Expansion joint sealing and crack repairs
Concrete floors and slabs that haven’t had expansion joints cut and sealed can be liable to cracking. This is often as a result in changes of temperature or humidity which causes the concrete to expand or contract. Without expansion joints which have been sealed with a flexible resin, cracks are more likely to occur. However if the concrete floor in a building, structure or concrete slab on your site has developed cracks our skilled operators can repair them and ensure the crack does not impact on the stability and structure of the concrete slab.
How cracks in concrete slabs are repaired
The National Drilling Services operators are experienced and skilled at drilling, cutting and sealing. Using tested sealants we can ensure that cracks are repaired without causing further damage to the concrete structure. Firstly, using a diamond blade cracks are chased out. Next we drill holes within the crack.
These holes then allow the injected resin to penetrate into the concrete slab. Once the resin has been injected the crack is sealed using a thixotropic epoxy paste. This sets proud, so the following day our operator will sand it to a smooth finish.
Expansion joint sealing
National Drilling Services uses tried and tested products from all the major expansion joint sealing manufacturers such as Fosroc and Permaban. Expansion joints are generally cut in concrete slabs within 24 hours of pouring depending on the environment.
You can find out more about expansion joint cutting and sawing, but here we are focusing on the next stage which is sealing the expansion joint. The concrete floor joints are carefully sealed by our operators using permaban tape and injected with resin. This resin is more flexible than the concrete material so it enables the slab to expand and contract with changes of temperature without the concrete cracking.
The importance of expansion joint cutting and sealing
In recent months and years across the UK we have experienced increasingly extreme weather conditions, which impact on the structures we build and the materials we use. The materials need to be increasingly resilient to stand up to punishing winds, greater changes in temperatures, higher rainfall and intense heat.
These extremes of weather can mean that substances such as concrete expand and contract to a higher degree. Cutting and then sealing expansion joints helps to prevent potentially harmful cracks occurring in concrete slabs and floors, ensuring the longevity of the structure.
To discuss how National Drilling Services can help with your expansion joint sealing or any other cutting/sawing, drilling or demolition requirements contact us on 0161 443 2822.