Have you ever observed concrete problems? If you were to go for a walk today, I would say yes. Especially in sub-zero areas of the US. We all know how freeze-thaw cycles affect concrete and when you place a repair material, it just doesn’t last a winter season. So what usually happens is a handyman will apply more of the same material once the weather warms up.

Wouldn’t it be great if one could drop a material once and have that material last for more than a year? Take an outside stairway in a shopping center. After years of freezing and thawing cycling and the application of salt to the stairs in the winter, the concrete is eroding. Now comes one of two options for the operations manager. The first option is to hire a contractor to come and repair that stair using ready-mix concrete or a Portland cement patching material. The second option is to have in-house personnel perform the repair using a polymer-modified material.

Now we will evaluate both options. It’s great when a contractor can quote a job and complete the repair for less cost than having to replace an entire staircase. Your problem comes when winter comes, because the bond between concrete and concrete is not strong enough and when the freeze-thaw cycle occurs and the chloride sinks to the surface, the repair will not last more than a few years. There are now ways to protect concrete from chloride attack and ways to get a stronger bond to your surface, but some contractors are profit-conscious and will cut that short cut more often than not.

When using a non-cementitious polymeric material like Enecon Duraquartz, you don’t have to worry about bond strength or chloride resistance. The material can resist chloride in winter and has such a strong bond strength that it cannot be broken without tearing out existing concrete in the process. What about a sidewalk in a parking lot? The material is almost four times stronger than conventional concrete, which means that when a conventional patching material repair has failed, Duraquartz will not.

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