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Concrete Contractor Tips & Articles

Top 5 Things Household Owners Must Know About Foundation Repair
Posted on February 21, 2017 in Concrete Repairs

For many homeowners, the words “foundation repair” can elicit feelings of alarm, and even terror. Images of excavators and back hoes ripping up carefully cultivated gardens or homes collapsing at the corners come to mind--and always alongside astronomical invoices. Leaky basements and cracked walls often lead to these woeful words “foundation repair,” causing much worry and concern. However, in many cases addressing the need for the repairs need not be a cause for alarm. By arming yourself with some helpful information on the subject you will not only ward off frightful feelings you can be sure to avoid those hefty invoices, too. In this article we address some common questions like

  • How common are foundation cracks?
  • How often should you have to repair a foundation?
  • How to know when your foundation is in need of repair?
    • [Read more]

Restore Your Ugly Concrete Pathway with Gorgeous Stamped Concrete
Posted on December 15, 2016 in Coatings and Treatments

You roll into your Calgary suburban neighbourhood one day, and you notice your neighbour has just redone the walkway to their home with beautiful stonework and it looks amazing. “It’s not stone,” they say, “It’s stamped concrete.” You look toward your own front door. The dull grey pathway crashing into those ugly cracked steps is blotchy and stained. You are an avid DIYer and have been meaning to research concrete restoration or build a new path when you got around to it. But now you HAVE to. You’re intrigued.

What is stamped concrete and how do you get your pathway and porch to look so beautiful?

Concrete stamping can be used to make your pathway look like flagstone, slate, bricks, or a combination of these stones. It comes in a variety of[Read more]

How to Clean and Prepare Concrete
Posted on November 15, 2016 in Concrete Repairs

How to Clean and Prepare Concrete

Every concrete repair or restoration project starts with a thorough cleaning. Prepping the concrete surface before doing any restoration project is critical and can save you a lot of time and money. If a concrete surface isn’t cleaned properly, any overlays, concrete levelling compound, or paints won’t grip and fuse to the existing concrete floor. This process is even more critical when it comes to acid staining concrete. If the floor isn’t cleaned properly, the stain won’t sink into the floor and react properly with the limestone, ca... [Read more]

Stained Concrete Floors Made Easy
Posted on October 15, 2016 in Coatings and Treatments

Stained concrete floors, on average, will cost approximately $2 a square foot. Concrete staining is a practical way to finish you concrete floor on a budget. It’s a great solution inside and outside your house. Concrete stained floors vary in colour depending if you’re using acid or water-based stains. Acid stains usually come in eight hues, mostly subtle earth tone hues like tans, browns, terra cottas, and soft blue-greens. Water-based stains have a much wide spectrum of colours. In this blog we’ll be focusing on acid staining, but will be looking at water-based stains in a later articles.

Prepping The Concrete

Stop and look at the area you want to stain. If there are any cr... [Read more]

Fixing Worn Concrete Steps
Posted on September 21, 2016 in Concrete Repairs

Concrete steps are very durable and easy to maintain, but over time they can wear down, crack, or parts can even break off leaving the stairs both unsafe and just downright ugly. In this blog, we will be covering how to fix worn down stairs and breaks in the concrete. In a later blog, we’ll cover how to resurface and make them look better than new.

Prepping and Assessing the Damage

The first step to any concrete project is to step back and assess the damage before going ahead with the project. Start by removing any weeds or grass that is in the way. After you've cleared that, use a stiff brush and remove any loose debris or concrete then power wash and clean the area, making sure the area is as clean as possible. Once the area is clean and dry, step back and assess the project at hand. How bad is it? Are the steps just worn down? Or are there significant breaks either on ... [Read more]

The Best Way to Level a Concrete Floor
Posted on August 18, 2016 in Floor Leveling and Resurfacing

There are many advantages to finishing the basement of your house. At the very least, it’ll up the value of your home and give you an edge on the market. But what do you do if the floor isn’t quite even? An uneven floor causes a lot of problems, from framing to applying a finished floor. Starting a project, such as finishing your basement, with a good foundation is critical to keeping your sanity throughout the project.

Floor Leveling Options

How perfectly level the floor has to be depends on the finished product. Flooring options such as Carpet, engineered hardwood or click together vinyl are more forgiving and require less work. With these materials, a cement grinder and a bucket of mixed cement are all you'll need. Use the grinder to grind down any high ridges and use the bucket of cement to fill in any dimples in the concrete. An absolutely sm... [Read more]

Driveway Concrete Restoration – A Step by Step Guide
Posted on July 18, 2016 in Concrete Repairs

Your driveway is the pride of your yard. Like a welcome mat, it brings in friends and family, and it’s one of the first things someone sees when they come to your home. You can tell a lot about a person by what their driveway looks like. A well-done concrete driveway should last the entire lifespan of your home. However, severe weather conditions and improper installation will shorten the lifespan of the concrete and will result in unsightly cracks, sinking, or decolourization. The good news is that the concrete can be easily fixed in a cost effective way, without having to remove it all together. As long as the concrete is structurally sound, that is. So first thing’s first, the most important step in any concrete restoration project is to figure out what caused the damage. If you need help determining the cause and best tactics to use to fix it, take a look a... [Read more]

Luxurious Stamped Concrete Tiles Tutorial
Posted on June 28, 2016 in Coatings and Treatments

Spice Up Your Patio with Concrete Stamping

Decorative stamped concrete has the durability of concrete but the beauty of tiles. Stamped concrete has become more and more popular by the day. The versatility and longevity of stamped concrete means it can be found anywhere within the home from countertops, back splashes in the kitchen to beautiful textured concrete driveways. With the right experienced professional, stained concrete can look like marble, slate, wood or terra cotta. Concrete rubber stamps are now being manufactured in over a hundred different patterns that mimic the luxurious feel of natural stone and other materials.

What is Stamped Concrete Exactly?

Stamped concrete is concrete that has been patterned, textured or embossed to resemble various textures like brick, flagstone, tile, wood, stone, slate or many other pa... [Read more]

How to Fix Concrete Floor Cracks in Your Garage Floor
Posted on May 13, 2016 in Floor Leveling and Resurfacing

“Cracks come to the job along with the concrete, riding in the same truck!”
It’s the keeper of your goods, your memory storage centre of the home, your vehicle’s haven, and your “indoor-outside”. Your garage has been through a lot, but it has never let you down, so why would you let it’s surface deteriorate. Concrete as a garage floor can be one of the strongest, most durable and long lasting materials you can use. But like anything made of concrete, including sidewalks and the rest of your foundation “Cracks come to the job along with the concrete, riding in the same truck”, and are going to happen, but that doesn’t mean you need to just leave them. You’ve got a crack... [Read more]

Spring Has Sprung – Top 3 Basement Waterproofing Methods
Posted on April 12, 2016 in Basement Waterproofing

Is Your Basement Waterproof?

As the last big winter storms make their way through Canada they often like to leave a parting gift. Are you suffering from a wet basement or suffering from the big defrost?

There are really only two options available to solve wet basement problems: interior or exterior. Interior work uses drainage inside your basement to control the water that is entering and directs it to a sump pump. This method is not technically waterproofing, it is a method of water control. Water control systems allow the water in, in order to pump it back out. True basement waterproofing is accomplished only by exterior excavation to the bottom of the foundation, installing proper drainage and treating the walls to prevent water from entering. Let the water into your basement and pump it out, or keep it out altogether. Thi... [Read more]

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