Concrete Repair in Syracuse: Driveways, Aprons, Steps and Slabs

Have the damage graded before you hear a number. NRMCA grades scaling by how much surface has gone: light scaling does not expose the coarse aggregate, moderate scaling exposes it and can involve the loss of an eighth to three eighths of an inch of surface mortar, and in severe scaling more has gone and the stone clearly stands out. Light scaling is a cosmetic issue and may not need repairing at all. Light to moderate can be repaired, though the repair material will not match the color of the original concrete, so anyone promising an invisible patch is promising something the material cannot do. Excessive and progressing scaling is a replacement, because an overlay laid over failing concrete fails along with it. A quote that reaches a price without telling you which of those three you have skipped the only step that mattered.

Because of what went into it and when it went in. NRMCA lists the causes of most scaling and five of the six are decisions taken on the day: too little entrained air, especially at the surface, low strength concrete that lets water permeate, an improper mixture for the application, poor finishing, and insufficient curing leaving a weak surface. Only the sixth, de-icer, is what happens afterwards. Concrete that gets wet, freezes and has de-icing chemicals applied to it sits at the severe end of the freezing and thawing exposure classes, and the specification that end asks for is not what an ordinary patch usually gets. Nothing about your last repair had to fail. It failed for reasons that are on a delivery ticket and a calendar, and both are things you can ask for this time.

Four things, and all four are checkable against the delivery ticket rather than taken on trust. NRMCA's guidance for concrete that will be continuously moist, exposed to freezing and subject to de-icing chemicals is 4,000 psi, consistent with ACI 332, the code for residential concrete, with a total air content of 6 percent for 3/4 inch or 1 inch coarse aggregate, a slump of 3 to 5 inches, and no extra water added at the jobsite. That last one is the one given away for an easier pour. For steps, porch slabs and garage floors, Table R402.2 of the Residential Code of New York State sets the strength by the weathering designation your municipality has entered, and its footnote requires total air of not less than 5 and not more than 7 percent by volume. Respectable sources put the strength figure in different places, so the useful question is what exposure class the mix was designed for, not a number on its own.

It decides whether the work holds. Under ACI 306R-16 cold weather concreting conditions exist when the air temperature has fallen to, or is expected to fall below, 40F during the protection period, and for normal-set concrete that period is 2 days with no load and not exposed, 3 days with no load and exposed, and 6 days partially loaded and exposed. So the question is never whether the afternoon is mild, it is what the nights afterwards do. Syracuse has 186.3 nights a year at or below 40F, 13.9 of them in October and 24.2 in November, and the median date of the first fall freeze is October 14. NRMCA's own scaling guidance names late season placement as a cause of the failure rather than a scheduling nuisance. Spring and summer are the honest recommendation. A late date is not impossible, but it needs blankets, a warmer mix and a longer protection period priced in from the start rather than discovered.

Not in the first winter, and not in November. NRMCA's rule is to avoid de-icing chemicals in the first winter and use them in moderate amounts after that, using clean sand for traction on new concrete instead. A bag of sand costs less than a bag of salt and it is the difference between a slab that lasts and one that starts shedding in year two. The other half matters as much: calcium chloride and rock salt are considered acceptable for concrete, while ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and magnesium-based salts should never be used, because they are chemically aggressive and destroy concrete surfaces. Magnesium is what gets spread on roads ahead of snow, and it reaches your slab on your own tires whether you bought any or not. On sealing, NRMCA points to a breathable silane or siloxane product on reasonably dry concrete and names late summer, after a few dry days, as the ideal time. Anyone offering to seal the week before the first snow is offering the wrong job in the wrong month.

An independent contractor does. We take the details, work out which of the five jobs on this site you are in, and hand it to a licensed, insured contractor who covers your town. They survey it, they quote you, they invoice you, and your contract is with them, which New York requires in writing for any home improvement above five hundred dollars, with three business days to cancel written into it. Telling a city homeowner that the public sidewalk is the city's to replace costs us the booking and is still the right answer, which is why it is on this page rather than buried three clicks down.