Been asked to quote on repairing concrete bollards at a bank. Three have been backed into by cars, and one has been knocked off its base. Material appears to be a pre-cast concrete, very fine texture. Does not look like iot has been rubbed because there appears to be a mold make on one of the corners. Any suggesstions as to what to use? They are not painted, so the repair has to look pretty good. One thought is to glue the pieces back together with epoxy, but one of the damaged areas is a pretty good size chip and the pieces are gone. Color is actually a light tan. Size is about 18″ sq and 36″ high. Four pieces, each side identical, and the top lifts off, about a hundred pounds.
Do it right, or do it twice.
Edited 10/16/2003 8:20:33 PM ET by ELCID72
Replies
Ok, well, thanks for all the ideas :) The customer has approved a patch and paint repair, so the original precast finish doesn't have to be replicated.
New question...I am considering using Bondo for the patches. Will that work, or is there something better? West Epoxy maybe? Never used it. The patches will be outside, but sealed with paint.
Do it right, or do it twice.
The paint is probrably a good thing; saves you from color matching. We used to "bag" pieces that needed fixing (pinholes, minor cracks). We id'd the color (we had 6 or so stock colors), got some of the mix (minus the coarse aggragate), mixed it up and rubbed it in. Some use wet/damp burlap; hence the term "bagging". If done right, the repairs are almost undetectable. Matching color can be a pain.
The bank or the owner of the building would have the original plans and specs along with the list of suppliers. The pre-cast on the building if any would have been supplied by the same contractor as the architectural details they're asking you to repair.
If these are stand alone bollards, they may have been a separate contract by the landscape or paving contractors.
Regardless. locating the original pre-cast supplier is still easy enough to do.
If you can't find the original documents, take the photo to the local pre-cast companies and find the maker that way.
Once you find the contractor that supplied them, they would have records of the mix they used. They would also be the best source for patching formulaes.
Mapei makes good patching compounds so if all else fails, contact your local supplier and use their recommendations only.
Gabe
try abocrete... same people that run the ads for "repair rotted wood" in all the mags... they have a really good concrete product also
Professional suppliers for concrete contractors have products designed specifically for the uses you describe. I can't say that bondo wouldn't work but I wouldn't use it. I would paint on a rewettable acrylic bonding agent and then use a patching concrete mix like Thoroseal to fill the damaged areas. I would suggest that even better than painting I would want to use a slurry finish to resurface following the repairs. These typically require a careful cleaning with acid or a commercial cement cleaner before application. Again they are a specific product type designed for slurry finishing over existing cement or stucco surfaces. Some are sprayable and I have used a drywall texture spray hopper gun to apply them but usually it is easiest to just brush them on creating a nice brush texture as you go. The advantage over painting is better durability and they do create a fairly thick film (compared to paint) smoothing out any small roughness in the surfaces. If you do it this way they look brand new when you are done (better than they ever were) and they stay that way for many years (barring additional auto damage).