Tag Archives: control joints

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 mender, Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

Smart floor repairs for AGV’s and warehouse robots.

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AGV’s or Automated Guided Vehicles are the reliable workhorses of the modern warehouse. They are designed to run smoothly and predictably all day and everyday. AGV’s are great at repetitive tasks moving freight as needed day in and day out. These repeated trips over the same path can be very punishing to concrete floors. The small hard wheels of an AVG can crush control joint sidewalls and grind the concrete surface to dust. This leads to rough, uneven floors that can cause premature breakdowns of AGV drive systems, wheels, and even damaged freight.

“If your AVG could talk, it would ask for Concrete Mender. ” Richard King, Roadware, Inc.

AGV carrying beer on a preset path in a warehouse.
AGV’s move thousands of pounds in a single trip over the exact same path hundreds of times per day.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender with Microdoweling™ penetrates into concrete surfaces repairs concrete cracks, joints and spalls where others fail. Over the years we have noticed some conditions needed for successful repairs in the path of AVG’s.

  1. Repairs need to be as tough as the concrete itself. But not too tough. Let’s say your concrete is a typical 4000 psi in compressive strength. The AGV wheels are grinding away the surface of the concrete and spalling the control joints. You repair the “bad” sections of the path with fairly brittle 10,000 psi epoxy. Now you have sections of the original concrete and sections of much harder epoxy. As the original concrete continues to grind away, the hard epoxy remains and you just created more speed bumps for the AVGs. Concrete Mender will wear with the concrete and deflect with the concrete under load. Your AVG’s favorite path will be smoother longer.
  2. Stop your repairs from popping out. Did you ever notice common warehouse floor repairs popping out in chunks? This can happen when you put a super hard epoxy patch in a not as hard concrete floor. The epoxy is so brittle that it fractures the bond-line when a load is applied. Epoxy repair products have a modulus of elasticity that is so high, it will fracture the concrete before deflecting under load. Concrete Mender has a modulus of elasticity that is slightly less than concrete so it will deflect with concrete concrete under load and gently transfer load from the repair to the surrounding concrete.
  3. Time is money! Closing down aisles or sections of a warehouse is a disruption for everyone including AVG’s. With minimal prep requirements and less invasive techniques including Roadware Easy Injection, 10 Minute Concrete Mender can have your AVG pathways back in service in minutes, not hours or days. You can even make repairs in operational freezers down to -30F.
Concrete repairs for AGV’s need to bond under heavy traffic as well as deflect with the concrete and transfer loads to the surrounding concrete without fracturing.

AVG’s like to take the same path every time. This can prematurely wear out concrete floors.
AGV drive system in an Automated Guided Vehicle.
The drive system in a typical AGV can haul a lot of weight, but the floor needs to be smooth.
Warehouse and AGV floors can be repaired and open for traffic in about 10 minutes after application with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender.

Products used in this application:

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

80300 Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender 600ml Cartridge
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

 

Concrete Repair

The Control Joint Problem

Video 7 Comments

There is a big problem with control joints or contraction joints. They are the saw cut joints we cut into concrete slabs to control cracking as the concrete cures. The problem is the floor owner typically wants the floor poured, joints cut, joints filled, and building occupied in 60 days or less. Concrete cures hard in typically 28 days, but it continues to shrink and crack for a about a year.  The contraction joint that was 1/4″ when it was cut, can almost double in width in that first year leaving the 1/4″ of joint filler a bit short, cracked and generally a mess. The sidewalls of the joint are left unprotected and the joint spalling begins. You can replace all that gummy polyurea or brittle epoxy with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and leave your control joint problem behind.


 contraction-joint-slab-dynamic-load

See more about Control Joints here:

Concrete Repair, Concrete Repair

Crack Repair Under VCT or Laminate Flooring

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Use Concrete Mender™ to repair  cracks, joints and curling slabs under VCT or tile floors. The permanent performance and 10 minute cure turns this 2 day job into a one day (or one night) job. Keep business running with minimal down time.

