How To Patch A Garage Cement Floor' title='How To Patch A Garage Cement Floor' />Repairing the pitted and spalled concrete in your garage is easier than you think. Learn how to get back your nice smooth garage floor in less than a day. DIYNetwork. com experts show how to repair concrete steps by patching and resurfacing them. Max Tile Raised Floor Tile Raised Floor Tile, Max Tile Modular Floor, Basement Flooring, Tiles for Dance Floors and Athletic. Achieving Desired Color. The natural color of most concrete is light gray. This is because most portland cement is very gray, and most gravel and sand is gray enough. Though often overlooked, your garage is one of the most important rooms in the house. Its also one of the largest. It gets used several times everyday. It acts as. Indooroutdoor stone and epoxy flooring systems for pool decks, patios, walkways, showrooms. Free estimates and samples. Easily Repair Your Pitted or Spalled Garage Floor. Dont hold off any longer on your garage floor project just because of some concrete pitting or spalling. Repairing a pitted or spalled garage floor is only intimidating because most people dont know what to use or how to start. It really isnt that difficult and in most cases can be tackled by the average DIY handyman. Once you understand what to do and which products to use, you will find that its much easier than you think. What is concrete pitting and spalling Pitting and spalling can sometimes look very similar to one another. Spalling will usually cause the surface of the floor to crumble or separate in thin layers. Pitting on the other hand can create smaller, deeper holes that have a more distinct jagged look. Spalled concrete. Spalling is generally caused from cold winter climates that subject the concrete to freeze thaw cycles. Images/2015-05/27/150419262_s.jpg' alt='How To Patch A Garage Cement Floor' title='How To Patch A Garage Cement Floor' />What happens is water is deposited on the garage floor and works its way into the capillaries of the concrete. When the water freezes, it expands and causes microscopic damage to the surrounding concrete. Over a few winters this constant damage weakens the surface and as a result, it starts to separate in sheets or crumble. Pitted concrete. Road salts and deicing fluids only contribute to making the problem even worse because it will allow the water more time to penetrate deeper into the concrete before it freezes. Pitting however can be caused from improper finishing of the concrete, an inadequate mix, improper use of an accelerator or even old age. Pitting can sometimes cover large areas of the floor while spalling may be more localized. Ready to build, decorate, renovate or repair Reach for DRYLOK, ZAR and UGL, the brands millions of people around the world have trusted since 1932. I was TERRIFIED to pour self levelling cement over my kitchen floor but after reading a ton about it online I did it. And it worked GREAT. Tutorial here. Shop Quikrete Hydraulic WaterStop Cement 112611. Day Return Guarantee. We want you to be fully satisfied with every item that you purchase from www. Prepping the concrete for repair. Fortunately the majority of pitting and spalling in a garage can easily be repaired and isnt as bad as it can be for concrete that is outdoors. Generally for a garage, the depth of the damage is usually less than for spalling and for some pitting. Many times it is less than that. The first thing you want to do is clean the area to be repaired of any oil stains, wax, sealers, or anything that would be considered a bond breaker. Next, remove all broken and loose concrete with a hammer and chisel. Its extremely important that you remove all loose or suspect material. Because spalling starts damaging concrete from just underneath the surface, there can be surrounding areas of your garage floor that havent weakened enough to break freely on its own and may be hidden. We highly recommend firmly tapping the surrounding areas with a hammer and listen for a hollow sound. Areas that sound hollow have deteriorated underneath and should be hit hard with the hammer to expose the damage for repair. This will eliminate the possibility of having to do any more repairs in the near future. After you are done, sweep the area clean and then vacuum the remainder of the dust from the surface. Note Many times instructions for concrete prep may state grinding or shot blasting of the concrete is recommended. If you are repairing smaller areas in which you have broken away all loose material with a hammer and chisel, then the surface profile of the concrete should be satisfactory. Repairing the pitting and spalling. There are a variety of products to use depending on the size of the repair you are making, how deep it is, and in some cases, how you want it to look. The type of product used is usually broken down into two categories epoxy and polymer modified cement. Epoxy based patch repair products. Serious Sam 3 Bfe Update'>Serious Sam 3 Bfe Update. If you are going to be coating your garage floor with paint, epoxy, or covering it with a garage floor mat, then we recommend using an epoxy based product for most of these repairs. The exception to this is very large areas, which we will discuss shortly. If you just have a few small holes from pitting, then we recommend using something like Rust Oleums Epoxy. Shield Concrete Patch. This is the same product that works well for crack repairs. If its not available from your local home improvement center, you can find it at a great price here from Amazon. The Epoxy. Shield patch is a 2 part epoxy gel that you mix as you need it. Mix the Part A and Part B product according to the directions. Apply it to the repair area making sure to work it in good in order to push out any trapped air. Smooth it out best you can with a putty knife or margin trowel. Within 2. 4 hours the repair will be hard enough to grind or sand flush. For larger areas of pitting and spalling, we recommend using a 1. The silica sand is mixed in with the epoxy to act as a filler. Legacy Industrials HD 1. Concrete Patch is a good example of this. This type of repair works extremely well and is a popular method among floor coating contractors. It does a good job at filling larger holes as well as having the ability to be trowelled out fairly smooth over larger pits and spalling. Once cured, these repairs are actually stronger than the concrete. If you are using such a repair for spalling, 1 gallon will usually cover up to 8 1. After following the mix instructions from the manufacturer, you will want to trowel the batch onto your damaged area. Be sure to trowel it with some pressure. Realtek Audio Driver For Linux Mint. This forces the mix into the crevasses of the damaged area and works out any trapped air at the same time. Once its trowelled in, you can smooth the mix with a cement float and feather it to the existing surface. One industry trick is to spray the float with a little Windex. This will keep the trowel from sticking and provide for a nice surface. Rust Oleum Turbo. Krete Concrete Patching Compound works similar to the HD 1. It uses a 1. 00 solids epoxy resin as well. Weve used this kit before and have found that the required mix of sand to epoxy is a bit too much. Reducing the amount of sand in the mix by 1. You can find the Rust Oleum Turbo. Krete here at Amazon. Polymer modified cement patches and toppings. Another product that works well is polymer modified cement. These are a mixture of Portland cement, sand aggregate, and polymers. You just add water. They are used for patching concrete, overlays, and as concrete resurfacing cement toppings. The nice thing about polymer modified cement products is that they are very easy to work with and adhere much better than standard concrete mix. Some can be mixed thicker or thinner depending on the depth of the damage that is being repaired. Another nice feature is that many can be feathered to as little as 11. They are also a good choice if you just want to seal your concrete from the elements after you make repairs as they are available in a natural grey finish and can be troweled smooth. Pay close attention to what the manufacturer offers as some have special mixes for patches deeper than and other mixes for overlays, shallow pitting, spalling and complete resurfacing. They may require prepping the area with a priming liquid before application so be sure to read the instructions carefully. Dont worry, its a simple process. Note Never use standard cement mix to repair a garage floor. These will not adhere well and will start coming loose and breaking away after a short while. Polymer modified cement patches are a good choice for areas of very deep pitting, broken concrete lips and edges, deep holes, and other areas where the repair may need to be shaped, such as the edge of a concrete apron. One example of a product that we know works well is manufactured by Ardex. Ardex CP is their concrete patch and Ardex CD is used for resurfacing and shallow repair areas.