Table of Contents
Can you fill concrete expansion joints?
You can always fill these joints in your garage floor after an epoxy coating is applied. It can also be done after clear sealers, stains, or other floor treatments are applied as well. Not before. The easiest solution is to fill these joints with a self-leveling polyurethane joint sealer/filler.
What can I use for concrete expansion joints?
There are two types of expansion joint filler, foam and fibreboard. When working with concrete you should use fibreboard, which offers flexibility across the surface of concrete, allowing movement that will prevent cracking.
How do you repair an expansion joint?
Restoring Concrete Expansion Joints the Hard Way Use a scraping tool, like a 5-in-1, to scrape out the old concrete expansion joint filler. Vacuum out the concrete expansion joints. Use a caulk gun with your filler of choice and refill the joints. Scrape the sides and top of the joints to leave a clean finish.
What is the best concrete expansion joint material?
Why Silicone is the Best Expansion Joint Filler Silicone provides an excellent alternative to the three expansion joint fillers above, and for a few reasons.
Can you put sand in expansion joints?
Silica Sand Is A Good Filler For Expansion Joints You can use sand to fill up the spaces in the joints before sealing it up with an epoxy sealant. Silica sand matches well with epoxy sealants. Silica sand is also a good filler because it is waterproof and weatherproof.
Can you epoxy over expansion joints?
It might sound like a good idea, but if the joints are filled with a solid material and then covered with epoxy, it defeats their purpose. Improperly filled expansion joints is where the chips and cracks in floors are born. We do not fill the expansion joints; we paint epoxy over them to get the color continuity.
What is the black stuff in between concrete?
An expansion joint is a material placed in the cracks (or joints) between concrete slabs to protect the slabs from cracking when they contract and expand as the temperature changes. This material acts as a shock absorber, absorbing the stress from the slab’s movement.
What happens if you don’t put expansion joints in concrete?
If you have a concrete floor in your commercial building, you know expansion joints are necessary to allow for the natural expansion and contraction that occurs from temperature changes. Without these joints, large cracks can travel across your floor, creating costly damage.
What is a compressible filler?
Joint filler is a material that is used between two sections of concrete, which in contrast to concrete, is a relatively compressible material so that it will not fail as the concrete around it grows and shrinks due to temperature changes or movement.
What is expansion joint filler?
EXPANSION JOINT FILLER is designed to relieve compressive stresses which develop when concrete expands in either horizontal, vertical or inclined directions. EXPANSION JOINT FILLER prevents the intrusion of foreign material into the joint which would prevent the joint from working.
Should you caulk expansion joints in concrete?
Even expansion joints in your concrete driveway should be caulked. They can be the biggest culprit of water under your slabs. Notice how the caulking is slightly lower than the concrete slab around it. This protects the caulk from wear and tear of people walking and driving over it.
Are expansion joints needed in concrete?
Expansion joints are virtually never needed with interior slabs, because the concrete doesn’t expand that much—it never gets that hot. Expansion joints in concrete pavement are also seldom needed, since the contraction joints open enough (from drying shrinkage) to account for temperature expansion.
How much does expansion joints cost?
The price to repair expansion joints and control joints greatly depends on how bad the damage is. Preventative joint filling can cost between $1.50 and $3 per lineal foot, but once expansion joint repair or control joint repair is required, the costs can vary from $15 – $100 per lineal foot of joints.
How deep are concrete expansion joints?
Contraction/control joints must be established to a depth of ¼ the slab thickness (Figure 2). Proper joint spacing and depth are essential to effective control of random cracking.
Can concrete be patched?
Patching works best for local damage in otherwise sound concrete. You can repair them exactly as we show here, but they’ll most likely return unless you can stabilize the concrete slab to prevent the movement that caused the cracks in the first place.
Does Flex Seal work on concrete cracks?
Flex Seal can be used on almost every surface: wood, metal, tile, concrete, masonry, fabric, glass, plastic, aluminum, porcelain, drywall, rubber, cement, and vinyl. Plus, it won’t sag or drip in the summer heat, and it won’t crack or peel in the winter cold.
What is the best caulking for concrete?
Silicone represents another popular material to use as a concrete caulk. It does not degrade as fast as the organic urethane caulks, and it remains flexible yet sturdy in its hold. One of the best uses for silicone caulk involves filling the gaps between concrete and other materials, such as brick, wood or metal.
Can you use polymeric sand in concrete expansion joints?
Silica is such an additive and is often used to help lock the fine sand particles together.” However, polymeric sand is unique because it will allow the joints to expand and contract with the elements like hot sun during the summer and below-freezing temperatures in the winter.
