New concrete going to crap

[Metalhead Matt]

My parents bought a house about 5 years ago and poured new patios and side walks. I was working out of town at the time so I don't have many details about what went on. I know it was in the mid 30's outside at the time. The problem is that the finish is chipping away very badly. Obviously the higher traffic areas, where most of the salt and shoveling happens, is worse than the rest. It's flaking away real bad, and if it gets bad enough, I'll be the one busting it out for replacement. Does anybody know if there's a coating that would help slow this down? Would sealing it help? At the last house, we did all the concrete work ourselves(uncle's a finisher) and it held up flawlessly for the 10 years we lived there. What the hell would cause this? Thanks as always.

 

[slowngreen]

Yeah salt is real bad for it. I'm pretty sure you can still seal it to help it from getting worse fast. Not sure on specific brands of anything though.

 

[Metalhead Matt]

I've been telling them to bring me some sealer home for the last 3 years. Figured it couldn't hurt. Kinda figured that any indoor epoxy coating would be slicker than snail snot. Not sure how traction additives would hold up to the elements either. It still doesn't look too bad. I'm getting some sealer on it asap.

 

[bergoff]

If its not finished right it will chip off just like you are having happen. I use pot ash on my step and it doesn't hurt them at all.

I would try to seal it when it gets warmer. They do make some cement floor epoxy that holds up really well. I used it at my mother-inlaws house in the garage and basement before she sold the house. The garage was finished so smooth when it got wet you would break your neck. It added alittle traction and looked nice.

 

[Metalhead Matt]

I was just informed that it was finished in a big hurry. Guess it was setting up quite fast. Might have something to do with it. I'll roll some sealer on this spring and I guess next winter will tell the tale. Thanks for the reply's fellows.

 

[Rolex]

Find out if the guys that did it were licensed contractors. Certain anti-freeze agents need to be added to slow down the curing without the water freezing. Curing concrete is a chemical reaction and gives off heat.
If it's too cold the reaction won't cure it properly, and that's what you're dealing with now.
There's no way salting would cause the kind of flaking you're talking about.

 

[HPI-Killer]

Find out if the guys that did it were licensed contractors. Certain anti-freeze agents need to be added to slow down the curing without the water freezing. Curing concrete is a chemical reaction and gives off heat.
If it's too cold the reaction won't cure it properly, and that's what you're dealing with now.
There's no way salting would cause the kind of flaking you're talking about.

+1, When I did construction we had the same problem, pouring the crete in cold whether w/o covering it after with concrete blankets and having the concrete to "soupy" played a big part in it as well, sealing it wont do much but a temp fix, there was not much that could be done after that except for re-finishing the crete and re-layering it:\ Also depending on when it was poured, winter time it probably froze due to like I said not covering it and summer or warmer times it could be caused by a process called "gandi" or patting the wet concrete with a patting style tool pushing the rocks down and bringing the soupy sandy mix to the surface. Or just plain bad concrete, it will be cheaper in the long run to tear it out and re-pour as opposed to re-finishing it :S

 

[Metalhead Matt]

Thanks for the replies fellows. We'll walk on it until we hit sand before tearing it out.

 

[hamz9561]

Salt does cause pits and divots to appear in unfinished concrete.

 

[HPI-Killer]

Salt does cause pits and divots to appear in unfinished concrete.

Never heard of that before, broom,smooth or stamped finish is all I know of, not sure what unfinished is and never had a salt problem
Dont know why youd mag concrete and not finish it on a walking surface if this is what you mean by unfinished

 

[hamz9561]

Unfinished means a concrete surface that is not sealed or properly broomed, etc.