When it comes to grouting or concrete repair, everyone knows that the mixing determines your pace. Conventional mixers, required mixing times and basic packaging all combine to slow your production during installation. Let’s face it, you can only mix so much so fast in a conventional mortar mixer.

If your project is going to require a lot of material to be placed in a short time, you’ll have to mix more and faster to get it done within the owner’s schedule and still make money. There are other options available. The question from most contractors is, “Can we do it?”. In this article, you’ll learn about unique equipment and special packaging that will give you options you hadn’t considered before.

Traditionally. Grouts and concrete repair mortars are purchased in 50lb bags and broken into a mortar mixer to be mixed 3-5 bags at a time. Workers have to handle every bag getting it to the mixer and then they have to handle

You’re comfortable doing the minor repairs yourself and you’ve gotten good at it. But this overlay of a large area has your confidence dropping and you’re not sure your people can do it. At what point should you consider hiring a contractor?

1. Consider the ability of your people.

How do you feel about your teams ability to do this? Could they work with these materials for longer periods of time? Are they skilled enough for this application?

2. How much time do you have?

Will having this area back in service quickly be critical? Can you pull your people off their already tight schedule to do this yourself?

3. What’s the risk?

If you self-perform and you get in over your head, how much more will it cost in dollars and reputation to get it re-done in the end?

4. Consider your budget.

You may not be able to afford a contractor. You may have to consider breaking the area up into bite size pieces and do it as you have time.

If

It’s hard to believe that it makes sense to “repair” a slab with extensive and continuous damage. If you’re thinking about a conventional “patch job”, you’re right. You’d never be able to justify the time for prep on dozens or even hundreds of small areas much less apply the repair in small doses. You don’t need to repair this slab, you need to “resurface” it.

Resurfacing is a way to make many repairs at once. It allows you to restore the slab without all of the detailed work of a smaller repair. Of course, you’ll need to consider a new class of materials to get it done. The good news is that most of these materials are as easy to apply as the patching items you’ve read about in previous emails.

Take a look at a guide to selection of the right resurfacing material for your problem slab.

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Sometimes you just don’t have the time to repair your floors and keep up with your production schedule. Especially if the damage is extensive and spread over a larger area than what you’d “patch” on a regular basis. In most cases, it’s more cost and time effective to repair rather than replace if the damage is localized.

While making these larger repairs may seem more difficult, it’s almost easier to address provided you use the right materials and can prepare the area without needing to rent any equipment.

Take a look at this step-by-step guide for a common large repair with epoxy mortar.

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Your concrete takes a beating every day. The traffic, the dropped tools, the dragged pallets, they have your floors under constant attack. The result is seen in a wide range of damage. Some areas have minor spalling or chipping, some have scrapes and grooves and others may have significant damage. Unfortunately, there’s no one size fits all repair for all of these.

Make sure you match the right repair material and method with each repair. You’ll have to use a couple of different materials. But, the repairs will last.

Check out our guide to repair materials and methods to find the right combination for your situation.

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All those little chips in your floor joints weren’t a big deal at first. Now after years of traffic impact, they have gotten larger and now you have to address them. The rough travel is killing your forklifts but you don’t feel like you can shutdown traffic for an extensive repair. The truth is, if you have 4 hours at night or on a weekend, you can fix it permanently.

Check out a step-by-step guide to extensive joint repairs and do it yourself.

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You’ve noticed that the joints in your higher traffic areas look like they’re getting wider. The edges of the concrete seem to be “chipping away.”

Now is the time to prevent any further damage to these joints. Afterall, you need the concrete floors in your plant to be in shape to support your operations for a long time and you can’t afford to replace them. Unfortunately, this is a common problem. Most concrete floors are left with joints that are open because the conventional wisdom is that these joints are small and not really affected by large rubber forklift tires. There’s also the fact that the cost of filling all of the joints is just not worth it. There’s just too many feet to fill.

Now that you’re in operation, you have established traffic patterns and that means some joints will get the brunt of the traffic related damage. The open joints allow for the force of the lift in motion to impact the corner of the joint. This is visible in

“Fixing small cracks in the concrete didn’t seem to be worth the effort. I mean, they’re just cracks. What real harm could they do?”

Now those small cracks are wide enough to cause issues. You’re having to put down steel or plywood to cover areas to prevent tripping. Maybe you even have to re-route your traffic to reduce the potential damage to forklifts.

You don’t have to improvise or just make do when you address this very common problem. The truth is, you can restore these areas without the down time or inconvenience you assume you’ll suffer and it won’t cost you as much as you think. The materials you’ll need are as advanced as all of the tools you use for your manufacturing process. They allow for application in all sorts of conditions and are fast setting to take traffic in a snap. Plus the need for unique tools is zero and you can easily get the info on how to do it yourself.

Get the guide to addressing cracks larger than 1/8” here.

“Concrete Cracks. It’s Really Not a Big Deal.”

Of course, concrete cracks. We all know it. But like most problems, it only gets worse if you don’t address it. If you have a bearing on the brink, worn belt or broken sprocket, you’d change it to prevent any potential damage or failure that might lead to lost production time. Unfortunately, the plant infrastructure doesn’t always get the same attention or elicit the same response.

It takes a long time for a crack to become a problem. Looks like there’s nothing happening. That’s why these cracks are discounted and are left to run their course. Eventually some leading to damaged finished products, slab undermining, environmental concerns or even safety issues. Taking just a little time and very little material, you can address these cracks while they’re small and extend the life of your plant’s support system in the process.

Take a look at our Step-By-Step guide to fixing these small cracks.

Discovered damage in your pit or chest linings? Regular inspections are key to planning work for mill outages. Once you’ve made an assessment, you have an idea of what you’ll need to plan for on the schedule and for your budget. Most people still wait to perform the repairs and assume the damage will have progressed by the outage.

Why not make the temporary repairs during the inspection? It could slow or prevent any additional damage that might continue to progress until your planned project date.

Take a look at some options that will keep the surprises at a minimum when you open up that chest or pit down the road.

Chest and pit lining repair products: