EPOXY INJECTION - COMMERCIAL CRACK REPAIRS

Repair cracked concrete slabs, load bearing beams, and foundations from the inside out with Epoxy Injection by AmeriSeal and Restoration

  Concrete is one of the best materials mankind has ever created, its a simple mixture of sand and other small stones, with a binder, such as lime, that cures and hardens to hold everything together.  Its a bit more complex than that, but know that concrete is an aggregate, meaning it is composed of many smaller sized separate elements. 

  Concrete is fantastic because it is long lasting, durable, and able to be poured just about anywhere.  In Ohio its used for roads, bridges, walkways, and buildings.  Concrete has been used in other places for off-the-wall ideas, 3D printing buildings, barns, and even homes.  Its a versatile material that is used just about everywhere in the commercial space.  Its an expensive material, but well worth the investment because the 'pros' definetly outweigh the 'cons'.

  But concrete is not indestructible - It expands and contracts when temperatures change during hot Ohio summers and frozen Ohio winters.  Concrete can succumb to the freeze-thaw cycle (a vicious circle of damage that happens when water enters micro-cracks and freezes overnight, expanding as ice inside the crack and making the crack larger, then remelts during warmer daytime hours).  As this cycle keeps repeating, larger cracks form and even chunks of concrete will begin to fall or chip off. 

Epoxy injection was designed to repair concrete and wood, forming an excellent bond with a higher strength than the original materials.  When operating commercially, Epoxy Injection is a process left to the professionals, this is more than a crack in a driveway! - The process must meet current building codes, and regulations, as well as look good at the end.  But who are these professionals that apply epoxy injection so well? 

What do you do when there is a large crack or void in your expensive concrete building, foundation, wooden beam, or retaining wall?  - Give Ameriseal a call!

  You hire a professional, like Ameriseal and Restoration, who specializes in Epoxy Injection, which will repair cracks so well that they perform better than the original!  Ameriseal and Restoration can repair any sized crack in your concrete, load bearing beam, or foundation, from small surface cracks to large holes and voids inside of structural systems.  We can repair concrete on any type and structure, whether foundational, supportive, or simply for the aesthetic. 

  Ameriseal will explore the crack in your concrete, using devices that produce sound waves of different tones.  This allows us to map out where the crack is, by reverberation of sound, and to be sure to drill in the correct spots to completely fill the crack in the concrete with epoxy resin.  If you're in the Akron area, we're just down the road, and we repair concrete and wood by epoxy injection all over Ohio.  We have worked in cities both large and small, all over Ohio, in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and everywhere in between!

Epoxy Injection - Concrete void and crack repair by Ameriseal and Restoration

The set up for epoxy injection

  It begins with mapping out the area of cracked concrete, like we began above, we start by mapping out the crack using devices that give a tonal response based on the depth of the void.  We mark these areas with paint so that the accuracy is not lost, even if the job needs to continue into the next few days.  The areas marked will bracket the crack on either side, drilling right into the void could cause even more cracking and destroy the 'map' we previously marked out.

  Once we have the void scanned and our drilling areas marked around the crack, we clean out any loose particles from the crack with an air compressor.  Then we drill into the concrete at the marked points.  We use specialized drill bits that are unique, just for this purpose. They are vented so that a vacuum attachment takes care of loose stone and any other debris caused by the drilling.

  Now that the holes are drilled, its time to tap the surface ports into all of the holes. Surface ports are plastic tubes that we use to guide the epoxy resin deep into the crack in the concrete.  They may have a metal ring on them, this is used after injecting into that port to close it off.  The ring is crimped but the port remains in place to maintain the pressure of the epoxy in the crack.  A crimped port is not reusable, however there are caps that are temporary plugs and will allow more epoxy to be injected into the same port at a later time should it be required.  Epoxy will bond to itself well, so there is no cause for worry when needing to inject more here and there.

The epoxy injection process

  Epoxy has excellent tensile and compressive strength, stronger than the concrete itself.  Its adhesive abilities are perfect for use inside concrete voids to fully restore the structure.  Epoxy resin is actually two different materials that, when mixed, create a chemical reaction and harden. 

  These chemicals are separately pumped from barrels in our Ameriseal and Restoration van and mixed at the last moment, so that the reaction begins inside of the concrete immediately.  Epoxy does not expand, so the team must give careful attention to be sure that each surface port is filled to the brim and that there is no air left inside of the cracked concrete. 

  The technician will work from the bottom up when injecting the epoxy resin, this allows gravity to help us fill all of the tiny cracks and voids inside of the larger hole as well as pushing any air up and out of the ports that have not yet been filled.  This will completely seal up the void in the concrete, preventing water from entering again and restoring the integrity to the structure. 

  During the process of filling the concrete crack with epoxy, we will periodically perform the acoustic test, to know where our epoxy is under the surface of the concrete.

*This is the use case for the reusable capped surface ports instead of the clamped surface ports. We can continue to pump in epoxy even if the previous application has cured, because epoxy resin bonds well to itself, but we need to use the cap system instead of the clamp.*

  After all of the surface ports are full, i.e. slowly leaking out epoxy, and the last one is capped off, the epoxy is allowed to cure.  There are two curing phases, the initial cure and the final cure.  During the initial cure the epoxy is a sort of gel, not quite solid or liquid.  This is when traction agents are added, if the epoxy is being used to cure a road, bridge, or drive way.  The epoxy can be dented at this point by a tool or fingernail.

  After the final cure, the material is fully complete with its chemical reaction and is harder than the concrete it helped repair.  It will not be easily dented or scratched.  The surface ports are cut off at the surface of the concrete, and the area is declared fit and safe.  Water will not be able to enter the concrete again from this sealed off area and the life of the concrete will be extended.