How Do You Repair A Chipped Concrete Sidewalk?

It’s always imperative to know how to repair your chipped concrete sidewalk by yourself. One of the most brilliant concrete repair services is Native Concrete & Sidewalk, which has experienced technicians who have mastered the right way to repair your concrete cracks and holes. Keeping these cracks for a long time could be dangerous for your family and vehicles passing through. People may not see a large chip on your concrete sidewalk and miss their step, getting seriously injured. Furthermore, repairing the chipped concrete increases its lifespan and saves it from further wearing off.

Here are some simple steps to follow if you want to repair a chipped concrete sidewalk by yourself:

1. Clean the Area And Assess The Situation

First, you need to check the depth of the chip or crack on the concrete sidewalk. It’s always better to clean the area from dust and debris using an air compressor unit. There is no need to perform any extra chipping for holes less than a few inches deep. 

2. Perform Preparations On The Existing Chip

Some holes are larger than a few inches in diameter, and these are the ones you need to prepare for cement plasterwork. Your goal is to make the bottom part of the hole a lot wider than the top and allow the cement to flow easily. Most people use the hammer and chisel to extract the old cement parts from the bottom. Then you can smoothen the surface using a steel bristle and blow the debris away.

3. Add Some Adhesive To the Chip

Although it’s not a must, adhesives help connect the older and newer cement layers. Most of these adhesives are elastic latex materials that offer complete coverage of the cracked area. It’s always better to prime the adhesive with a freshly mixed concrete part to ensure that both materials stick together. Otherwise, the adhesive is ready to use from the container.

4. Prepare Some Concrete Mix

Technicians pay extra attention to this step. It’s necessary to know the concrete type used to build your sidewalk. To meet the constructor’s requirements, you will need to add different portions of concrete dust, pebbles, sand, and water. If you don’t have a concrete mixing automatic device, you can mix it on your porch using your shovel. 

Depending on the day you perform the concrete mix, you should be fast to prepare and apply it to the hole right away. Concrete may come to the solid phase easier than you think, forming a hard stone to remove afterward.

5. Carefully Add The Concrete Mix To The Hole

After you are done with the adhesive layer, you can start filling the hole with the fresh concrete mix you have already prepared. Working with a chip will help you create an even area on the top, following the natural angles of your sidewalk. That will allow water to pass freely from the spot and never stay there, creating the right conditions for a new crack. 

You shouldn’t add the concrete mix all at once. It’s a lot better to pour one-quarter of an inch at a time and let it rest for a while. The concrete mix has a lot of moisture inside and needs to take much time to settle before you add any new mixture on top. That slow pouring procedure is also necessary if you want to have an even surface appearance at the end.

6. Even The Hole Edges

The best tool to even these edges caused by the cement mix is the grout knife. Having a steel bristle handy will also make it easier to remove the excess dust and debris on the hole rims. There is no way you can match the original finish of your concrete sidewalk. However, you may expect the cement mix to darken as time passes and loses its moisture. Older cement parts use a dark grey color, which would eventually be the case for your newly poured cement mix.

7. Place ‘No-Step’ Signs On the Repaired Area

A yellow reflective tape and four poles would be enough to designate a no-step area on your sidewalk. It’s wrong to cover the area with any kind of materials since the new concrete mix requires close contact with the air to become a solid stone. According to the concrete mix type, you should leave it dry for several days without applying any pressure. 

Lastly, fixing your chipped concrete sidewalk increases your property value and makes it even safer for your family and guests.