute Concrete Mender™ the resin travels easily from the injection point.
The approved vertical wall repair system. The Gebbie Tech System is listed in Roadware’s 10 Minute Mender Concrete Data Sheet as the approved method of vertical concrete wall repair.
Repairs cracks from a hairline through to quarter inch. Walls are repaired within 2 – 12 hours depending on the temperature, and the length of the cracks.
Polishable:
Polishing your floor to a mirror like finish? Repairs made with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ will not smear into the surrounding surface or gum-up diamond polishing pads. You can even add natural sand to match the grain and color of the surrounding concrete.
Polished concrete repair with Concrete Mender™ Off-white.
The repair pictured above shows Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white blended with plain concrete sand and a small amount of portland cement. This water-thin polyurethane is almost translucent. When we add nearly any type of dry sand or aggregate, we get a fast-curing polishable repair that blends beautifully with the surrounding concrete. Since this material is almost translucent, it resists shadowing effects due to over-banding when applied.
Lower Cost:
By adding two parts silica or quartz sand to a gallon of Concrete Mender™ you will yield about 2.2 gallons of repair material.
A gallon of polyurea or epoxy will yield a gallon of repair material. That makes polyurea more expensive to use even at half the material cost! This does not even factor in the hidden costs of short repair life, damage to the surrounding concrete caused by pre-mature failure, or the cost of redoing the repairs when they fail.
4030 Grit manufactured quartz sand is the standard sand used with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
Packaging:
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ hand packed with state-of-the-art packaging materials. They have to be good. The very low viscosity and surface tension require it.
Bulk Application:
Due to the the extended working time formula, bulk mixing of Concrete Mender™ is easy. Unlike polyureas that start to gel up instantly, Concrete Mender will remain workable and flowable for several minutes before curing begins. Much less wasted product setting up in buckets.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender can be easily mixed in a bucket with sand or used neat. No pumps of special equipment needed.
Pin-point Application:
With a Roadware needle tip mixer, you can apply Concrete Mender™ within-point accuracy delivering product to where it is needed most. Our needles come as small as 1.2mm in diameter. If you can get a finger nail in the crack, we can get some Concrete Mender in there as well.
Use Roadware needle tip injection to repair hairline cracks in concrete floors.
Freezers:
Working in the cold? We’re from Minnesota. We know first hand what it takes to work in freezing temperatures. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ can be applied at temperatures below -30 F ( -34C). That is really cold. Exposed flesh will freeze in seconds. That is almost too cold to go ice fishing. Most repair products would freeze solid before curing and quickly fail. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ generates its own heat. Curing will take several hours, but you will still get the same great performance.
Colors:
Roadware Concrete Mender™ comes in two standard colors. Concrete Grey and natural off-white. Since a typical repair is made up of two parts sand to one part liquid, the color of the sand will determine the color of the finished repair. By adding colored quartz sand to off-white Concrete Mender, you can make custom colors as needed.
Use Concrete Mender Off-white to make your own colored repair by adding different colored sand at the time of application.
Specialty Applications:
We also custom make Concrete Mender in Safety Yellow, Red, Blue, and Black. Use Concrete Mender Yellow to create permanent safety lines and marks in difficult areas like cooler and freezer floors.
Safety:
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is completely self-reacting and does not out-gas solvents or VOC’s when curing. This material meets FSIS guidelines for work is federally inspected meat and poultry plants.
History:
For over twenty years, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has performed without fail in thousands of applications. Many times outliving the facility itself.
Supervalue warehouse cold storage floor repairs with Concrete Mender™.
Concrete Mender repair in a cold storage warehouse after 15 years of heavy forklift traffic.
Utilizing technology developed to repair bomb damaged runways for NATO, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ was reformulated and brought to commercial markets in the early 1990’s. You can find us in nearly every industry that has concrete floors, decks, slabs or surfaces.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is made in the USA and is available from Roadware authorized distributors and dealers worldwide. Call 1-800-522-7623 or 1-651-457-6122 to find a dealer near you.
Stop repairing polished concrete with polyurea joint fillers. They look like plastic, do not bond well, and do not hold-up over time. Concrete polishing lets the natural beauty of stones, sand, and rock shine through. Your repair product should as well.
We took the provenMicrodoweling™ properties of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and combined it with natural sands, aggregates and pigments to make repairs that not only look great, but perform better than epoxies and polyureas.
The repair pictured above shows Roadware Concrete Mender™ Off-white blended with plain concrete sand and a small amount of portland cement. This water-thin polyurethane is almost translucent. When we add nearly any type of dry sand or aggregate, we get a fast-curing polishable repair that blends beautifully with the surrounding concrete. Since this material is almost translucent, it resists shadowing effects due to over-banding when applied.
This floor was repaired by troweling down a thin layer of Concrete Mender and sand, then ground smooth. A liquid hardener completed the restoration and the floor was polished.
The floor shows zero failure shown here 3 years later in 2007. The floor continues to perform today.
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.
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.
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.
Polished concrete repair with Concrete Mender™ Off-white.
Did the crack disappear? If you don’t notice it anymore, what’s the difference?
