Fix Dangerous Concrete Problems Around Your Home If you have a driveway or sidewalk with cracked, crumbling and broken concrete you'll want to address that problem sooner rather than later. Not only are they ugly to see, they can be dangerous for walkers and bikers. In most areas even though the city owns the land the sidewalk sits on, you are responsible for your own repairs and could be sued if anyone was hurt. The biggest causes of damage are when the ground beneath the concrete moves, either heaving or settling, which is usually brought on due to extreme weather situations like excess ground frost, water freezing and melting underneath, or even a tree root growing beneath that finally gets big enough to move the concrete. Once you have an opening in the cement it invites more water seepage to occur which just accelerates the problem. You can do a quick patch job with patching compounds, but these are not designed to be permanent. You'll only temporarily fix the problem, but it still needs a more long term solution. Usually this means ripping out the existing concrete and pouring new.
If the problem was causes by something growing underneath the area, be sure to take care of that problem before you pour the new sidewalk. Otherwise you'll have the same problem again in a few years. If the foundation beneath is problematic, consult with a soil engineer to see if there's something you can put beneath it to provide a better bed for the concrete to prevent these cracks and broken areas from happening again. You could even install steel rebar or some other metal grid in the concrete to help strengthen it. If the crack isn't serious and truly does just need a patch job you can use a latex concrete patching mixture. They come premixed or as a powder that needs water. To do this you want to take out any loose pieces, pour in the patch compound, smooth finish with a concrete trowel and let dry.
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