Tag Archives: concrete repair

concrete mender, Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

COVID19 Operations

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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:

Find your Distributor

Thank you and be safe,

Roadware, Inc.

Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

Automotive Lift Anchoring Floor Repair

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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. 

Automotive lift floor attachment patten over existing list installation.

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.

Using a 2″ core drill to remove existing anchors.

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.

Core drilled anchor holes are cleaned and roughened with a hole reamer.

Use duct tape to mask off the holes to be filled with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™

Masking off the old anchor holes in preparation for repairing 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.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender, sand, mixing buckets, and mixing sticks.

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.

Mix equal parts Side A and Side B by hand in a mixing pail for 15 seconds.

Fill the holes half-way with mixed Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

Fill the hole halfway with mixed Concrete Mender. Use a marked stick to gage the halfway mark.

Add sand into the hole bringing the Concrete Mender level up to the surface. Make sure all the sand is completely saturated. 

Pour sand into the hole bringing the Concrete Mender up to the surface.

Level the surface with a trowel or stick and allow to cure for about 10 minutes at 70 degrees F (21C). 

Smooth the top of the repairs with a trowel or mixing stick.

Remove the tape after the Concrete Mender cures and turns grey in about 10-15 minutes.

Concrete Mender turns grey when it cures. Pull the tape.

A finishing rubbing brick is used to quickly bring the repairs flush with the floor.

Concrete Mender repairs are made flush with a rubbing brick.

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 anchor holes are drilled for the new lift next to the repaired holes from the old lift anchors.

New compression anchors are installed and torqued to the specified level.

New compression anchors and installed.

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.

An anchor testing device is used to pull 3000 lbs of force on the anchor for 12 hours.
Compression anchor testing device showing 3000 pounds of force.

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:

80020 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender Two-Gallon Kit
80020 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender Two-Gallon Kit

80020 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender Two-Gallon Kit

Click here to find a Roadware Distributor near you.

Concrete Repair

Bridge crack repair in the Philippines.

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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.

The Gilbert Bridge in the Philippines.

Crack repairs on the Gilbert bridge in the Philippines with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

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.

Crack repairs on the Gilbert bridge in the Philippines with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

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.

Sunset photo of the Bantum Bridge in the Philippines.

Workers repairing cracks in the Bantum Bridge in the Philippines using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

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.

concrete mender, Concrete Repair

Full Depth Crack Injection with Concrete Mender.

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A 24″ deep core sample shows 100% injection repair with Roadware 10 Minute 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.

Diagram showing Concrete Mender Soft-tip mixer injection into a concrete slab.

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Once the crack is filled to refusal, move on to the next few drilled holes until the whole crack is filled.
  6. 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.

Drilling a pilot hole into a crack to prepare for injection with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
Drilling a pilot hole into a crack to prepare for injection with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

A pilot hole drilled into a concrete crack and ready for injection with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
A pilot hole drilled into a concrete crack and ready for injection with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender. Clear repair tape temporarily seals the crack while being repaired.

Concrete Mender crack injection with speed inject mixer.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is slowly injected into the crack using a Soft-tip sealing mixer.

Inject Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender into the crack until the product appears under the tape. This fills the crack from the bottom up.
Inject Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender into the crack until the product appears under the tape. This repairs the crack from the bottom up. Work several holes at a time allowing the product to gel and seal the bottom as you go.

Concrete Mender crack injection into 24 inches of concrete.
Slowly injecting Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender into 24″ of concrete using 600ml cartridge and soft-tip injection mixers.

Core drilling of Concrete Mender repair shows full depth repair down 24 inches using this method.
Core drilling of the repair shows full depth repair down 24 inches using this method.

The core sample shows full depth repair down 24 inches.
The core sample shows full depth repair down 24 inches.

Concrete Mender repair shown under UV light. See how the Concrete Mender flows into the smallest cracks and brings the concrete back to a pre-cracked condition.
Concrete Mender repair shown under UV light. See how the Concrete Mender flows into the smallest cracks and brings the concrete back to a pre-cracked condition.

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.

80300 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender 600ml Cartridge
80300 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender 600ml Cartridge

1006-STR: 24-Element Static Mixer with Easy Injection Tip
1006-STR: 24-Element Static Mixer with Easy Injection Tip

1006-STR 24-element static mixer with Easy Injection Tip

*“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.

Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

Emergency Repair at Service Station with Concrete Mender

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Bill Neal of Neals Design recently repaired spalled and cracked concrete on the fly at a service station in Washington.  A customer had broken an ankle stepping out of a truck into the badly spalled concrete. Bill was able to make the repair in minutes, eliminating the safety hazard without major disruption to the service station.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is your go to product for making long-lasting repairs with minimal downtime.  At 70 degrees F  or 21C, A Concrete Mender repair can be ready for heavy truck traffic in about 10 minutes.

Finished Concrete Mender repairs at a truck fuel station.
Finished Concrete Mender repairs ready for traffic.

The ultra low viscosity Concrete Mender mixes very easily with manufactured sand or quartz.  A tough and durable polymer concrete mortar can be mixed in a bucket by hand with simple tools. No expensive pumps or power mixers needed. See how it is done here. Concrete Mender™ Bulk Application Instructions

Product used:

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ Two-gallon Kit #80020

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ two gallon kit. Item #80020
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ two gallon kit. Item #80020

How to buy.

