Mechanical Surface Preparation, Sloping, And Leveling

Start your project right with mechanical surface preparation

Mechanical Surface Preparation

What is Concrete Surface Preparation

Concrete surface preparation is essential to concrete repair, especially when concrete sealing or resurfacing. It helps create a clean surface for the new materials to properly bond with the old concrete surface without any bumps or unevenness.

There are many ways to prepare concrete surfaces, but mechanical surface preparation uses tools and machines like scrabblers, breakers, scarifiers, and grinders.

During mechanical surface preparation, we use grinding or shot blasting methods. Grinding involves floor polishing and grinding machines with spinning abrasive pads. These pads can remove old concrete sealing, coatings, and adhesives. They can also scratch existing textures and patterns on the floor.

Depending on what we are removing and the finish we want, we can use these machines dry or wet. In shot blasting, we use tiny metal beads that we shoot out of a machine to remove existing coatings or patterns.

Concrete Sloping and Leveling

Before any concrete repair, we usually look at whether there is concrete sloping in addition to other damages. Concrete sloping and leveling are essential to help restore the integrity and strength of the concrete floor.

Floors slope because of foundation, crawlspace, or soil issues. Before administering any concrete sloping and leveling solution, we usually look for the main problem to implement a long-term solution.

After preparing the surface, we apply a bonding agent and a self-leveling compound. That is a thick compound that spreads over the concrete surface and cures to create a smooth and even surface.

We usually start with a 1/4-inch layer, then spread it around with a long-handled squeegee. The compound begins curing after 20 minutes, with the full curing time being about 48 hours before we allow clients to move items back into the space.

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