Tag Archives: concrete crack repair

Home and Garden, Home Improvement

4 Tips for Maintenance of Concrete Surfaces

Buying a home or a business means being responsible for the maintenance and safety of the property. From the pool sides to the patios, from sidewalks to driveways there includes a lot of cement surfaces around the property that should be properly maintained in today’s world. There are few maintenance tips that will keep the slabs looking good and functioning so sound. So here are 4 tips for maintenance of concrete surfaces:

  1. Annual Cleaning: Never fool oneself by thinking that rain water alone is not enough to clean the cement surfaces. We all know that rain water unfortunately do not cut through grease and grime that generally accumulate on the slabs. A good cleaning with a mild detergent power washer and a push broom at least once in a year that will help in staining and discolouration at bay. This is a principle foundation in maintaining the concrete slabs.
  2. Application of Sealant: After proper scrubbing and drying, applying a quality sealant to the surface of the slab which will provide the vital UV protection and a protective barrier against the damaged surface. Sealant can also aid in repelling water providing a much needed defence against the elements. There includes different types of sealant in the market that are usually located by the concrete repair products at the local home improvement store.
  3. Expansion Joint Maintenance: As one involved themselves in the process of cleaning and inspecting the patios, driveways and other surfaces never forget to check the expansion joints. Damaged expansion joints may prove hazardous to the integrity of the cement slab which allows the water to seep beneath it and to contribute in aspect of settling. If any kind of cracks is being noticed then it’s better to review the expansion joint maintenance.
  4. Routine Monitoring: For another important component of concrete slab maintenance, regular inspection and monitoring the surfaces in the proactive way to catch and repair minor cracks before it becomes large enough that result in large and huge setting problems. If anyone gets any crack or separations  that one can think it very severe for retail concrete repair products then it’s advisable to contact the team members for the repair and services.  A lot of them can go into maintain the concrete services and keeping them in neat and cleaned shape. Even the best efforts cannot prevent the cracking and sinking cement slabs.

The original concept of mud jacking has been combined with the recent concepts and the modern technology to improve its advanced skills. Traditional mud jacking uses a heavier fill as a levelling compound and requires a larger quantity with bigger injection holes in it. Tilted concrete solutions meet the expert concrete levellers. The inspection of the foundation or concrete slab and provide an estimate to sunken concrete slab lifted.

Home and Garden, Home Improvement

DIY Ideas: Paint a Concrete Floor to Resemble Tiles

All people in their lives thought about how their dream house would look like. People need not have to go to some other places during their vacations or holidays to enjoy places of their wishes for cozy living room. Rather they can design their permanent living places properly with beautiful paintings of the house along with the colorful concrete floors. The ceiling of a small apartment can be painted with an attractive color or wallpapers can be used to make it feel bigger as the eyes always draw towards upwards but painted floors can make the guests to look downwards in the first entry only. The painting in the walls and floors of the rooms are to be done with a light color as light colors reflect light instead of absorbing it.

The interior of the living room has to be well designed then only the room will give an amazing appearance. The room should be well decorated not only with a mid-century sofa set or a sectional sofa, a TV set, flower vases with beautiful colored flowers but also with proper paintings with a bold color which should be balanced with the outside views.

The floor of a room that is having small area can be designed with wider timber boards. The tiles of a small room should be of large size as larger tiles avoid the feelings of cramped areas. The floors tiles of lighter colors are to be chosen for a small area as it will give a huger appearance to the small room. Plank hardwood floors which are having a measurement of 5” can be used instead of strips floorings to give a bigger look to a small area. The plank boards can be laid parallel to the longest walls of the room. The floors are to be laid diagonally give a bigger look to the room. The adjacent spaces in the room should be joined with flooring made up of same materials.

But if one can give a resemblance of tiles in the concrete floor by just painting it beautifully then the floor will look much more attractive than that after applying tiles. When the floor will be painted with some gorgeous designs in attractive colors then all eyes will surely move towards the floor than any other place of the room after entering the house.

The concrete floors need to be scrubbed properly with trisodium-phosphate (TSP) and a scrub brush that is stiff-bristle in nature. One needs to scrub the debris, heavy traffic areas and stains to remove them. The concrete floor should be well rinsed with fresh water so that there should be no presence of TSP. The concrete floor needs to be leave for some time for complete drying. A coat of primer is to be rolled on from the furthest corner from the door and then without leaving any puddles, visible lines or drips across the room as the paintings will be done. Then the primer on the floor needs to be dried and after that a second coating can be applied. The concrete is to leave for 24 hours to complete cure.

The center of the floor need to be marked and the side lengths of the concrete are to be measured. If the slabs are to be painted then the center of the walls are to be marked on the floor. A chalk line can then be snapped in between the two made marks. Then the same process is to be repeated for the opposite side wall sets. The two lines that are made should intersect at the center and then the concrete floor repair is to be divided into four quadrants. The tile stencils are to be lined up at their intersection by the help of chalk lines. The paint is to be prevented from seeping underneath by securely taping it in place and the paint should remain tight to the floor.

A paint brush is needed for painting over the stencil and for creating a cross-hatched like pattern that will resemble like textured tiles, one need to drag the paint brush in horizontal way and then in vertical way. The paint is to be dabbed on the floor for the resemblance of natural stone tiles. The paint is to be smoothed out that will leave no visual marks or lines that will give the resemblance of porcelain or glazed ceramic or tiles. The tape is to be peeled from the concrete and then the stencil is to be lifted carefully. The edge of the stencil is to be lined up by the help of painted tiles and it is to be keeping in mind that the paint should not be touched so one need to be careful. The stencil is to be tapped down on the three sides by carefully avoiding the painted tile. The paint is to be applied just in the same way like the first time. The stencil is to be moved continuously and the painting should be continued until one row of the quadrant is to be finished. A new row is to be started at the wall by lining up the tiles that is in the stencil with the already painted tiles that is present on the floor. The stencil is to be tapped in place by avoiding the tiles that are painted. The second row needs to be completed just like the first time; the two sides of the stencil are tapped down each time one will move it for avoiding tiles that are previously painted. The paint is to be left for drying and then the process needs to be repeated for the next quadrant and again the process should be repeated with the third and the last quadrant in the same way. At last the floor is to be kept for 24 hours to dry. Stirring is needed by mixing the different parts of the epoxy sealer. After proper mixing of the ingredients, the stirring should be done in slip-resistance particles or in any texture. The sealer sitting is to be left for 30 minutes. Then it is to be poured into a well having paint roller tray. The epoxy sealer is to be rolled onto the concrete floor in an east to west direction. The sealer is too dried after six hours and then the mixing and rolling will be done in another second coating in north to south direction. The epoxy is to be leave for 24 hours for curing before any interaction again with the concrete.

Therefore it is a new trend to decorate the concrete floor of house by painting. This will increase the beauty of the house. It can somehow decrease the cost of tiles repairing from time to time.