You see it every day when you walk to your car or get the mail. It’s embarrassing and can even be dangerous.
We are talking, of course, about the cracks in your sidewalk, walkway or driveway. Those cracks, which are caused by weather, automobiles, animals, age and just constant usage, take away from the appearance and value of your home. Sidewalk cracks may even cause serious injuries to family members and visitors.
These are common repairs and can be done correctly and efficiently with the right tools, materials and basic understanding of how concrete works. Here are the step-by-step directions to do concrete repair:
- Do a properly tamped base. Gas power tamper worksbut use a small roller.
- Make sure the reinforcement is up in the concrete and not laying on the ground. We use re-bar on high chair instead of wire mesh.
- Proper slump and don’t add too much water. A strong concrete mix is weakened with the overuse of mixing water. If you need to use a higher slump. (Get the correct ad mixture.)
- Thickness is so important! We always make our concrete driveways 6” thick.
- Proper control and expansion jointsare tooled in and are generally only an inch or so. We saw cut joints deeper the next day after the placement.
- Joints need to be at least 1/4 the thickness of the slab. We do 1/3 the thickness of the slab for control joints
- Never ever apply water during the finishing process! It weakens the surface cement/water matrixand leads to spalling surface. Please note that if you can’t finish the concrete without the use of adding surface water, you are placing too much concrete or you are short on finishers.
- Now apply a curring compound after the concrete placement finishing operations. Spray or roll on helps even in cool weather.
- When you strip forms, back-fill around the slab edges with saved soil from the excavation process. Cut and piece in sod at the disturbed areas, when possible.
- If you run into unexpected issues such as clay that is pumping and won’t tampor there are old stumps or unexpected old layers of concrete, then the concrete repairs will require the services of an experienced craftsman.
- If you end up botching the entire job, don’t fret. Just take it out and have a professional replace it
It’s a pretty involved procedure and requires a lot of detailing and no step can be skipped. Be sure you have ALL the tools and materials before you begin. Also, check the weather forecast for the day you do the repairs. Rain or storms definitely will delay your project. Make sure it is a clear day and not too cold or hot.
However, if this seems too involved or not something you’d like to tackle, then call our professional concrete repair team at M Taylor Enterprise. We can give you an estimate, send a team out to your home or business location and get the job done quickly and efficiently. Call us at (301) 649-3406 or email us at matt@mtaylorenterprise.com.
