HELP!

The Concrete Cement Patch, Grout and Repair Page

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Paul Oman, MS, MBA - Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.

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I am constantly getting calls and catalogs from suppliers wanting me to add their epoxy repair kits for fixing cracks, potholes, etc. in concrete. I am often tempted, but have always stopped short. Most of these products contain a lot of sand, and that sand is heavy to ship to us and for us to ship to you. Basically, it's cheaper and easier to make our own epoxy patching product using nearly any of our epoxies and lots of sand mixed in. Our Basic No Blush is our least expensive epoxy and a good starting point. Any of our pigmented epoxy paints will also work and the epoxies we offer that can be applied underwater (also in our epoxy paint section) will work too, even in water filled cracks and holes.

Concrete patching products

(note: I am using cement and concrete as one and the same thing, however they are technically different)

Most non-epoxy concrete patching repair products are some sort of cement. Generally they cannot be feathered out and often have to be at applied least 2 inches thick. I had one call recently with someone that 'leveled' his garage with a thin layer of cement over the existing slab. It was all popping off. If you do use some sort of cement type patching product, make sure you can put it on thin. Also note that it might require up to 30 days to dry or cure before you can paint it.

The above shortcomings are why epoxies are often used instead to patch concrete. Epoxies will generally be hard overnight (some in a few hours). They bond extremely well and can be paint layer thick or inches thick. The downside is that cement is cheap, epoxies are not. Hence you don't use epoxy to level an uneven cement slab - way to expensive!

Do it yourself -

Generally the process (and all the epoxy repair products) consist of a low cost epoxy and lots of sand, fibers, or some other sort of dense fillers and thickeners, plus some pigment coloring.

For cracks or deep holes we suggest you fill them with sand to within about a half inch to one inch from the surface, then fill completely with a sand mixed with epoxy slurry. That's it. For thin cracks just use the epoxy and pour it into the crack.

As a starting point guide, use our Epoxy mortar patch. (use for runway remediation - potholes, spalling in cement floors etc.) Mix about 10 pounds of sand with 1 gallon of this epoxy (15 pounds of sand for this 1.5 gal kit) and use to patch holes and chips in concrete. The sand will increase the amount of product by about 70% and make a trowelable product. Patch will be hard in 2-4 hours. (note: the addition of the sand is optional). Will work in even underwater! Use less sand and pour into holes or underwater. NOTE: 1 gallon of anything is 231 cubic inches - a gallon of anything spread 1/4 inch will cover 6.2 square feet.

Warnings

It is important to know that will epoxy will fill a crack or hole, it may not solve what caused the problem. If the under surface is unstable the cement will crack again, near, through, or along the edge of the epoxy repair. DO NOT FILL OR SEAL EXPANSION JOINTS!!! Fill these in and topcoat with epoxy and when expansion occurs the topcoat epoxy will pop off in sheets. Epoxy will not stop normal expansion and contraction. Something must move and give - you cannot prevent it and if you try you will be sorry.