starrider

sidewalk cement?

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Hello folks...!

The question: hair line cracks in newly poured sidewalk?

In this city...the home owner is responsible for the sidewalk that surrounds their house.

The sidewalk needed repair...so i contracted a co. and did the about 6 yards of cement or concrete of sidewalk...4-5 weeks later i notice a hair line crack about 2 feet in lenghth.

Living in a Bay city... and near the ocean...sand is under the cement. And it was not packed down as i later found out is one of the things to do.

Secondly the crack is within a ten feet of a large old tree..."roots"? However i was told that 5 weeks is not enough time for roots to effect the cement.

Lastly...could it be the cement it self? As when the finisher was doing the sidewalk ...he commented that the cement was funny or didn't seem to have the water amount he was accustom to...( i think)

Otherwise the finisher did an excellent job...and i am happy if the crack does not progress.

My last question is what is the best way to deal with hairline cracks...what are the best kinds of things to use...i was thinking of just pouring epoxy in the crack ....

Your opinions appreciated...Thanks!

Starrider

ps...opps...been a while...should have put this post here.

Deacon

There are only 2 guarantees in the concrete business -- 1. It will get hard and ----- 2. It will crack. Just as long as there was proper rebar/wire installation installed within the pour and the rebar/wire is within the pour and not just laying on the ground, the hairline crack should be no worry because the steel will hold it together. Some contractors use wire - wire is better than nothing but does not have the tensile strength that regular rebar has. A good concrete prep job consists of No. 3 steel bars installed in a 18" grid. As far as only sand underneath the concrete pour, having 1 3/4" rock is much better but that depends on your individual building code. Again, no matter what you do, concrete will crack. Mother nature always wins. All you can do is try to fight her back as much as possible.

JoeD

I have never seen rebar used in a sidewalk and very seldom do I see wire used for sidewalks.