Cracks in concrete can be a real pain to deal with, especially if you have to look at them every day. They are unsightly and can also cause problems for the foundation of your home. Luckily, there are a few ways that you can repair those pesky cracks, so they’re not an eyesore anymore! In order to increase the strength and durability of concrete members that have been damaged, they must be repaired for small and large cracks and for crushed concrete. In this blog post, we will teach you how to repair any type of cracks in concrete and make sure they don’t come back again!
Method to repair Small Cracks
Structures that are reinforced with concrete and masonry are dramatically reduced in strength by small or medium cracks. In order to restore the structural integrity of members, cracks such as these must be repaired says concrete repair Fredericton. Concrete members with small and medium cracks are repaired by first marking out critically damaged areas. You can provide jacketing over the cracks or inject chemical grouts to repair them.
Epoxy pressure injection can be used to effectively fix cracks under 0.70 mm in width. A thorough cleaning of the member’s surface near cracks is performed. As an injection port is placed every inch along the crack, loose material is removed, and the crack length is equaled to the thickness of the structural member. Both ports are positioned on the member’s outside and are secured in place with an epoxy sealant. One port at a time is injected with the low viscosity resin after the epoxy seal has hardened. The process begins with the lowest level port and is repeated up to the top. As the resin drips out of the adjacent port or from another side of the member, the process is repeated until the resin flows out of the adjacent port. The injection is then continued from the adjacent port after the current injection port is closed.
Injection grouting
The grout is applied in order until all the cracks and openings are filled. You can use this method for any structural members, such as columns, beams, slabs and walls. A similar method may also be used to restore individual masonry blocks that have small cracks or to repair large cracks in masonry walls.
Large Cracks Repairing
Neither pressure injection nor grouting can fix large cracks or masonry structures. If the crack is large or crushed concrete is present, the following procedures shall be followed:
- All loose materials are removed from cracks or crushed concrete surfaces. A quick-setting cement mortar grout is then applied to these.
- The cracks can be dressed with a V groove on either side of the member for easy deployment of grout if they are large.
- The materials used for filling large cracks can include stone chips.
- Depending on the severity of the damage, additional reinforcements and shear reinforcements may be needed. By using polymer mortar or epoxy coatings, these reinforcements can be protected from corrosion. If you would like to know more about epoxy flooring check out Policrete.
- In cases where walls or roofs are damaged, a mesh is added to one side or both sides of the members. There should be sufficient ties between this mesh and existing members.