Basics of concrete restoration

Helping you learn Basics of concrete restoration.

A common problem people experience with concrete is cracks. Cracks can be caused by a number of different reasons, but they always need to be repaired. Before you do anything, take care of safety precautions. Wear eye protection, and you’ll probably want some kind of hand protection as well.

The first step to repairing a large crack is to remove the damaged concrete. With a hammer and chisel, carefully chip away the damaged concrete, where it is crumbling and disintegrating to a depth of about an inch.

When you’ve done this, you want to “Undercut” the edges of the area needing repair. To do this, you widen the bottom of the hole, but not the top, so the inside walls are slanting inward as they go up.

Now remove all of the debris and rubble from the area needing repair, and keep moist. Let water drip into the hole overnight, or sprinkle some in manually every few hours over the course of an entire day.

The next step requires product. Mix some cement a little thick, so that it takes the form more like a paste or a gel then a liquid. (Generally 3 parts cement to 1 part water, or there about) and set this aside. Mix a little more cement, but a little thinner this time, but still heavy enough to coat a surface and coat the inside edges, the walls of the hole. This part needs to be done as quickly as possible, while still doing it properly. The cement needs to be applied before it dries.

The next step is to fill it. Use the cement paste you mixed and fill the crack.

Next, you should let it set for a couple of hours. After that, cover it with plastic wrap and moisten it a couple times a day for a week. This is called curing the cement.

Simple as that, you’ve repaired a crack in your cement.

Concrete repair information | Other home repair information | Terms Of Use | Resources