Date: January 1, 2010
News - Winter Care for Concrete
Concerned property owners won’t hesitate to call their concrete installer when their new pavement begins to scale after its first winter. To improve your customer’s experience and avoid receiving these calls, teach them how they can protect their new pavement during the winter months:
· Avoid applying deicing chemicals. Never use products containing ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulphate (fertilizer). These chemicals are often packaged and sold as deicers, but they will rapidly disintegrate the concrete. Application of excessive amounts of calcium or sodium chloride can cause scaling.
· Use sand for traction as a substitute for deicing chemicals.
· Don’t allow snow and ice to accumulate on the slab during the first winter—keep it cleaned off!
· After the second winter, if heavy concentrations of chloride will be used as deicers, apply a concrete sealer [link to Concrete Store] in the fall for protection.
· Hose off accumulation of salt deposited by cars on newly placed driveways and garage slabs.
Of course, as the contractor there are precautions that you can take when installing the concrete to create a durable pavement that, with proper care, will survive decades of freeze-thaw cycles without scaling and spalling:
· Make sure that the concrete is adequately air-entrained.
· Do not perform any finishing procedures while bleed water is still on the surface; delay finishing operations until all the bleed water has risen to and disappeared from the surface.
· Do not overwork the surface during finishing, as this will reduce the air content in the surface layer, making it susceptible to scaling in freezing conditions.
· Allow for sufficient curing.
· Apply a concrete sealer or water repellent to the pavement once it is reasonably dry. The ideal time for surface treatment is late summer.
Other news articles from January 2010