Ed Huntress wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...

Ed Huntress wrote:

"John Grabowski" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus23835" wrote in message
news:ivOdnWPjTZcgGpvanZ2dnUVZ_ternZ2d@giganews .com...

We just redid our driveway, patio etc with new concrete. It is 6"
gravel, 6" concrete with wire mesh on the driveway and 5+5, no wire
mesh, elsewhere.

Unfortunately, a kid stepped on one place on the driveway and there is
a imprint of his step about 5mm deep or so. My wife is livid about
this, as she is wont to be in general.

So, I am thinking if I can fill the hole.

My idea was to take a solid epoxy 100% solids from raka.com, which I
have, mix with portland cement for color, and apply to the imprint. It
is very clean right now and is not contaminated with oil etc.

Would this work or not? It is in the worst part of the driveway (next
to the road). We have snow, ice, salt, etc.



No matter what kind of patch you do, it will not match the original.
Personally I don't think it is much of a problem. I have seen concrete
jobs
where they deliberately put the kids hand prints in the cement. So you
could adopt the kid or get a new wife.

Another course of action would be to have that section cut out and then
have
an identical section at the other side cut out so they look
symmetrical.
Refill with tile,or a paver, or a different color concrete. As someone
else
suggested, cut out the foot print and put new concrete in with your
house
numbers etched into the concrete or use some bronze numbers.

I'd go for that. I've patched the old concrete on my walks numerous
times,
trying to find something that will last and match. Getting it to last is
not
hard. Getting it to match is almost impossible, in my experience.

As for getting it to last, I haven't had much luck with the cheap
patching
concrete from Home Depot. The best luck I've had is in using a polymer
bonding "paint" followed by a high-quality, polymer-modified patching
concrete that I got from a professional mason. It's still there after
eight
or nine years.

I etch my old concrete with muriatic acid but that isn't necessary with
fresh concrete. That does seem to make a difference when you have to
feather
the edges of the patch. But I prefer to undercut the old concrete rather
than feather. In fact, I have a job like that facing me right now, before
it
gets cold.

Sinking a bronze or tile marker of some kind into the concrete sounds
good
to me. Then I *would* use epoxy, to bond it in place. But I'd make sure
it
was a close fit to begin with.

No, no, clearly the only wife acceptable solution will require applying
an additional 1" of concrete to the entire driveway so there are no
areas that don't match. While he's at it he needs to have it colored and
stamped to look like stone.


Wait 'till she watches that 1" layer delaminate. g It's very difficult to
make thin layers of concrete stand up. There are some fancy, modified
concretes made for the job, but I've seen some "veneers" applied like that
in my town, by knowledgeable people, and I'm not impressed with the results.

I live in an old town with big trees whose roots knock the hell out of
sidewalks. It's like an experiment in concrete repair, and the results often
aren't pretty. Mud jacking works pretty well, but a lot of the old concrete
is weak to begin with and it cracks.

I'm thinking of using bricks for my front sidewalk, set in sand. It's short,
and there's a really big maple, 74 years old, right on the edge of the
sidewalk. There's no way you can keep concrete intact there for very long.

--
Ed Huntress



Used bricks work well and can easily be repaired if necessary. For
driveways the 'paver' blocks work out very well and will withstand the
heavier load of the vehicles. Glen Gerry is one brand of pavers. They
have a big factory on RT 61 in PA near Shoemakersville. A friend of mine
just did his driveway and he located on a main road and has had a number
of inquiries on them. He is thinking about going into the business of
installing them.


John


John