Tag Archives: concrete repair

Concrete Repair

Repairing vertical cracks in concrete structures with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.

The same Microdoweling™ properties of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ that make the material excellent for repairing horizontal surfaces also make a good choice for vertical repairs.

 

UPDATE: New method recommended for vertical crack repair. See the Gebbie System.
Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is a very low viscosity polyurethane that uses a surface tension one-third of water to penetrate quickly and deeply into concrete cracks. The typical process relies on self-gravity injection to fill cracks completely. What is not seen by the naked eye is the capillary action of the Concrete Mender polymer chains flowing horizontally into the sidewalls of the crack.  We call this chaining of polymers into the concrete Microdoweling™.  This chaining of the concrete together works on vertical surfaces too.
So, your saying, “How do we get this super thin material to stay in place long enough for the Microdoweling™ to take place and the repair to cure?” Over the years, Roadware contractors have come up with creative and ingenious ways to use Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ on vertical surfaces. Here are some techniques that have evolved.
UPDATE: New method recommended for vertical crack repair. See the Gebbie System.
1.     Vertical Crack Injection
This technique involves covering the vertical crack with transparent duct tape and injecting Concrete Mender through the tape with a needle tip meter/mix cartridge. This method will work well if the concrete surface is smooth and the tape can make a good bond with the surface. The crack should be 1/4 inch (5mm) or less in width. The tape will make the, “form” while the Concrete Mender sets. Concrete Mender will not stick to duct tape, so once the material cures, you can cleanly pull off the tape. It is best to warm the cartridges up to 80° F (26°C) before use for a faster gel time. Start filling the crack at the lowest point and work you way up.
See the video here.
2.     Bulk Mix and Trowel Applied Repair
Mix bulk Concrete Mender and 60-80 grit manufactured sand into a thick mortar. Working in small batches, use a margin trowel to make the repair. The fine sand will hold the Concrete Mender in place long enough for the Microdoweling™ effect to take place and for the material to set.
3.     Bag Mix and Apply
This method uses a heavy duty, clear plastic bag to quickly mix one part of blended Concrete Mender to two parts of 60-80 grit manufactured sand. Once mixed by kneading the bag for several seconds, the bag is opened and the whole batch is applied and held in place with the bag. This technique is used around building mechanical entry points such as refrigeration and HVAC units.
Whatever method you choose, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ stands at the ready to perform. Finished repairs can be ground smooth and painted to match the wall if necessary.
Kelton Glewwe
VP Operations
concrete mender, Concrete Repair

See actual bridge deck repairs in PA on Google Maps.

See actual bridge deck repairs on Google Maps.

Google has spent the last few years mapping and photographing roads all over the world. If you know where to look, you can see actual concrete repairs with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™

The Google Map photo below shows actual bridge deck repairs with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ on Interstate 279 in Pittsburgh, PA.  See all the lighter colored spots? Each one is a hole or spall filled with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. The repairs here are over three years old. Thank you Roadware distributor, Express Polymers, Inc., in the Pittsburgh area for sending this project in.


View Larger Map

concrete mender, Concrete Repair

Roadware Commercial for World of Concrete 2011

The World of Concrete 2011 in Las Vegas is next month, January 17-21. Roadware will be in Booth S11847. If your coming to the show, I hope to see you there. You can register for the World of Concrete 2011 here.  Use source code A20 for free registration courtesy of the American Society of Concrete Contractors. 
Here is a 15 second commercial we will be running at the WOC on the shuttle busses and on screens at the show.
concrete mender, Concrete Repair, MatchCrete

Polishing un-polishable Concrete

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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 mender, Concrete Repair

Repairing Railings and Posts with 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.

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How often have you run into this problem?  Industrial railings that have been split apart due to age, abuse, or weather damage. With a few special techniques, you can repair these problems with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.

Clean the repair area with a wire brush or by sandblasting. Remove as much of the rust as possible. It is also a good idea to spray the the steel railing with a rust neutralizer.

 

 
Make a simple form out of blue foam board, and duct tape or most anything plastic. Do not use wood, Concrete Mender will permanently bond the wood to your railing base.I made that mistake years ago and had to chip, grind and sand the wood off the face of the concrete.

Make your repair by pouring 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ bulk mixed with sand in from the top. Allow to cure and finish the surface with a stone or grinder.

 

Add a quick coating of a latex cement coating and your finished. You may also make repairs around railings with Roadware Flexible Cement II™ if the railing is made aluminum and requires more thermal contraction and expansion properties.
concrete mender, Concrete Repair

Airport terminal deck repair after 5 years.

Here is a crack repair project at the CVG Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. The upper terminal deck developed cracks parallel to the  construction joints. Roadware Flexible Cement II™ was used to repair the cracks in 2005. Here are some pictures of the project over the years.

Here is a photo of the CVG terminal deck as of June 2010.

 

Roadware Flexible Cement II™ was used the repair the crack on the right in 2005.  The crack on the left was repaired with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ for comparison.

 

Finished repairs in 2005. Roadware Flexible Cement II™ on the left. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ on the right.

 

Repairs as they appeared in 2006 after one year on service. Both are holding well. The Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ on the right shows yellowing, but is still performing well. The Flexible Cement II™ is slightly lighter on color, but looks perfect.

 

Here is the same repair in June 2010. After 5 years on service, everything looks good.

This is a close-up shot of the Flexible Cement II™ after 5 years of service. The repair is still holding like the day it was installed. Roadware Flexible Cement II™ is a good choice for outdoor repairs in structural concrete. The semi-flexible properties strike a good balance between road toughness and just the right amount movement absorption.

concrete mender, Concrete Repair, MatchCrete

Concrete repair under decorative coatings.

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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.

P5101449

Here is a church with a spalled and rough looking entrance.

 

Prior repair materials were removed revealing worn, but sound concret

Concrete Mender Off-white

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.

 

NC4

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.

 

Concrete Repair, MatchCrete

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.

dalton.008
Polished concrete repair with Concrete Mender™ Off-white.
Polished concrete repair with Concrete Mender™ Off-white.
 Did the crack disappear? If you don’t notice it anymore, what’s the difference?
Concrete Repair, MatchCrete

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

 

Concrete Repair

Rebuild of a Damaged Step Corner

A common concrete repair problem is broken steps. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is a good choice for repairing steps and curbs. Here is a repair sent in by Roadware distributor Minitman Supply in Colorado.

Rebuild of a Damaged Step Corner
A repair like this one starts with cleaning the concrete with a wire brush or diamond blade. Use blue Dow board to make a form and hold it in place with duct tape.

Fill the repair area with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ combined with silica sand. Pull the form after the material sets in about 10 – 20 minutes depending on temperature.

After you remove the forms, you will see something like this.

Use a finishing stone to bland and contour the repair into the rest of the steps.  A finish coat of a latex cement finishing coat over the entire stairway will have your steps looking good as new.

Finish all surfaces for a uniform look.
Be sure to finish the sides as will.