Find out more.

concrete mender, Concrete Repair

Swimming Pool Repair with Concrete Mender

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Pool spalls are cleaned and prepared for repair with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.
Pool spalls are cleaned and prepared for repair with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

What do you do when your pool has cracks and spalls and it has to be open is three days? Back in 2001, the City of South Saint Paul, Minnesota had a problem with their new splash pool. Just before opening the pool for its second season, cracks and spalls were discovered in the concrete pool bottom and along corner where the floor meets the wall. The damaged was probably caused by the first Minnesota winter for this neighborhood splash pool facility. The repairs needed to be done fast. The pool was scheduled to be open in just three days. Any delay would be a disappointment for local families and political problem for the City who spent a lot of money to build this water recreation facility.

The call went out to see if anyone could come up with a solution. Roadware Incorporated, also located in the City of South Saint Paul, received a call from the Parks and Recreation Maintenance Department to see if we had any ideas. It turns out, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is a great product for repairing concrete pools. The cross-linked polyurethanes in Concrete Mender and very resistant to water, chlorine and other pool chemicals.

Roadware personnel were at the pool within a few hours and repairs were made using a mixture of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and manufactured sand.

Mixing 10 Minute Concrete Mender with sand in a bucket prior to repairing a spall in the concrete pool floor.
Mixing 10 Minute Concrete Mender with sand in a bucket prior to repairing a spall in the concrete pool floor.

 

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender is flooded into the spalled ares and seeded with manufactured sand.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and sand are applied to spalls in the pool floor.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and sand are applied to spalls in the pool floor.

 

The Concrete Mender and sand bland can be troweled in place and will cure in about 10 minutes.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender mixed with sand is troweled into place.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender mixed with sand is troweled into place.

 

Vertical surfaces can be repaired by mixing Concrete Mender with fine manufactured sand and troweled in place.

Pool repairs at the pool edge are made with Concrete Mender mixed with sand and troweled in place.
Pool repairs at the pool edge are made with Concrete Mender mixed with sand and troweled in place.

 

Repairs can be painted using standard methods in 10 minutes after application at 70 degrees F (23C).

Finished Concrete Mender spall repairs in pool were ready for paint in minutes.
Finished repairs were ready for paint in minutes.

 

All the repairs took just a few hours to complete and the pool was ready for a fresh coat of paint in minutes. The pool was painted and filled with water the next day. The Concrete Mender repairs have largely been forgotten, but continue to perform to this day.

The South Saint Paul Splash Pool in 2017. Concrete Mender repairs in the pool still look good 16 years later.
The South Saint Paul Splash Pool in 2017. Concrete Mender repairs in the pool still look good 16 years later.

 

 

Products:

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ 600ml cartridge item 80300.

 

 

concrete mender, Concrete Repair

Crack repair at the Milan-Malpensa Airport (MXP)

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The Milan-Malpensa MXP International Airport in Ferno, Italy handles nearly 20 million passengers per year and over 500,000 tons of international freight annually. Crews are using Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ to repair cracks in taxiways. The deep penetration of Concrete Mender and the 10 minute cure helps keep the historic airport running at top efficiency.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is a tough high penetration polyurethane quickly soaks into small cracks and repairs them before they become big problems.

The MXP Airport saves time and money by repairing cracks early when they are small. The Concrete Mender cures in just 10 minutes. This is perfect for repairing taxiways that have to remain open 24 hours per day.

Crews use Concrete Mender supplied in self-mixing 600ml cartridges to quickly apply material exactly where it is needed. No material is wasted. Manufactured sand is added to extend the product volume and control how much Concrete Mender flows into the crack.

Repairs are ready for airport service in about 10 minutes at 70 degrees F (23C).

Concrete Repair

Roadware at the Global Cold Chain Expo, June 13-15, 2017. Chicago

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JUNE 13-15, 2017 | MCCORMICK PLACE | CHICAGO, IL

Roadware will exhibit in the Global Cold Chain Expo 2017. Look for us in Booth 5128.

The GCCE covers all aspects of cold storage warehousing and logistics.  Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is the go-to product for repairing cracks, joints and spalls in all kinds of refrigerated and freezer warehouse applications.

The cold environment and heavy weight traffic in a freezer warehouse represents the ultimate challenge for a concrete repair material. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has been used for over 20 years in tough cold storage environments.

The Roadware booth will feature Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and Safety Yellow Concrete Mender™ for creating permanent yellow safety lines in freezer floors.

 

The 2016 Global Cold Chain Expo in Chicago.

 

See Roadware in Booth 5128 at the 2017 Global Cold Storage Expo in Chicago.

 

For reduced or free admission to the GCCE, contact Kelton Glewwe – kglewwe@concretemender.com, by June 1st, 2017. For qualified attendees only. Limited time offer.

 

 

 

Concrete Repair

Roadware YouTube Channel Hits 2 Million Views

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The Roadware YouTube Channel hits TWO MILLION VIEWS. Roadware maintains a YouTube video channel that shows Roadware products in action. This month our channel surpassed two million views. The YouTube channel currently has over 50 in-house produced videos showing simple concrete crack repair to advanced decorative and exposed aggregate concrete repairs. Check it out here. Two million views accounts for about 3.8 million watched minutes. That’s about 63,000 hours of watch time.

Here is a gallery of Roadware videos from the Roadware YouTube Channel.