Victoria Television Group 3808 N. Navarro
Victoria, TX 77901
Phone: 361 575-2500
Fax: 361 575-2255
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Fixing Cracked Concrete
Written by Shawna Currie
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Most homeowners have concrete somewhere around their house - maybe a driveway, sidewalk, or even a patio out in back of the house. And, as we all know, as concrete ages, we get cracks in there. Not only are they unsightly, they can actually be dangerous. You take a crack like this - not only is it ugly, but it's actually high on this one side. Somebody could be walking down this sidewalk, trip and fall. They could even sue you.
We want to repair these cracks for a couple of reasons. Number one, we want to seal this entire crack so that water doesn't get down under here and wash out the base underneath the sidewalk. It could actually start to sink. While we're repairing it, we want to take advantage of building up this other side to keep people from tripping.
There are lots of products out there to help us fix cracks. There's powdered mixes that you can mix with water like cement and apply those. They don't bond very well to the old concrete, though, and they tend to crack out very quickly. You could actually use a caulk to fill the crack to keep the water out. However, if you've got a high spot, that's not very good for evening things out. I like using a two-part epoxy system specifically designed when you mix it up, to bond to the old concrete. And, you can build it up with layers and even things out. This stuff is real easy to work with and it's very, very fast to do a repair like this.
Don says the concrete repair kit can be found at most do-it-yourself centers or lumberyards. For more home repair ideas, visit www.homefront.com.