All the expansion joint boards in my driveway and patio seams have rotted away. The builder origianlly used cedar and the Houston climate ate then away within 15 years.
I have seen stuff available to commercial builders for filling the cracks. Comes in 5 gallon cans and is poured into the cracks. It’s self leveling and sets up in a day or two. I seem to remember that it was pretty dark in color.
I tried some stuff from Home Depot and it was next to worthless. Don’t remember now what it was but it was light grey in color.
Anyone know what I’m talking about and where I can get it??
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
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The most common joint in concrete is the ones they use for pool decks, see a pool supply company. Maybe the gray stuff you used did not work because it was installed wrong. Wrong being you filled the crack without the propr backer cord.
The "rubber" poured in a unprepaired crack will have a cross-section shape of a square or rectangle. The rubber will pull away from its sides because it wont stretch. A backer cord makes the rubber shaped like and upside down suspension bridge and is slippery so the rubber does not stick to the cord. So when the joint opens and closes, the rubber will stretch in the middle without out pulling away from the sides
Different location (New England), similar problem. What can I use to fill a crack that opened up in my driveway? The road repair crews use something hot, but no idea whether it is available in small quantities.
Pete
Sungod -
I used a backer cord but the HD stuff didn't level well and now has cracks about ever 4". After a day or two it set hard as the concrete. Was a water based material. I followed the instructions well on the packaging. I only did a couple of seams with it before running out.
The commercial stuff I saw was being applied on the driveway outside of where I used to work. Was real dark and stayed somewhat flexible after curing. It too was a water based product. It was being applied from a tank on the back of a truck using a hose with a nozzle. From the appearance, I would say that it contained fibers of some sort. They had cleaned the cracks out and did not use any backer; they just filled the crack up completely with the material.
What about using high density Poly foam? After it sets up, it can be trimmed off and it will turn a dark brown when it ages. I'm in Houston so we don't get temperature extremes. It rarely gets below freezing. About 95 is the average hottest day.
I'm just wondering what the commercially available products (what the pro's use) might be. Looking for terminology too.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood