What to Know About Concrete Repair

Are you concerned about that unsightly concrete infrastructure? Well before going down the route of concrete building repair or concrete door sill repair, there are a few things to keep in mind. Commercial concrete repair is not as simple as it appears, so learning about a few fundamentals isn’t such a bad idea. This article covers most of the things you might need to know about commercial concrete repairs. Many homeowners are not familiar with the type of product they should use for concrete repairs. Concrete cracks can develop due to a variety of factors, including shrinkage or poor installation, mix design, inappropriate steel installation or reinforcing, water to cement ratio, and inappropriate joint design. Sometimes all you need is a concrete crack tape with high tear-resistant and for a more furnished look, consider concrete coating repair. However, on the ground, it may appear that there isn’t much to learn about concrete – after all, it’s just a basic but long-lasting construction material. But with our basic knowledge, there is a lot to know about this composite material.

Concrete is among the most widely used construction materials in the entire world, and it dates back to the ancient Egyptians. The concept is fairly simple; mix water, sand, aggregate, and cement, and allow that mixture to harden (cure) when it is poured into place. Samples of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian concrete have been found, and of course, modern concrete is harder and more reliable than any old mixtures. But still, concrete is not indestructible, and it may suffer from cracks, sagging ground, erosion, and other maintenance issues. So, concrete crack repair can be done with a kit, or slab jacking and concrete services can be hired to perform cement raising.

All About Concrete

Concrete is used for all sorts of construction jobs, since it is easy to mix and pour, and it can harden enough to endure a great deal of weight and pressure. How strong is it? Typical, average concrete has a strength of 3,000 psi or so, but some of the strongest concrete can yield an impressive strength of 20,000 psi or even more. As for uses, concrete is used everywhere from highway overpasses to building foundations to sidewalks, patios, and dams. The Hoover Dam is a marvel of concrete engineering, and parts of it are still curing. In a warehouse or other industrial zone, concrete floors can be treated with special coats and chemicals, which will smooth out the surface and increase its strength even more. This will allow heavy vehicles to drive on it without cracking it, and such treated concrete can be more easily painted on. And in other buildings, concrete is proving a popular alternative to tile or marble floors, due to its toughness (and it can be treated to look nice, too). So, concrete crack repair can be done if such materials to keep concrete in good shape and functional for a long time.

Concrete Crack Repair

Concrete is tough and long-lasting, for sure, but it will still suffer from damage from time to time. A good example of this is sidewalks and patios, or residential uses for concrete. A sidewalk will get cracked if it is warped too much, and sagging soil will have that effect on it. Too much water makes the soil sag due to weight, and the sidewalk sags along with it. This, in turn, puts cracks in the uneven concrete sidewalk, and these huge cracks and upraised sections are unsightly, not to mention a tripping hazard. The same might happen to a concrete patio.

For small cracks in a sidewalk or patio, a homeowner can purchase a concrete crack repair kit from a local hardware store, and get to work. This kit will come with the right fluids to inject into the cracks, which will flow through the material with capillary action. Thin and shallow cracks can then be filled up, making for a smooth and flawless surface.

But as for concrete or cement lifting, such concrete crack repair calls for professional help. Hired crews will arrive with a pump machine that will go under the sagging concrete, and inject materials that expand and lift up the sagged concrete sections. This restores the shape of the concrete and fixes the large cracks. In decades past, in the early 1900s, a more primitive method known as mudjacking was used, but modern methods are faster and minimally invasive. Some methods use a particular material that will cure very fast, and allow the sidewalk to be used again relatively quickly. It should be noted, though, that a concrete patio that is connected to the house cannot be uplifted in this manner.

Finding these concrete crack repair services may be as simple as conducting an online search, such as “concrete crack repair Portland OR” and finding the websites of local companies. The homeowner can compare a few of them and hire one that is to their liking.