Tag Archives: spall repair

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ Top Applications

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.

New videos showing MatchCrete™ Clear.

Last week I posed two new videos on the Roadware YouTube Channel showing Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear in action repairing cracks in an exposed aggregate concrete sidewalk and patio. I also posed a video on how to repair a hairline crack in a driveway or sidewalk.How to repair a crack in an exposed aggregate concrete patio using Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear in a 600ml cartridge.

How to repair an exposed aggregate concrete sidewalk using Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear in the 50 ml cartridge.

How to repair a hairline crack in a driveway, sidewalk, patio, or pool deck with Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear.

 

Extreme Concrete Repair and Polish

How do polish a floor when your concrete is like this?

Deep cracks and surface spalling can make polishing jobs costly and difficult.  A lot of the top surface has to be removed to get to a smooth finish.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is a great choice for filling out all the cracks, spalls and holes before polishing.

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 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.
Diagram of a spalled contraction joint repair using 10 Minute Concrete Mender headers.

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

World of Concrete 2011 is January 17-21 in Las Vegas

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.

Click here to register for the World of Concrete.

DIY Network filming a segment in the Roadware booth at the World of Concrete 2009.

Polishing un-polishable Concrete

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.

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

 

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.

Emergency Concrete Repair at Wal-Mart Garden Center

Recently Dave Wilson, of Roadware Distributor Fowler Supply received this email on behalf of a East Tennessee Construction Services.

From: Retail Facilities Maintenance Call Center
 
Subject: concrete repair
 
Possible safety hazard in garden center patio. Please dispatch concrete repair specialist to evaluate and remedy the situation as soon as possible. Customer safety is a top priority.
Store Manager 
Store #XXX
Georgia

 

Emergency repairs are common for Roadware contractors.  When safety is on the line and a store needs something repaired quickly and permanently, Roadware Concrete Repair Products are the clear choice due to minimal down time and minimal intrusion to facility operations.

When Dave Wilson arrived on site, this is the trip hazard condition he found.

Plan of Action:

  1. Repair bottom portion of spalled joint with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™.
  2. Repair top portion of spalled joint using new Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear (MCC) colored with Davis Colors pigment to match the surrounding concrete. MCC is used because it will not change color when exposed to UV sunlight as is the case in a garden center.
  3. Finish to grade.

Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and silica sand is added to the bottom of the repair. This provides a tough  Microdoweling™ repair and seals off and moisture in the substrate.

Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear and a mixture of silica sand blended with about one teaspoon of powdered Davis Color is added to the repair.

The Roadware MatchCrete™ Clear and sand mixture is troweled in place and allowed to cure for about 45 minutes.

After curing, the surface is ground smooth and the control joint is re-sawn with a diamond blade.

 

Traffic is restored immediately.  Danny, the associate who requested the work order was, “Amazed.”

When the job has to be done quickly and correctly. Roadware Concrete Repair products are always at the ready.

Special thanks to Dave Wilson at PatchMyConcrete.com for sending this in!