Tag Archives: concrete mender

Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

Ultimate Guide to Crack Repair Under VCT or Laminate

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Fast Concrete Repair for Commercial and Retail Floors

Downtime matters when concrete repair is taking place beneath finished flooring. Traditional repairs can turn a relatively small flooring problem into an extended interruption.

The original application highlights the 10-minute cure of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender as a way to reduce the repair schedule.

For retail stores, commercial facilities, and other occupied buildings, that speed can make it practical to repair the concrete substrate and replace the affected flooring within a much shorter maintenance window.

Why Cracks and Joints Show Through Finished Flooring

VCT and other resilient floor coverings follow the profile of the concrete substrate beneath them. When a concrete crack or control joint deteriorates, the defect can eventually become visible through the finished flooring.

The right repair approach depends on the condition of the concrete. A deteriorated control joint with relatively flat adjoining slabs can require a very different repair from a crack where slab curling or movement has produced a significant elevation difference.

Before replacing damaged flooring, identify and repair the concrete condition underneath.

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

Repairing Failed Control Joints Under VCT

When a spalled or deteriorated control joint is reflecting through the flooring and the adjoining concrete slabs are not curled, the repair can be relatively straightforward.

Remove the affected flooring to expose the concrete. Clean out the deteriorated control joint using an appropriate dust-collecting diamond grinder and remove loose material and debris.

Repair the prepared joint with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender. After the repair has cured, grind the repaired area flush with the surrounding concrete and replace the floor covering.

This approach addresses the damaged concrete beneath the flooring rather than simply covering the joint again.

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

 

For curled and buckled slabs, a major retailer specifies this heavy duty solution. Moreover, this is the ultimate one-and-done repair.

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Step 1: Remove the Floor Covering

Remove the VCT, ceramic tile, vinyl, or other flooring as necessary to expose the affected concrete.

 

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Step 2: Saw Cut Along the Crack

Make parallel saw cuts along the affected crack. The original procedure specifies a depth of no less than 1.5 inches and ideally approximately 30% of the slab depth.

 

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Step 3: Remove and Prepare the Concrete

Chip out the concrete between the saw cuts. Thoroughly clean the prepared repair area using a wire brush and vacuum to remove loose material and debris.

 

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Step 4: Repair With Concrete Mender

Use Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender with sand to rebuild the prepared area to the finished grade. The underlying crack is also repaired with Concrete Mender as part of the procedure.

See Concrete Mender™ Bulk Application Instructions.

 

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Step 5: Finish the Repair and Replace the Flooring

Finish the repaired concrete to the appropriate elevation and replace the floor treatment. The original procedure is designed to allow the repaired area to be reopened to traffic after completion.

Fix the Concrete Before Replacing the Flooring

When a crack or failed control joint is visible through VCT, vinyl, laminate, or tile, look beyond the floor covering. The condition of the concrete underneath should be evaluated and repaired before new flooring is installed.

For relatively flat slabs, that may mean cleaning and repairing a deteriorated control joint. For curled or buckled concrete, a deeper repair may be required to restore the affected area before the flooring goes back down.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender provides a fast-curing approach for repairing these underlying concrete conditions and preparing the floor for replacement flooring.

 

Concrete Repair

UPDATED: Less INvasive Concrete Repair | Reducing Silica Dust

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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.

Concrete Repair

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.

Remove loose concrete.
Clean area with a wire brush.
Remove dust with a shop vacuum.
Make forms with pink or blue insulating board.
Fill with mixed Concrete Mender blended with sand.
Add Concrete Meder to grade.
Allow to cure for about 10 minutes at 70 degrees F.
Shape the repair contours with a rubbing stone.
Repair after finishing and shaping.
Re-coat the stairs with a latex concrete finishing material like QuickCrete Concrete Dressing.
Finish all surfaces for a uniform look.
Be sure to finish the sides as will.
Stairs are ready for use in a few hours.

