Friday, December 7, 2012

Concrete Patio Resurfaced & Acid Stained

The most common type of concrete problems we see are cracks in the concrete and the top surface of the concrete spalling off. Spalled concrete starts of by a small crack in the concrete allowing water to penetrate deep into the concrete where it starts to rust the steel reinforcement. When the reinforcement starts to rust it produces gasses and expands and starts to shed; this is what causes the top surface of the concrete to pop off. Often you can hear a hollow sound in the concrete where it is about to spall off.


In this picture you can see where the rust from the steel was starting to spread into the top of the concrete. It is very important that water does not reach the steel embedded into the concrete. When pouring the concrete there should be 1.25" of concrete above the steel to prevent water from rusting the steel. It is also a good idea to seal the concrete with a penetrating sealer to add more protection.


If you have areas in your driveway or patio that the concrete is spalling, there is options for fixing it. The first step would be to chisel out any weak concrete and expose the steel rebar. The rebar should then be clean and any rust removed prior to placing a repair mortar.

Once all of the weak concrete is removed, a high strength repair mortar is placed into the area with a minimum thickness of 0.5". 

After the repair mortar has set, a polymer modified cement is applied to the whole concrete patio to hide the area that was repaired. This gives a nice clean surface where it can then be acid stained.

Almost any concrete surface can be repair and acid stained, as long as the sub grade of the slab is structurally sound and is not causing the concrete to uplift and move. Again, most of the problems such a areas of the concrete surface spalling off is cause by water rusting the steel reinforcement.

Please feel free to check out are website at MVL Concrete.


Spalled Area Chiseled Out
Spalled Area Chiseled Out



Area Filled With Repair Mortar
Area Filled With Repair Mortar



Concrete Patio Resurfaced & Acid Stained
Concrete Patio Resurfaced & Acid Stained






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