After any concrete repairs or restoration, we strongly recommend having it sealed. Proper sealants and coatings keep oils, dirt, chemicals, and soils from taking a full hold in the concrete both on the surface and below it. Sealants can also protect against weather damage which may cause cracking and pitting.
Decorative Finishes
When it comes to repairing concrete, huge advances in concrete polymer technology allow us to repair concrete surfaces with confidence, even in South Carolina’s harsh freeze-thaw climate. New and Improved repair products are being introduced every day and we have made it our goal to find these products and test them in our environment, making sure we are always using the best materials available.
The ...
When it comes to repairing concrete, huge advances in concrete polymer technology allow us to repair concrete surfaces with confidence, even in South Carolina’s harsh freeze-thaw climate. New and Improved repair products are being introduced every day and we have made it our goal to find these products and test them in our environment, making sure we are always using the best materials available.
The most common of these repairs are concrete cracks and/or chipping concrete. Cracks and chips are caused by a large number of things, but they all need to be treated or repaired.
Most cracks are treated or repaired by opening up the crack a bit and then injecting a polymer / silica compound down to just over half way through the slab bonding it and sealing it up to keep out water and ice.
Chipping concrete can be repaired and resurfaced using a high pressure-acid washing procedure followed by a 1/8th in. coat of “Elite-Crete’s” polymer modified cement.
Waterproofing
Other than burning down, probably the worst thing that can happen to a residential structure is a foundation problem. The foundation is literally what the house is built on, what keeps the building where it was built, transferring the dead loads and the live loads into the ground.
The source of the vast majority of foundation problems is water. Wet soil beneath a foundation can swell or lose ...
Other than burning down, probably the worst thing that can happen to a residential structure is a foundation problem. The foundation is literally what the house is built on, what keeps the building where it was built, transferring the dead loads and the live loads into the ground.
The source of the vast majority of foundation problems is water. Wet soil beneath a foundation can swell or lose strength.
And that’s only the first reason to keep the foundation dry. Then there’s the little problem of wet damp basements and crawl spaces that can breed mold and make below-ground interior spaces generally unpleasant. The problem is that typical concrete is not waterproof. Although uncracked (and what concrete is uncracked?) it will typically keep out liquid water, water vapor can still penetrate quite easily. Keeping water drained away from concrete foundations and preventing it from moving through the concrete are essential to a successful structure.
Accomplishing our goal, then, of draining any water away and ensuring a dry interior space below grade can be relatively simple or fairly involved depending on geographic location, climate, topography, soil/water table conditions, and depth of the foundation. There are three components of any system designed to keep water out. These are, from the bottom up:
Drains to move water away from the bottom of the foundation
Wall treatment to prevent moisture from moving through the wall and to route water down to the drains
Ground surface treatment adjacent to the building to direct surface water away
And remember that since this will mostly be underground when the building is complete, doing it right the first time is critical because coming back to fix it is an expensive undertaking. A leaky foundation in a residential building can damage finishes and furnishings, even the structure itself. In a commercial building, water can ruin expensive equipment and disrupt vital work. It all adds up to lost money, wasted time, upset customers and sometimes litigation.