 

 

concrete mender

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ Top Applications

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Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ top applications:

General full depth crack repair:

Use the high-penetration abilities of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to make full depth crack repair.

 

CRACK REPAIR

1. Clean out with diamond grinder and remove dirt and dust.
2. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
3. Add a fine graded silica sand and additional liquid to grade.
4. Strike off excess material and allow to cure for 10 minutes at 70°F.
5. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a grinding stone if desired.

 

SPALL REPAIR

1. Clean out with diamond grinder and remove dirt and dust.
2. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
3. Add a fine graded silica sand and additional liquid. Work in one inch lifts to grade.
4. Strike off excess material and allow to cure for 10 minutes at 70°F.
5. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a grinding stone if desired.

HAIRLINE CRACKS

1. Score the top of the crack with diamond blade or wire brush.
2. Remove dust with a vaccume.
3. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete
Mender™ supplied in twin cartridges and optional needle tip mixer.
4. Add a fine graded silica sand to larger areas and allow to soak in.
5. Strike off excess material and allow to
cure for 10 minutes at 70° F.
6. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a
grinding stone if desired.

SPALLED CONTROL JOINT

(Fully cured non-moving)
1. Clean out with diamond grinder and remove dirt and dust. Score back spall with blade for a finished look.
2. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
3. Add a fine graded silica sand and additional liquid to grade.
4. Strike off excess material and allow to cure for 10 minutes at 70°F.
5. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a grinding stone if desired.

DELAMINATED SLAB

1. Drill hole into void.
2. Remove dust with a vacuum.
3. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete
Mender™ supplied in twin cartridges.
4. Add a fine graded silica sand and
additional liquid to fill holes to grade.
5. Strike off excess material and allow to
cure for 10 minutes at 70° F.
6. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a
grinding stone if desired.

THRESHOLDS AND
UNEVEN SLABS

1. Clean out with diamond or wire grinder and remove dirt and dust. Score lower edge with diamond blade for a finished look.
2. Flood with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™
3. Add a fine graded silica sand and additional liquid to a mortar consistency.
4. Shape with a clean steel trowel and allow to cure for 10 minutes at 70° F.
5. Open to traffic. Finish and blend with a grinding stone if desired. Maintain existing expansion joint if necessary.
concrete mender

Contractor uses 10 Minute Concrete Mender to make pebble-crete floor.


Basic SYSTEM in Bahrain is using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to make rapid curing pebble-crete flooring in Bahrain. The easy mixing Concrete Mender combines with the pebbles and acts as a binder in seconds. The mixture is easy to apply and trowel flat without getting sticky until the final minutes of curing. See the video here.

UPDATE May 4th, 2015


“I will take the opportunity of this e-mail & send you a recent photo of the pebbles application with Concrete mender at PinkBerry frozen yogurt / pictures was taken today, the floor is performing well and the client is very happy / the application will be repeated in Future PinkBerry shops in the region…”

Regards

George Honein

Basic SYSTEM in Bahrain is using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to make rapid curing pebble-crete flooring in Bahrain. The easy mixing Concrete Mender combines with the pebbles and acts as a binder in seconds. The mixture is easy to apply and trowel flat without getting sticky until the final minutes of curing. See the video here.
Pebble floor application at a Pinkberry Store in Bahrain. 

600ml of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is combined with about 6kg of 3-5mm pebbles. The components are mixed be hand, spread out on the floor about 3cm deep and troweled flat. 600ml

The pebbles are completely coated and help in place by the Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. The floor performs well and creates the look specified by the designer. The floor does not need further sealing. Daily maintenance consists of vacuuming and mopping.

When I first saw this application, I had some questions:

Hello George at Basic SYSTEMS in Bahrain.

Your application has not been tried before with Concrete Mender.
How does the surface look?

It’s giving a wet look / looking really nice.. they have used resin in the past in other outlets, but the problem it was not strong enough and was smelling due to cleaning process.

Are the rocks coated completely?