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

For spalled or failed control joints that are reflecting through the tile and the slabs are not curled, clean out the joints with a dust collecting diamond grinder.

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

Repair the control joints with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™, grind the surface flush and replace the tile.

 

For curled and buckled slabs, a major retailer specifies this heavy duty solution. This is the ultimate fix it once and fix it forever repair.

crack-repair-concrete-mender-vct-flooring_03

Step 1: Remove VCT, Ceramic, or vinyl floor coverings.

 

crack-repair-concrete-mender-vct-flooring_06

Step 2: Saw cut parallel lines to the crack at a depth of no less than 1.5 inches. Ideally 30% of the slab depth.

 

crack-repair-concrete-mender-vct-flooring_08

Step 3: Chip out the concrete between the saw cuts. Clean the surface well with a wire brush and vacuum.

 

crack-repair-concrete-mender-vct-flooring_10

Step 4: Add Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender and Sand to the finished grade. Also use Concrete Mender to repair the underlaying crack. See Concrete Mender™ Bulk Application Instructions.

 

crack-repair-concrete-mender-vct-flooring_13

Step 5: Replace the floor treatment and open to store traffic.

 

 

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.

deep-vs-shallow-cut-joints

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.

concrete-mender-scrape-razor-feature
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 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 Repair

All about Roadware Flexible Cement II™.

Roadware Flexible Cement II™ Explained

Roadware Flexible Cement II™ is semi-ridged polyurethane for creating flexible bonds between concrete surfaces and other materials.  This versatile material may also be used to protect contraction joints from traffic deterioration.

 

  • What is Flexible Cement II? Proprietary Polyurethane Blend
  • Formulation: Classified
  • Manufacturing: South Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
  • Origin: Designed for creating flexible bonds between concrete surfaces and dis-similur materials.
  • Function: To flow into concrete cracks and joints. Filling the void with a semi-flexible polyurethane the will accommodate heavy traffic.
  • Military Use: Classified
  • Civilian Use: Fill 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

 

Exterior Repairs
Use Flexible Cement II™to repair cracks and protect control joints in parking structures, bridge decks, loading docks, and many types of structural concrete.
Control Joints
Use on industrial floors to protect saw-cut control joints from wheel traffic damage.
Cove joints
Use Flexible Cement II™ to seal cove joints where the floor meets a structural wall.
Electrical Podding
Seal electrical loops and embedded lighting systems.
Thresholds
Repair concrete thresholds with high thermal differentials.
Moisture
Flexible Cement II™ is tolerant of surface moisture when applied. Concrete should be as dry as practical to insure a good bond.
Concrete Bonding
Flexible Cement II™ is an excellent flexible adhesive for bonding metal, wood, and synthetic materials to concrete. Use to bond moldings and tack strips to concrete floors.
Bond asphalt to concrete.
Bond wood to concrete.
Bond metal to concrete.
Bond carpet nail strips to concrete.
Bond carpet molding to concrete.
High Traffic
Repairs are tough and can handle heavy industrial traffic.

 

Use Flexible Cement II™ to protect joints and cracks in concrete bridge decks and pavement where heavy traffic is anticipated.  This polyurethane is about as hard as a roller blade wheel and will prevent debris from filling cracks and causing further deterioration of the concrete.

 

Flexible Cement II™ is recommended for low movement crack repair. This tough material will hold up to forklift and industrial traffic while allowing for some movement.  For high movement areas and expansion joints, we recommend a softer caulk type material.

 

Roadware Flexible Cement II used to repair a parking lot.
Flexible Cement II™ repairs are ready for traffic in just 10 minute at 75 degrees F (24C).
Bulk mixing Flexible Cement II™:
Detroit Airport tram repairs
The passenger tram at this airport gilds on pillows of air. Flexible Cement II is used to prevent the expansion joints from damaging the air pillows.
One of the 12 air pillows that support each car. Flexible Cement II™ prevents metal expansion joints from lifting up and cutting the air pillow as the car passes.
Flexible Cement II™ is used to protect the interface between the metal expansion joint and the concrete. This allows for a smooth surface for the air lift cars to glide over.

