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Repairing flaking of pressed decorative concrete block

dpierce2 | Posted in General Discussion on March 20, 2022 01:33pm

I have an early 1900s house with pressed decorative concrete block that was popular at the turn of the century. Around my front porch area where the blocks meet the sidewalk and also around where the blocks meet the concrete steps, I’m having some cracking/flacking/deterioration of the decorative concrete. Some of the chips seem large enough to glue back into place and in other cases some concrete has worn away exposing some gaps between the steps and the blocks.

Any tips on reattaching any loose chunks and also closing up existing gaps between steps and blocks before they get worse? Should I patch with a Quickcrete product or are there  better options for repairs?

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Replies

  1. User avater
    2sheps | Mar 20, 2022 04:10pm | #1

    I've had very good luck repairing spalled cement with a product called Planitop x by Mapei.

  2. calvin | Mar 20, 2022 06:37pm | #2

    I’ve glued pcs of broken sandstone and an occasional block with PL Pemium adhesive (where cosmetics where not of prime concern). Of coarse, with the paint you’ll cover any patch.

    After your repair, take care of waterproofing that dirt from the block. I’m thinking that’s the culprit for the spalling your getting.

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