We have mix it with in a bucket with the Concrete Mender / pebbles size was 3 to 5mm, we have used 600 ml of CM and an average of 6 kg of pebbles, it was completely coated

Do any of the rocks come loose? 

Yes some, but it was superficial, we brush it out with hard brush the next day and fill the few areas where the pebbles was removed with same mix materials…

Will the floor be easy to clean?

Well vacuuming and mopping was our instruction to follow…

Do you use a clear sealer after the application?

The pebbles are completely coated/ by sealing it, will loose the natural look as required in the concept design.

See the video here:

Concrete Repair

The 15″ deep concrete crack repair in Indonesia with Concrete Mender™.

Nick Dryer of Inservica Flooring in Jakarta demonstrates how a small amount of Roadware 10 Minute Mender can penetrate 15 inches deep into cracked concrete.

concrete mender, Concrete Repair

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.

 

concrete mender

Use Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to repair concrete statuary.

Can a large decorative concrete piece that has broken completely in two be structurally repaired? That question became very real at the Concrete Decor Show in Fort Worth when a leaf-shaped concrete chair cracked at a critical stress point during removal from its mold. Using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™, we bonded the broken sections back together, creating a repair strong enough for the finished piece to remain intact through the show and move-out.

In October 2014, Roadware was exhibiting at the Concrete Decor Show in Fort Worth, Texas, when an unexpected concrete repair challenge came our way. After the first day of the show, I received a call from an exhibitor participating in the Decorative Concrete Competition. A large decorative concrete piece, designed as a giant leaf-shaped chair, had cracked completely in two while being removed from its mold. With the competition underway, the question was simple: Could the piece be saved, and could Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ make the repair?

I headed across the Fort Worth Convention Center to take a look. This is what I found.

The “Chair” was broken into two parts right at the critical stress point in the middle.

We carefully pushed the two pieces together, taking care to mate the surfaces as closely as possible, and supported the chair with 2x4s and some shims. I then placed duct tape on the bottom of the break to hold the Concrete Mender™ in place while it cured.

I used two 50 ml cartridges of Concrete Mender and 4030 silica sand for a full-depth repair.

This is how the repair looked when I finished.

The next morning, we returned and removed the wooden supports and duct tape. The repair held perfectly. The Concrete Mender structurally repaired the high-strength concrete back together.

William Reynolds, with element7concrete, continued the project by scoring veins into the leaf with a diamond blade.

A high-gloss glaze was applied to the surface.

You could barely see the break when the glaze cured.

The repair was strong enough to hold together while moving the chair into the exhibit.

The finished work held up throughout the show and the move-out process afterward. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ with its Microdoweling™ structural bonding really saved the day.

Thank you to William Reynolds with element7concrete in Granite Shoals, Texas, for their masterful artistic skills and all their hard work.

Once word got out that I had repaired the chair, I was called on to fix other projects at the convention, like this longhorn steer.

I use 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to repair the horn tip.

You’d never know it was broken.

Concrete Repair

Cracked floor in data center repaired with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.

When permanent repairs are needed for a data center that will operate 24/7/365, the contractor turns to Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. Concrete Mender’s Microdowling™ action penetrates deep into concrete cracks and can re-bond slabs back together to form a structural repair. The repairs can be polished flush in about 15 minutes leaving a smooth high performing surface.
Cracked concrete in a space to be converted to a data center in Omaha, Nebraska.
The cracked topping span at this data center needs to be repaired so a dust free environment can be maintained.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is used to repair the cracks and spalls prior to concrete polishing.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™is mixed with sand and applied with a margin trowel.  Unlike polyureas, Concrete Mender™ will not gum-up and will remain trowel-able for several minutes before setting.
Concrete crack repairs with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ can be most any length, width or depth.

After about 10 minutes, repairs can be polished smooth using standard concrete polishing equipment. Concrete Mender™ will not smear into the surrounding surface under  the heat if the diamond polishing.

The polished floor is now smooth, dust free and ready for the data center.

 

The polished floor is now smooth, dust free and ready for the data center.