 

Use Flexible Cement II™ to repair sawn contraction joints and cracks
Packaging:
Roadware Flexible Cement II™ 91050 10-Gallon Kit
91020 2-Gallon Kit (not shown)
Roadware Flexible Cement II™ 91105 50-ml Kit

 

Roadware Flexible Cement II™ 91300 600-ml Kit
concrete mender

Uncontrolled Epoxy Injection

Question: How do you epoxy inject cracks in floor slabs on grade when you do not have access to the bottom of the slab? What keeps the product from running out the bottom and all over the place?Answer: We make these type of repairs all the time. The first thing to do is dump the epoxy.  It is too thick, too brittle, and takes too long to set.  Fast setting materials like 10 Minute Concrete Mender allow you to control set points deep in the crack and prevent material seepage.Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has an ultra low viscosity of 8cps and will gravity inject into the smallest of cracks. We make the repair in stages adding fine silica sand into the crack as necessary to prevent the material from running out the bottom. The product can be injected with needle tip mixers as small as 18 gauge. With careful technique and experience you can make structural repair that will restore aggregate interlock and restore the slab.

Start out by adding a small amount Concrete Mender to the prepared crack and noting where material in running beyond the slab.  Add a light dusting of silica sand or fine quartz to the crack and some more Concrete Mender. The Concrete Mender will combined with the particles of sand to form a quick setting, “mud” at the bottom of the crack. Repeat as necessary and repair the full depth of the slab.

This will be a structural repair with no ports, no pumps, and almost no down time.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ needle tip application.

 

concrete mender

Roadware Contraction Joint Repair

Why are my contraction joints spalling and what can I do to stop it?

  

Contraction joints (or control
joints) are joints cut into a slab shortly after pouring. The purpose of these joints is to control the cracking of the slab as it cures. Most concrete slabs shrink and sometimes curl for the first 12 months after pouring. Contraction joints allow the
slab to crack at pre-determined intervals instead of natural random cracking. Joint filler is used to protect the joints from spalling and chipping caused by traffic on the slab.
 control-joint-filler-original

As the slab cures for the first
12 months, it shrinks in size and may even curl up at the joints. The contraction joints will expand as the slab shrinks. This causes the joint filler to split apart or dis-bond from the sides of the joint leaving them exposed to traffic.

control-joint-filler-curled
When loads are rolled over the
joint. The force of the load has to transfer from the wheel, to the concrete, and to the base. If the slab is even slightly curled and the joint is expanded, the force of the load will impact on the joint causing cracking and spalling. You may even get stress cracking parallel to the joint. You can sometimes feel the uneven load transfer across the joint if you stand with one foot on either side of the joint and have someone else roll a heavy load across the joint.
control-joint-filler-curled-dynamic-load
Eventually, you get a spalled contraction joint. The joint filler has completely failed or is missing. Wheels go “thunk, thunk” every time they go over the joint. Productivity suffers, and the joint fills with dust and debris.
 control-joint-filler-curled-spalled
A popular and effective way to repair spalled contraction joints is to lock them back up with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. Once the slab is 12 months old, the shrinkage and curling has finished. There is no longer a need for contraction joints. Now you can use Concrete Mender™ and silica sand to bond the slab back together from the base all the way up to
the top. This will stabilize the slab, restore aggregate interlock,
and allow for complete and even load transfer from the wheels all the way down to the base. Your contraction joint problems are solved.
control-joint-filler-curled-spalled-repaired
NOTES: Locking up contraction joints
is recommended for interior controlled environment applications with sound concrete and base. Exterior applications may have different results. Always test a small section
of large repair for compatibility.
 See how this repair was made by clicking here.